Under normal circumstances, you’d think that the highest-grossing movie in the history of an entire genre that banked upwards of half a billion dollars at the box office would be guaranteed a sequel – especially when one of the biggest stars and one of the brightest filmmakers in the business are attached – but World War Z 2 was consigned to the depths for obvious reasons.
Of course, ending a theatrical run as the top-earning title a particular medium has ever seen isn’t necessarily a guarantee of a future – something that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Warcraft know full well after topping the video game adaptation ranks following their respective releases – but World War Z was an altogether different beast.
For one thing, the prospect of Brad Pitt headlining a blockbuster zombie epic with David Fincher at the helm was mouthwatering to say the least, while the film’s status as the biggest hit zombie cinema has ever witnessed ensured that it stood a decent chance of topping the $540 million hauled in by its predecessor.
Of course, the elephant in the room – which was never well-hidden – was the tortured production that saw World War Z reportedly go as high as $100 million over budget, while a rewrite of the script was then rewritten to deliver an entirely new third act, causing widespread delays and panic in the studio boardroom that failure was staring them right in the face.
It wasn’t, but having been put through the wringer by one of the most notoriously troubled shoots of the modern era, the reasons why World War Z 2 didn’t happen are glaringly clear.