It’s become common practice for a studio to throw around the word “sequel” before a movie hits theaters, in order to drum up buzz and create the mentality for gullible audiences that they must see the first film in a series. While we’ve seen this put into play on poorly buzz such as Green Lantern and John Carter, word has come in this weekend on another film in a similar category, but one that’s actually proven to be a success at the box-office.
Despite Monsters University beating it out for the top spot this weekend, Marc Forster‘s zombie tentpole World War Z exceeded expectations and took in an impressive $66 million domestically and almost double worldwide. Considering the production woes on public display leading up to its bow (see the ending changes in detail here) and generally negative pre-release word, Paramount seems to be happy with what marks Brad Pitt’s largest opening to date.
According to THR, who spoke with studio vice chairman Rob Moore, Paramount is now “actively” developing a sequel to the project. The filmmakers (which includes Pitt as producer) have openly discussed their intentions to make this a trilogy, and now it could actually happen. There’s no telling what the follow-up’s story would focus on, but considering episodic source material of Max Brooks‘ original novel, we have many plotlines to choose from. We imagine that they’ll want Pitt back to lead though, so don’t be surprised if they deviate from the novel again.
Did you see World War Z? Would you like a sequel?