Remember World War Z starring Brad Pitt? Back in 2013, it was a huge summer blockbuster inspired by the 2006 novel by Max Brooks, but with too many differences from the source material to really be called an adaptation. Well, apparently Paramount still remembers its commercial waves well and is looking to the title when mapping out its future at the movies. But, does it mean the long-teased World War Z 2 from David Fincher could finally see the light of day?

World War Z Was Just Named A Priority During Paramount Meeting

The Paramount Skydance Corporation has recently gotten a new chairman and CEO in David Ellison, who met with journalists on Wednesday to discuss his plans for the future of movies and television from the studio, per The Hollywood Reporter. While it’s no surprise he,and his colleagues name-dropped franchises like Star Trek, Top Gun and Transformers, the big head-turner was when World War Z was also named in the chit-chat as one of the studio’s “priorities.”

The zombie title was discussed amidst the company’s top brass sharing their plans to make “the No. 1 destination for the most talented artists and filmmakers in the world” and Eliison’s particular hopes to make more movies exclusively for theaters. World War Z was named in the studio’s plans alongside the interest for more horror and R-rated comedies to be featured in multiplexes.

What Happened To World War Z 2, And What Could Be Next?

It’s interesting to hear World War Z be named after World War Z’s sequel starring Brad Pitt and helmed by David Fincher was cancelled in 2019 after it had been greenlit by Paramount following the success of the 2013 movie. The reference to World War Z could signal a second chance for the shelved project.

Funny enough, Brad Pitt and David Fincher are currently working together on the spinoff of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood that's reportedly called The Adventures of Cliff Booth, where he’s reprising his role as Cliff Booth following starring in the Quentin Tarantino movie. Production for the project that has the director/actor combo from Se7en, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button started last month.

It’s certainly possible that after Pitt and Fincher work together again, they could be inspired to make a great zombie movie together. But at the same time, it’s also very likely World War Z would be completely rebooted with a new cast and filmmakers. The last time Pitt talked about it 2019, he called the sequel’s story “really good.”

It’s also worth noting that World War Z was Brad Pitt’s most successful commercial film he starred in for a long time before the recent box office haul for F1, which has surpassed it. We’ll keep an eye out, but I imagine if Paramount is looking at more World War Z, one would guess they'd try to get ahold of one of the biggest movie stars in the world to resume his leading man duties.

We have seen many great TV shows based on movies and even more great movies based on TV shows. However, there are also quite a few movies that spawned now-forgotten TV spin-offs or never had the chance to be adapted for television in the first place. Let's take a look at some of our favorite cinematic classics with captivating stories that we would love to see continue (or be reimagined) on the small screen.

The Mad Max Movies (1979-2024)

George Miller's Mad Max movies (1981’s The Road Warrior, in particular) planted the seed for how modern post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows are depicted. As happy as we have been to see the saga continue with acclaimed sequels like 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, we would love to see even more stories from the Wasteland in a TV series, even if that means an animated adaptation.

Mystery Men (1999)

A superhero movie that deserves a reboot is Mystery Men — a sharp, quirky comic book satire way ahead of its time that follows a misfit group of wannabe costumed vigilantes. As superhero movies and TV shows dominate Hollywood, now is the perfect time for a series adaptation that either brings back Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, and others in their original roles or is even more faithful to the source material, which is about a man with a flaming carrot for a head.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Following the success of the Apple TV+ original TV show called Servant, which he produces, we believe one of the best M. Night Shyamalan movies deserves to be brought to the small screen. Our choice would be a continuation of 1999's The Sixth Sense, which would see Haley Joel Osment reprise his Academy Award-nominated role as Cole Sear as an adult who continues to use his gift to help dead people in need.

The Goonies (1985)

Instead of the Goonies sequel that fans have been waiting for, there was once an idea to develop a TV series about a group of friends who try to create their own version of the classic kids movie on a tight budget. We cannot deny that is an interesting idea, but we would still rather see a TV show that sees the grown-up stars of the original (including Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, and Ke Huy Quan) return to go on a new adventure with their onscreen children.

Dazed And Confused (1993)

One could argue that we already got a great show which depicts the teen lifestyle in the disco era with That '70s Show. However, it certainly did not capture the decade's essence as genuinely as a more direct spin-off of Richard Linklater's awesome party movie, Dazed and Confused, probably could.

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

There have actually been two previous attempts to adapt the whimsical fantasy epic, The NeverEnding Story, into a TV show — one animated and one live-action — but neither lasted longer than a season. Perhaps with strong writing, a decent budget, and modern special effects, a new series based on Michael Ende's novel could be a real hit.

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984)

One of the best movies and TV shows about the multiverse is The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, which stars Peter Weller in the title role of a rock star who moonlights as an interdimensional hero. Films and series dealing with that topic are more popular these days than ever, which means now is a perfect time to adapt the cult favorite sci-fi comedy into a series, perhaps even an animated version that brings Weller, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, and Clancy Brown back to voice their original roles.

Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark (1988)

One star who has already teased the idea of bringing her iconic and hilarious alter ego back to the small screen in animated form is Cassandra Peterson, who is better known for hosting special presentations of great horror movies as Elvira. She was first brought to the big screen in Elvira: Mistress of the Dark but if a cinematic return is not in her future, an animated Elvira series would be more than welcome.

Escape From New York (1981)

What makes Escape from New York, one of director John Carpenter’s best movies, an enduring cult hit is its anti-heroic protagonist, Snake Plissken, who is tasked with rescuing the president from a maximum security prison that used to be the Big Apple. Fans would love to see more of Kurt Russell as the hardened, eye-patch-wearing war veteran struggling to survive the dystopian landscape of his war-torn future, perhaps in an animated continuation of the original.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

We are surprised there was not already an attempt to capitalize on the record-breaking success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with a TV show that would reimagine the story and show the alien on more bizarre adventures with Elliot and his family. After all, most might agree that it sounds like a better follow-up than that horror-centric E.T. sequel that Steven Spielberg once pitched.

Candyman (1992)

Producer Jordan Peele and director Nia DaCosta’s 2021 requel to Candyman — Bernard Rose's adaptation of Clive Barker's short story — reimagined Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd) as one of many victims of injustice who assumed the titular mantle. Why not build from this concept with a horror anthology TV show that explores other "Candymen" and how they became mysterious urban legends in their respective communities?

Mean Girls (2004)

Screenwriter Tina Fey and director Mark Waters' Mean Girls was instantly considered one of the best high school movies of all time and spawned a hit Broadway musical that was later remade for cinema. The only thing missing from this franchise is a TV spin-off that further explores the volatile complexities of the teen social scene that is, perhaps, told from the point of view of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) and Regina George's (Rachel McAdams) children. 

The Incredibles (2004)

There have actually been several TV shows inspired by some of the best Pixar movies, except for the one that, arguably, deserves a spin-off the most, The Incredibles. It is a wonder there is not already a Disney+ series that either shows more from the glory days of vigilanteism (as briefly depicted in the opening flashback) or follows the continuing adventures of the eponymous superhero family.

World War Z (2013)

Max Brooks' original novel that inspired the Brad Pitt-led World War Z was a depiction of an ongoing conflict between the living and the dead but framed as an oral history. Continuing the story and telling it from multiple perspectives, perhaps even as faux docuseries, would be a great way to honor the source material and give us even more zombie action.

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets (2017)

Just because Luc Besson's otherwise visually stunning space epic, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, flopped at the box office, that does not mean we should not see more from the titular intergalactic crime fighter and his partner. Besides, there is enough source material from the original French comic book to inspire seasons' worth of cosmic adventures for Valerian and Laureline.

Eternals (2021)

Some might argue that Chloé Zhao's Marvel movie based on Jack Kirby's comic about a group of immortal warriors would have worked better as a TV show in the first place. Considering its very loose ties to the MCU canon, they could easily start from scratch and produce a new episodic interpretation of Eternals for Disney+ and no one would bat an eye.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Fans of Shane Black have long demanded a sequel to his quirky crime thriller about a pair of mismatched private eyes brought together by a perplexing case in 1970s Los Angeles. Even though a series adaptation of The Nice Guys might not be the same without Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling's chemistry, it might be fun to see even more eccentric cases featuring their characters, nonetheless.

Bad Times At The El Royale (2018)

Writer and director Drew Goddard's star-studded mystery thriller, Bad Times at the El Royale, is a prime example of a movie that could easily be remade as a miniseries, which could even improve its hefty story. On the other hand, an anthology series depicting even more shady, violent activity at the eponymous hotel could be a fun idea, too.

 Ready Player One (2018)

Director Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel, Ready Player One, brought to life a spectacular world in which your greatest pop culture obsessions can become your reality. Therefore, with the proper licensing, there are infinite storytelling possibilities in the VR gaming simulation known as the OASIS that we would love to see in a series.

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

A group of small-town citizens struggles to survive when motor vehicles and other mechanical and electrical devices become sentient and bloodthirsty after a comet passes over in Maximum Overdrive. While the Stephen King-helmed adaptation of his own short story, Trucks, is one of the most heavily criticized films based on his work, the concept could still make for a fun and unique miniseries or even an ongoing post-apocalyptic drama.

Bright (2017)

From director David Ayer, Bright stars Will Smith as a human cop who becomes partners with an orc (played by Joel Edgerton), much to his chagrin, until they are forced to set aside their differences and prevent a magic wand from falling into the wrong hands. With a greater focus on its world-building and character development, a crime procedural set in the same modernized fantasy world as this Netflix original film could be truly fascinating.

L.A. Confidential (1997)

In 2003, a pilot for a series based on the Academy Award-winning modern film noir, L.A. Confidential, was filmed (and starring Kiefer Sutherland) but did not get picked up, and talks of another try in 2017 would also go nowhere. We would say there is no reason why one of the most celebrated detective movies of its time should not be able to continue as a procedural dripping with '50s-era style.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019)

If you ask us, producer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal's adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark would have worked better as an anthology horror movie instead of, essentially, a darker version of 2015's Goosebumps about teens plagued by an evil book. An even better idea might be an anthology TV series that brings writer Alvin Schwartz and illustrator Stephen Gammell’s popular series of chilling folk tales to life one episode at a time.

Clue (1985)

In 2011, there was a miniseries based on the board game, Clue, but with an all-teen cast instead of the likes of Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, and others who were portrayed in Jonathan Lynn's hilarious film adaptation. We recommend bringing those classic characters back but re-envisioning them and their purposes for a whole new kind of mystery told over the course of several episodes

Halloweentown (1998)

Considering it spawned three sequels, it is surprising that Disney Channel never made one of the family-friendly network's spookiest original movies, Halloweentown, into a series. The not-so-scary witch movie introduces so much that could be explored in the titular realm where ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and other creatures that we know as going bump in the night live in harmony.

Sky High (2005)

One of the best superhero movies not based on a comic is Disney's Sky High, which sort of feels like a story about costumed vigilantes if written by John Hughes. There were so many characters at the titular high school for superheroes-in-training who deserve to get their time in the spotlight and could with a quasi-anthology series taking place there.

To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Drag queens are more popular these days than they were when Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo donned wigs, heels, dresses, and heavy makeup in one of the best movies about drag performers, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. It seems that now is the perfect time for a series that continues the adventures of Noxeema, Vida, and Chi-Chi, if not another irresistible trio of road-tripping drag queens.

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes! (1978)

While not widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest horror-comedy movies, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! boasts an uproariously unique concept that deserves to be revisited, but not with a fifth feature-length installment. We propose something like the early '90s animated spin-off series but reworked into a live-action project that pokes fun at the recent wave of post-apocalyptic survival shows like The Walking Dead, but with giant, man-eating fruit running amock.

Last Action Hero (1995)

Imagine a series that builds off of the plot of Last Action Hero — in which a boy magically enters the world of an action movie — and follows a young pop culture obsessive given the ability to enter the world of any TV show or movie he wants and offering help in their situations. It would be especially cool to see the main character crossover with an actual current series each week but, if not legally feasible, an adventure series that pokes fun at genre conventions in the same way the original did might still be fun.

