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world war z movie

World War Z, the epic Zombie novel by writer Max Brooks, has been having some financing problems.  Evidently Paramount Pictures has been a little risk adverse noting that they have been looking for business partners to help fund the now 125m + budget of the film.

According to Deadline, coming to the rescue is Larry Ellison (the Leader of Oracle) to help co-finance the project.  Nothing is final at this point, but evidently, the talks are “hot and heavy” with production beginning in June.  Ellison also helped to finance some other projects including Iron Man 2.  Ellison is known for a bit of grand-standing (which is clear based on the SAP TomorrowNow/Oracle trial late last year – which I won’t waste anymore type space on).  If he funds the project, I’ll make a bet with anyone that we’ll see him in a cameo of the movie (just like in Iron Man 2 – where he plays himself).

No doubt this pushes off the rumored 2012 delivery date of the film.

With star power including Brad Pitt and director Marc Forester, my feel is that we’ll see a great Zombie Movie get made….It’s just a matter of when and who steps to the table to help finally finance it.

World War Z, the most amazing zombie book ever written to date, is being turned into a movie that will be released in 2012. We all know that…but the latest news around the adaptation has been scarce. However, finally, I have some of the latest updates around the World War Z movie.

In mid-November, Marc Forster signed on to direct this large scale zombie movie adaptation. Forester is the director of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.  According to IMDB, his other works include indie favorites Monsters Ball, Kite Runner, Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland.

I have no doubt that Forester can tell a good story.  After all, his indie efforts are proof of that.  However, his latest debut as an action movie director has me a little concerned.  Bond, although good, was a little disjointed at parts and the action sequences were just a little rough around the edges.  My hope is that he can learn from his successes and failures from his entire portfolio to pull off one of the greatest, large scale zombie movies of all time.  Time will tell.

Other World War Z movie news includes information about the script.  Michael Straczynski, is revisiting his first draft of the movie adaptation to include some of the notes from from Marc Forster.  According to Rotten Tomatoes, Strazynski had this to say about the script:

“Most zombie movies to this point have been small, focusing on a few people in a house. And this has got real scare. You’re in India with hundreds of boats trying to get out of there with a tidal wave of zombies. The scale of what we’re doing here is phenomenal.”

The writers at Aintitcoolnews.com, who have seen the most recent draft of the “pre-director changes” script, have gone as far as to say that the movie is:

“a horror epic, a serious, sober-minded adult picture”, potentially “a genre-defining piece of work” with Best Picture potential

UPDATE:  7/22/10:  I recently learned that the orginal script that Straczynski wrote has actually been re-written.  The new script was penned by Matthew Michael Carnahan.  Carnahan, writter of Lions for Lambs and the Kingdom (two Iraq war-driven movies).

Max Brooks had this to say about the re-write:

“I’m glad they took their time, and are trying to make the best zombie movie they can,” said Brooks. “I’m so glad they stayed with the project and so glad they found the right team.”

The fact that its being produced by Brad Pitt’s production company is awesome as well.  There are rumors that Pitt himself will play the main interviewer/researcher, Gary Lane.  Pitt would do a great job in this role, and I’m increasingly excited to see this all coming together.

Update 7/21/10:

It was announced at Comic-Con that Brad Pitt will star in the Movie.  No word on which character yet.  The movie is targeted for 2012.

If this movie is truly genre-defining, and has the mass-appeal that I believe they are going for, then this could mean a whole slew of new zombie movies will get funded and created.  I don’t think anybody would argue that we’re in kind of a slump right now. After the success of 28 Days Later, we had a bunch of great and well funded zombie movies come out…but that just isn’t the case these days.  In fact, it seemed to me that Quarantine, the most recent Zombie movie to hit the big screen, tried to stay away from the fact that it was a zombie film in the previews and marketing….

I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

“QUARANTINE”
Remake of the Spanish film REC, in which a TV news crew follows a squad of firefighters into a quarantined apartment building and confronts the horrors dwelling within.
Release Date: October 10th

“The Road”
From the novel by Cormac McCarthy: In a postapocalyptic America, a father tries to lead his son to safety through a landscape inhabited by diseased killers (like 28 days later so it qualifies as a zombie movie).
Release Date: November 14th

“GALLOWWALKER”
A gunfighter’s victims return as the vengeance-seeking walking dead.
Release Date: TBA

“Zombieland”
Written by the team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (“The Joe Schmo Show”), “Zombieland” revolves around a mismatched pair of survivors (including Woody Harrelson) who find friendship and redemption in a world overrun by zombies. Harrelson plays one of the men, a zombie fighter named Albuquerque.
Release Date: TBA

“World War Z”
Ten years after the human victory over the world wide Zombie epidemic, referred to as World War Z, Max Brooks scours the world collecting the stories and experiences of those who have survived the conflict that almost eradicated humanity.
Release Date: 2010 tentative

Footage of a recent outbreak in Europe: