Brad Pitt’saction-packed, effects-heavy 2013 zombie apocalypse movie is one of – if not the – biggest budget and highest-grossing films in the genre. It’s the type of movie that seems tailor-made for a franchise and even features an open-ended conclusion that screams “sequel bait.” Yet over 10 years after its release, a sequel has never been produced, and that might be because the original production ofWorld War Zwas about as disastrous as an actual zombie apocalypse.
Loosely based on the 2006 novel of the same name byMax Brooks(incidentally, the son ofMel BrooksandAnne Bancroft), the film revolves around UN investigator Gerry Lane, played by Pitt, who suddenly finds himself and his family trapped in a swarm of rampaging,fast-moving undead. We then follow Lane as he travels around the world searching for a cure. It’s quite a departure from the novel, which is instead structured as a series of interviews with traumatized veterans of the global war against the zombies, each of whom recounts their story of survival and how their nation defeated the infected within its borders.
World War Z
Based on the novel by Max Brooks, World War Z tells the story of a world ravaged by a zombie virus. Former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) braves the apocalypse in search of a cure. He is tasked with finding the point of origin of the virus in order to synthesize a vaccine, reluctantly doing so in exchange for his family’s safety. His search takes him around the world, where he witnesses all the devastation of the apocalypse.
‘World War Z’s Production Was Troubled from the Start
Studios were fighting over the rights to adapt Brooks’ novel before it was even published, with abidding war breaking outbetween Pitt’s production company Plan B andLeonardo DiCaprio’s company Appian Way. Pitt won, of course, and along with Paramount, secured the rights to produce the film in 2006.Michael Straczynski, writer ofThorandUnderworld: Awakening, soon signed on to write the screenplay. A draft of Straczynski’s script was leaked online in 2008 and was widely praised by critics, at leastone of whom drew favorable comparisonstoChildren of Menand called for a big name horror director such asPeter JacksonorSam Raimito bring it to life. But instead,Marc Forster, director ofQuantum of Solace, which itself had afamously troubled production, was brought on to helm the pictureon Pitt’s recommendation– a decision that almost certainly led to many of the film’s problems down the line.
Forster and Straczynski clashed immediately. While Straczynski took a cerebral approach to the script much like that of the source material, Forster wanted a more exciting, action-heavy story. Straczynski submitted a re-write in December 2008, but the director still wasn’t satisfied. The screenwriter then either walked away from the project or was fired, andMatthew Michael Carnahan– writer of action thrillerThe Kingdom– signed on to overhaul the script. Meanwhile, Forster’s relative inexperience directing big-budget action flicks created more problems. Asource told the Hollywood Reporterthat as late as three weeks before filming was scheduled to start,the director still hadn’t pinned down the zombies' appearance or style of movement.
Budget Overruns Started Mounting Right Away
Filming finally began in mid-2011 with an expected budget ofover $125 million– an extremely high figure for a horror movie at the time – and new complications began piling up from day one. The crew started with a big action sequence set in Jerusalem that was actually shot on the tiny island of Malta. It involved flying in massive amounts of equipment and costumes and recruitingalmost 1,000 extrasfrom among the locals. Minor shooting delays and unexpected expenses began to mount. To add insult to injury, as the crew wrapped up the Malta shoot, a pile offorgotten purchase orders were discoveredwhich added up to millions of dollars that hadn’t been factored into the original cost estimates, putting the film over budget just weeks into shooting.
The conflicts between Forster and others working on the film came next. Oscar-winning visual effects supervisorJohn Nelson– who had worked on major productions includingGladiator,Iron Man, and twoMatrixsequels – tussled with Forster over what the director called “creative differences,” and he was eventually replaced once principal photography had been completed. Forster also butted heads with Pitt over the course of filming, and at one point rumors even swirled thatthe two weren’t on speaking terms. But the wildest part of the story was yet to come.
