Thanks to World War Z’s surprisingly strong showing at the box office this weekend, Paramount and Brad Pitt can go back to plans for a sequel.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Paramount’s vice chairman Rob Moore, who said that Paramount is already developing the sequel. Of course, World War Z was supposed to be the start of an epic trilogy based on Max Brooks’ novel. But then the budget skyrocketed to $190 million (there were reports that it exceeded $200 million), so Paramount began to rethink that plan and gave the film a new ending that wasn’t explicitly a cliffhanger.
However, the film made $66 million over the weekend, which is spectacular for a film that was surrounded by bad press and wasn’t the next installment of a franchise or a reboot. The film’s international total reached $111.8 million.
"I think the movie captured the public's imagination with something that is fresh and different...And certainly, Brad gave a superb performance,” Moore told THR.
According to E! News, Pitt’s co-star, Mireille Enos, said that she was signed on for two more films. As for Pitt himself, he recently told E!, “We gotta see if this one works first. But there's tons of information to mine from the book, certainly.”
It looks like Pitt may finally have found his own franchise.
image: Paramount