MTV received a surprise announcement when interviewing World War Z author Max Brooks at the San Diego Comic-Con today. Brooks confirmed that the Marc Forster-directed adaptation of his novel is moving forward at Paramount Pictures with Brad Pitt attached to star in the lead role.
Brooks also revealed that Paramount has optioned the movie rights to “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks” graphic novel.
Pitt’s production company Plan B first secured the rights to World War Z back in 2007.
Brooks says that the studio is targeting a Summer 2012 release for the film, about a worldwide infestation of flesh-eating zombies. Brooks — the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft — wrote a detailed tale in which a researcher for the U.N. Postwar Commission interviews survivors from countries all over the world, 10 years after the crisis, to gather a first-person post-mortem on a war that obliterated every country on the map.
The original screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, but was later rewritten by Matthew Michael Carnahan.
