?The “little” film that could, World War Z, faced an uphill battle getting the screen, spending millions, experiencing rewrites and multiple endings. But guess what? It made a ton of money and now Paramount wants a sequel.
We’ve known one was in the works and, today, Paramount Pictures has hired The Impossible and The Orphanage helmer Juan Antonio Bayona to direct the sequel, says The Hollywood Reporter.
Hitting DVD and Blu-ray today, director Marc Forster’s World War Z is coming off an incredibly successful box office run with total worldwide grosses in excess of $535 million. In its home video format, the film has something brand new to offer fans who caught it in theaters: an unrated cut of the zombie epic. In a new interview with ShockTillYouDrop.com, Forster talks about his first foray into the horror genre and what fans should expect from his “more intense” cut of the film.
Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and David Morse, World War Z is based on Max Brooks’ bestselling novel of the same name and follows Pitt’s Gerry Lane, a man working for the United Nations and racing against time to stop a pandemic that threatens to eradicate all life on Earth.
In the interview inside, Forster discusses building both cuts of the film, balancing action and exposition and the reactions he’s seen from audiences on a global scale.
ShockTillYouDrop.com has your exclusive first look at a clip from the iTunes Extras for World War Z, available as a digital download on Tuesday, September 10th and on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, September 17th.
The Blu-ray combo pack of the film will feature an unrated cut of the movie and some exclusive bonus features including:
Variety caught up to Brad Pitt at the Toronto International Film Festival and got some quotes from the man about World War Z 2.
Before the release of World War Z, Pitt hinted that the film could pave the way for a trilogy. To date, the film has made over $500 million – not too shabby for a zombie epic that was receiving a lot of negative buzz based on the film’s production troubles.
Needless to say, based on those numbers, a sequel is likely and Pitt seems hopeful one is going to happen.
Entertainment Weekly has just revealed that World War Z will invade homes on DVD and Blu-ray on September 17th.
The movie will also be available as a digital download a week earlier, on September 10th. You can check out the cover to the Blu-ray inside, and don’t forget World War Z begins its limited IMAX 3D run today in theaters.Paramount and star Brad Pitt are in active development on a sequel to the film, which to date has grossed over $470 million worldwide.
The Blu-ray combo pack of the film will feature an unrated cut of the movie and some exclusive bonus features including…
IMAX Corporation, along with Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films, today announced that due to overwhelming demand, the hit film World War Z starring Brad Pitt has been digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX 3D format and will be released into select IMAX theatres domestically for the first time for a one-week engagement beginning August 2nd.
So, I guess all of that pre-release negative word of mouth about the film’s production troubles seem really, really silly now, doesn’t it?
The numbers are in and, as expected, Monsters University took the number one slot at the box office. Still, World War Z made a nice chunk of money at number two.
The Brad Pitt-starring PG-13 zombie film grossed an estimated $66 million this weekend. The film is doing quite well overseas, too, bringing its worldwide gross to $112 million.
With World War Z now in theaters, Titan Books has released a making-of companion book called “World War Z: The Art of the Film” which includes the script as well as a ton of concept art.
This film, in particular, has me incredibly curious as to what went on conceptually, because the zombies don’t get a lot of close-up face time. There’s some stuff, but mostly we see the undead in wide shots, as a swarm of decaying, scrambling bodies.
The companion book goes deep and sheds some light on some terrific concept pieces featuring the zombies and we’ve compiled a few images after the jump.
World War Z (review) finally opens in theaters tomorrow and star Brad Pitt is, again, hinting at the future as he had done in January 2012.
When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Pitt had this to say about another movie:
“There is enough to mine from the book. We could barely get a fraction of the book in. So we’ll see. We’ll see.”
Paramount Pictures has released another clip from World War Z (via iTunes) which you can see in the player below after the jump. The film opens in theaters on June 21 and stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and David Morse.
World War Z isn’t the zombie film you wanted, nor is it the balls-to-the-wall zombie film you needed. Rather, it’s a big budget, sometimes visually stunning, mirror image of just about every undead film ever put to celluloid. But minus the gore. Minus the “money shot” zombie close-ups. And more importantly minus the human element. World War Z offers surface level emotional stakes, yet it fails to make us care about anyone at all. In lieu of this, we get an “okay” zombie film with the greatest sense of scope ever applied to this sub-genre.
I’m not familiar with the Max Brooks novel upon which this film is based, so I can’t draw any book-to-film comparisons here. I can only talk about the film alone and its merits and failures. I went in understanding that it deviated greatly from the source material, still, it’s my job to look at what director Marc Forster, actor/producer Brad Pitt and the film’s many screenwriters pulled off with the hundreds of millions of dollars they had to play with. The result of their collaboration isn’t as terrible as the stories of budget inflation and script rewrites that heralded World War Z’s arrival would make you think.
Paramount has released a new clip from World War Z (opening June 21st) called “No Place is Doing Well.” You’ll find it after the jump.
The Marc Forster-directed action thriller stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and David Morse. The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
On June 18th, Titan Publishing is going to release World War Z: The Art of the Film, a 160-page tome featuring the screenplay and more.
An official illustrated companion to the movie, opening June 21st, the book features a wealth of stunning production art, design sketches and storyboards.
Based on Max Brooks’ best-selling novel “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” the story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
