David Fincher, director of cult films such as ‘Seven’ and ‘Fight Club’, has another powerful thriller on the way: his ‘The Killer’ (4.5 out of 5 stars in the FILMSTARTS review) will be released in cinemas on October 26, 2023 before it comes to Netflix on November 10. As part of his press tour for the film, Fincher spoke with the but also about projects that were never realized – for example the zombie sequel “World War Z 2”.
The exciting undead action film ‘World War Z’ starring Brad Pitt became the highest-grossing zombie film of all time at the box office in 2013. The worldwide box office result of 540 million dollars was incredibly good – but the sky-high production costs ultimately ensured that “World War 2” was not a financial blow despite the mega success at the box office. And There would also be concerns about the budget and that is why David Fincher was in the director’s chair The planned sequel was never made.
This is what ‘World War Z 2’ should look like
Of Finger talked about his plans for the canceled sequel and made an interesting comparison: “It was a bit like ‘The last of us‘.” Ultimately, he was glad nothing came of it, as the actual ‘The Last Of Us’ franchise had so much more foundation to cover the exact same subject matter. The planned title sequence of “World War Z 2” would have used a small parasite similar to the HBO series.
But what about the possible remake of ‘World War Z’? David Fincher just dropped a small but very curious line that would perk up the ears of all fans of Max Brooks’ novel. Fincher asked whether the planned sequel would have been a more faithful adaptation of the book. To which Fincher replied: “No, no. But there are discussions about how to do that.”
New film adaptation of ‘World War Z’ closer to the original?
This is natural far from an official remake announcement. But Fincher makes it clear here that this is at least being considered – and that wouldn’t be a complete surprise: after all, Marc Forster’s adaptation deviated significantly from the original novel, with a completely different ending, for example. This was bitter not only for the book’s fans, but also for the novelist himself, who declared that his book had not been ruined, but ignored.
A more faithful film adaptation would tell us a very different story than ‘World War Z’ – an approach that could interest studios, especially as there would likely be less focus on (expensive) action, as the book is more about the social and political changes following the zombie apocalypse than a visually stunning zombie carnage.
In the film ‘World War Z’ (currently showing on Netflix, for example) Brad Pitt plays UN employee Gerry Lane, who, together with his family in New York, is surprised by the outbreak of a pandemic that turns people into zombie-like creatures. Chaos breaks out in the streets and Gerry and his family are able to escape to an aircraft carrier. On behalf of the United Nations, Gerry was supposed to participate in the search for an antidote – but the clock is ticking…