Earlier this year it was teased by writer Steven Knight that the upcoming World War Z 2 would potentially not start up right at the end of the first movie, leaving some to question whether or not Brad Pitt would be returning to star in the sequel in addition to serving as a producer. Well, if new reports can be believed, it looks like we will be seeing the return of Gerry Lane in part two.
In a report from Variety about World War Z 2 landing a release date, it's noted that Brad Pitt will return to play the starring role in the upcoming blockbuster. It hasn't yet been confirmed what the new movie will be about - especially since the last narrative kind of wrapped everything up in a bow - but we can expect that director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible) is planning to deliver some big time scares from the living dead/infected.
It's not a huge surprise that Brad Pitt is going to return to star in World War Z 2, given that the first movie was the highest grossing film of his career, but what does make it interesting is the fact that Pitt really doesn't do that many sequels. The guy's career is filled to the brim with big titles that made a lot of money at the box office, but to date the only sequels he has ever been in are Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. Considering that those movies also included the star power of George Clooney, Matt Damon and many others, it's notable that World War Z 2 will be the first series that he has headlined himself.
Beyond Brad Pitt's involvement, there is another twist to this story, and it involves the movie's set release date. Paramount Pictures has revealed that they plan to have the movie out on June 9, 2017, which would be prime box office real estate if it were not for the fact that Fox already claimed that weekend for Fantastic Four 2. Given all of the not-so-positive buzz that's been surrounding Josh Trank's Fantastic Four - due out in August - one is forced to wonder if this might be Paramount playing a hunch that Fox won't want to go through with the sequel plans that are on the books. Either that or Paramount just feels that their property is strong enough that Fox will feel the need to eventually bump their title.
With the movie not coming out until 2017, it's probably going to be a while before we hear any more big concrete details about its development. After all, cameras probably won't start rolling until the first half of next year, which means that casting may not start happening until the end of 2015. Regardless of the timetable, we'll keep you posted.