The final action sequence was set to take place in Russia and would be shot in Budapest. But on the morning of August 21, 2025, a Hungarian SWAT team raided the warehouse where the crew had stored weapons to be used in filming, seizing 85 military-style assault rifles, handguns, and grenades. Asa source told Us Weeklyat the time, the import papers claimed that the guns had been disabled, but in reality, they were fully functional. Transporting such weapons in Hungary was illegal, and for a time,questions loomedover whether Pitt or anyone else in the production would face criminal charges. However, the arsenal was eventually returned to Pitt’s production company and the charges were dropped on a technicality.
The kicker is that the footage that was shot in Budapest never even made it into the final film. Worried that the ending was disjointed and didn’t fit the rest of the story, producers brought inDamon Lindelof– co-creator ofLostand writer on big-budget sci-fi movies like 2009’sStar Trek– for yet another rewrite. Lindelof recommended tossing out the original ending and reshooting a completely new one, and the studio agreed. He then brought onLostproducerDrew Goddardfor help with the revisions, and the new ending, which cost anestimated $20 million to reshoot, was approved by Paramount.
George Clooney Hated That Brad Pitt Beat Him Out for This Role
“I may be an outlaw, darlin’ but you’re the one stealin' my heart.”
All told,World War Zcostover $200 millionto produce, and with a reportedmarketing budget of $160 million, the film would need to return around $400 million at the box office just to break even. Yet despite opening to a crowded summer slate that included numerous other blockbuster action movies (Iron Man 3,Man of Steel, andStar Trek Into Darkness, to name a few), Pitt’s zombie thriller managed to pull in over$540 million worldwide, ultimately salvaging a film that had practically felt cursed from the moment of its inception. So, if the movie ended up being a box office win,why was a sequel never made? Reportedly, as late as 2019,David Fincherwas in talks with Paramount todirect a Part Two, with Pitt slated to return as the lead, but the studio refused to approve the budget. Still, the studio refused to approve a second budget of approximately $200 million. However, other important reasons precluded a sequel to World War Z.
Pitt and Fincher have a long history of collaboration. The A-list leading man and prolific director has made a fascinatingly diverse group of films, including the psychological thrillerSeven, a bizarre romance inThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the twisty, noirishFight Club. So the idea of bringing back the proven tag team excited Paramount executives. Unfortunately, like the original, the sequel ran into some snags that they couldn’t overcome. On top of the estimated $200 million budget, Pitt and Fincher had unbreakable scheduling conflicts and commitments.
Pitt was already scheduled to makeOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodwithQuentin Tarantinoand signed on forAd Astraimmediately after that. Two Oscar-worthy films (Pitt won The Little Golden Man for his work with Tarantino)) and good choices for one of the most sought-after players in Tinseltown. Meanwhile, Fincher was already neck deep in making his masterpiece for Netflix,Mindhunter, in Pittsburgh at the time. Again, it was a great choice that turned out wonderfully for the acclaimed director. So, deciding against telling a second apocalyptic zombie tale, at least with these particular heavy hitters, was a good thing. Although fans of the taut 2013 original would have been all over a sequel, the things Pitt and Fincher did instead turned out superbly and are hard to argue against.
Problems Have Always Swirled Around ‘World War Z’ and a Possible Sequel Like a Zombie Plague
It’s also interesting to note that with all the problems thatWorld War Zencountered just to have the original made, there is another curious reason that worked against the sequel. As if the litany of snags Paramount and Pitt endured the first time around weren’t enough, China would have likely banned the sequel from being allowed in theaters for a cultural reason. That would have taken a massive toll on the box office returns as the enormous Asian country accounts for a healthy percentage of worldwide profits. In China, any movies that have anything to do with images of zombies or ghosts or “promote zombies or cults”are prohibited per the rigid Chinese regulationson foreign films entering the country.
There would have been a huge demand to see Pitt and the human race take on the zombie hordes armed with their new camouflage weapon, but alas, it was never in the cards.It’s a miracle that we even got the first hit moviewith everything that the production and shoot had working against it from the get-go. The adage, “one in the hand is better than two in the bush,” would aptly apply to the wholeWorld War Zexperience.
World War Zis currently available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