Major Payne (1995)

One of Damon Wayans' funniest roles is the titular, discharged marine who mentors JROTC cadets in Major Payne. A sitcom based on the film could be a fun coming-of-age comedy, especially if the original actor came back to reprise is role. If not, it sounds like a perfect job for his son, Damon Wayans Jr.

Drive (2011)

One of the best Ryan Gosling movies, Drive, ends with the skilled wheelman known only as Driver (Gosling) forced to go on the run after a heist goes horribly wrong. Director Nicolas Winding Refn's neo-noir demands no continuation, but a series following the nameless hero offering his skills to more people in need, all the while looking over his shoulder, could be fun.

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

Director Stephen Norrington's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is one of the least-liked comic book movies of its time, with even star Sean Connery admitting he hated it. Perhaps a series that gives each of the iconic characters — including Allan Quartermain, Dr. Henry Jekyll, The Invisible Man, and the vampiric Mina Harker — room to breathe would be a better way to do Alan Moore's original comic justice.

We can probably think of another large set of movies that deserve TV shows, but for now, getting these 32 off of the ground sounds like a good idea.

We all know movies like Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, and Titanic have made a ton of cash at the box office, with each comfortably eclipsing the $2 billion line. However, there are other films whose impressive theatrical runs aren’t as remembered, despite making a ton of money before they left the silver screen. Here are 32 movies you might not know made over $500 million, per Box Office Mojo.

The Smurfs (2011)

Remember The Smufs, the 2011 CGI/live-action hybrid starring Neil Patrick Harris and those titular blue villagers from the classic cartoon of the same name? If not, you’ll probably be even more surprised to learn the forgotten film made a staggering $564 million at the box office. Sure, the vast majority of that was in international markets, but still!

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Despite being far from the best Indiana Jones movie, 2008’s The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happens to be the best-performing entry in the franchise with a ridiculous $787 million theatrical run. Sometimes folks go in droves to see a bad movie, especially when there’s a nearly 20-year break between entries in a franchise.

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Mission: Impossible II is considered by many to be the worst film in the Tom Cruise action franchise, and there’s a case to be made for that. And even though we don’t look at the 2000 movie fondly, there’s no denying the fact that moviegoers were all about it nearly a quarter-century ago, as the film made $546 million worldwide during its theatrical run.

The Grinch (2018)

It’s no secret that animated movies make a ton of cash, especially releases that appeal to both children and adults. And it appears that was the case for Illumination’s 2018 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic Christmas book, The Grinch. This movie, which we often forget about, made an impressive $540 million back in late 2018.

The Passion Of The Christ (2004)

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was one of the most talked about movies of the early 2000s, but we honestly forgot it made THIS much money during its run. The celebrated or controversial film, depending on who you ask, made a mind-boggling $612 million worldwide, with most of that being in the United States (remember all those church groups buying up entire screenings?).

Mamma Mia! (2008)

We all remember Mamma Mia! for its catchy renditions of ABBA classics, a fun-loving spin on a Broadway musical, and its all-star cast, but what’s often forgotten is the fact that it raked in a ton of cash. Though the lion’s share of its $695 million gross was in international markets, there’s no denying this Greek-set romance story was a success.

Ted (2012)

The 2012 summer box office was wild with successful movies like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, but there was another major hit released between two of the best superhero movies of all time: Ted. Seth MacFarlane’s raunchy comedy about a man and his stuffed animal was a massive hit with audiences, bringing in $549 million by the time everything was said and done.

Cinderella (2015)

There have been a crazy number of Disney live-action adaptations over the past decade or so, but one that is often left out of the conversation is Cinderella. Though not as successful as The Lion King or The Jungle Book, this Lily James-led fantasy film brought in an impressive $542 million worldwide back in 2015.

The Meg (2018)

People must really like to see a) Jason Statham movies or b) shark-centric thrillers or c) all of the above because The Meg, a seemingly non-descript 2018 action flick took a massive bite out of the box office with a wild $529-million run a little more than a half-decade ago. And while its sequel didn’t reach as high of a mark, it still performed really well.

