Sony Pictures are keen to follow-up their 2009 zombie horror hit with a sequel. Some five years after the fact, Zombieland 2 has now bagged a writer to pen the next stage of Ruben Fleischer’s zombie apocalypse story.
The Expendables’ Dave Callaham has been tapped by Sony to script the flick. His previous jaunts in the genre are limited. He scripted the Doom adaptation and the original Expendables flick. Most recently he received a story credit on this year’s Godzilla reboot. Fear not, because he’ll be writing under the careful eye of Fleischer who will apparently return to direct.
The news arrives courtesy of Deadline, who also gave word on whether or not the original helmer had officially secured a deal to return to the director’s chair:
Insiders at the studio said no deal with Fleischer, but that of course they are getting serious about mounting the sequel of a 2009 cult favorite sleeper film that grossed $100 million worldwide.
Yes, it’s a bit confusing – is he back or not?
Probably the biggest reason for the sequel stems from healthy box office receipts. The original film made a ton of profit on a miniscule budget. Of course, this isn’t the first time efforts have been made to capitalize on the first film’s success. The spinoff TV show for Amazon fell flat, scoring a ton of negative reviews based on the pilot, which kept the same characters and re-cast them. Since labeled as Zombieland – the TV movie, it’s found its own following.
But not like the legions of fans dedicated to the original outing. Leads Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin would probably be unlikely to return. They’ve all since gone on to bigger movies outside of the genre to much success. It’s unfortunate, too, as I’d love to see the quartet return, with, of course another cameo from Bill Murray.
More news on Zombieland 2 as soon as it lands.