PARAMOUNT CANCELS WORLD WAR Z2, BUT WHY? CAN BRAD PITT SAVE THE SEQUEL?
So I’m actually a little bitter about this. If you are a zombie movie fan you already know what I’m talking about. The movie, World War Z, would not have happened without Brad Pitt’s investment and dedication. The movie had several issues in production. They had to totally rewrite and reshoot the movie’s third act. That inflated production costs and hit Paramount’s profit margins. But the movie made $540 million worldwide! That’s the biggest Pitt flick, ever. So all us zombie movie fans knew we’d get a sequel, hopefully one that was even better than the first. But Paramount just cancelled World War Z2 months away from shooting this summer. So can it be saved?
Read More: Here’s That Time Elizabeth Taylor Chewed Me Out
PARAMOUNT ABANDONS FILM JUST MONTHS BEFORE SHOOTING TO BEGIN, WHY?
That’s an open question at this point. Z2 has been in development for a number of years now. It’s gone thru a couple directors, finally settling on David Fincher. He’s no lightweight. Z2 was already in pre-production. That’s usually a good sign. They had already hired staff to do principal photography for locations around the world. But the word is Paramount cancelled Z2 because of, you guessed, it…. Budget issues. So we Zombie fans already know we aren’t fans of corporate zombies. But the Paramount zombie execs only prove the point. They knew the budget for months! It seems the studio with new chief, Jim Gianopulos, hadn’t even committed Z2 anywhere on their release schedule.
Related:
PARAMOUNT’S NEW LEADERSHIP IS AS STEADY AS A KLINGON DRUNK ON ROMULAN ALE
So what changed? Did their “balls drop off?” Oddly, they cancelled Z2 within a week of giving the green light to TWO new Mission: Impossible films. So sure, the most recent Tom Cruise masturbation was well done and made a ton of money. So what was Z2’s budget? We don’t know. We do know that the highest grossing movie of all time was It. But we also know that It was in a similar purgatory before the movie finally happened. But who knows? I for one hope that Brad Pitt can save Z2 from these flighty studio exec zombies. They are, after all, the same zombies who cancelled Star Trek. Right after celebrating 50 years of star Trek. Sort of.
