Brad Pitt’s World War Z was a surprising box office hit for Paramount, overcoming bad buzz about production delays, an extravagant budget and reports that a second ending had to be filmed. While there were initial reports that a sequel was in the works, Pitt had stayed quiet on the subject, until now. While speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, Pitt confirmed that the wheels are in motion.
“We’re certainly talking about it, yes,” the actor told Variety. Pitt referenced the difficulty that they had making the first film, explaining, “We have so many ideas on the table from the time we spent developing this thing and figuring out how the zombie worlds work.”
The 12 Years A Slave actor/producer continued, “We gotta get the script right first to determine if we go further.”
Mireille Enos, who was also in Toronto for Devil’s Knot, also told Variety, “We’ll wait and see how the script turns out but yes, I’d love to come back.”
Back in June, when the film was released and grossed $66 million on opening weekend, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore told The Hollywood Reporter that they were definitely looking into continuing the story.
World War Z was based on Max Brooks’ 2006 book. When the film’s budget skyrocketed to $200 million, Pitt and Paramount nixed plans for turning it into a trilogy, but it looks like that could end up happening anyway.
Pitt will next be seen in a supporting role in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, which has its limited opening on Oct. 12.
image: Paramount