Meet The Fockers (2004)

No one would hold anything against you if you didn’t remember a single thing from Meet the Fockers, the 2004 sequel to the Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro 2000 comedy, Meet the Parents. This is especially true when it comes to how well the movie performed worldwide: $523 million.

World War Z (2013)

One of the more recent additions to the list of movies with disastrous productions, World War Z was able to turn it around and absolutely kill it in theaters back in the summer of 2013. Despite all the problems during production and post-production, as well as OK reviews, this Brad Pitt zombie thriller brought in $540 million worldwide.

Night At The Museum (2006)

The Night at the Museum franchise has gone on to produce multiple sequels and give families something to watch on family movie night, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that the Ben Stiller-led fantasy comedy performed well at the box office. But did you know it made $574 million back in 2006? That’s a stack of cash.

Life Of Pi (2012)

Sometimes it feels like Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is a movie that has been lost to the sands of time, but let’s not forget that the 2012 book-to-screen adaptation of one of the most decorated novels of the early 21st century made more than $609 million during its run. It didn’t perform all too well in the States ($125 million), but its international gross was something to behold.

The Croods (2013)

Remember The Croods, the 2013 animated film that saw Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Kenner voice a family of cavemen? If the answer is no (or even if it is yes), you’ll probably be surprised to learn that it made $587 million worldwide during its theatrical run, which was enough to launch an entire franchise that included movies, shows, and even video games.

The Boss Baby (2017)

The Boss Baby is a movie many of us probably remember for one reason or another, meaning we either watched the Alec Baldwin-led animated film or saw its trailer during our visits to the theater in 2017. Well, the movie was not only a hit, but a massive hit, bringing in a total of $527 million before it finally left the big screen.

Hancock (2008)

Here’s something crazy to think about: Hancock, the 2008 Will Smith-led superhero movie made more money at the box office than Iron Man, the film that launched the MCU and changed Hollywood as we know it today. 

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Not only was Kong: Skull Island the most successful movie in the Monsterverse, but it also performed really well at the box office back in early 2017. By the time everything was said and done, this monster movie made a staggering $569 million worldwide.

The Martian (2015)

We’re not knocking the movie, but Ridley Scott’s The Martian somehow won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 73rd Golden Globes, which is crazy to think about. Know what else is crazy? Oh, just the fact that this 2015 Matt Damon movie made $631 million months before it received all those accolades.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World is nowhere near the top of the ranking of best Marvel movies, and at one point it was seen as a failure or misstep for the young franchise. However, it still made $645 million worldwide. Sure, it’s not quite Avengers numbers, but this mops the floor with some of the later MCU films.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

The first Venom movie made more than $850 million back in 2018. And while its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, didn’t come close to touching that, its $506 million run is impressive considering several factors. The biggest of these is the fact that it came out in October 2021, a time in which theaters were still struggling to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Men In Black 3 (2012)

Men in Black 3 wasn’t necessarily a bad movie, but it’s wild to think that the third entry in the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones franchise would be its most successful. Released in 2012, this sci-fi action comedy brought in an otherworldly $654 million in box office receipts.

Maleficent (2014)

2014 was a massive year at the box office with movies like Godzilla, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Interstellar bringing in bundles of cash and millions of moviegoers to screens around the world. Another addition to that list was the Angelina Jolie-led Maleficent, which earned $760 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest movies of all time.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

The Da Vinci Code is a bad movie with one of the worst Tom Hanks hairdos of all time. However, Ron Howard’s 2006 adaptation of Dan Brown’s conspiracy thriller was a huge hit with audiences and made $760 million worldwide.

2012 (2009)

Roland Emmerich’s 2012 is one of the craziest disaster movies of all time, but it’s also one of the most successful, which is somehow hard to believe. Released in 2009, a time in which people still thought the world would end in 2012, this John Cusack-led thriller brought in an impressive $791 million worldwide.

The Secret Life Of Pets (2016)

This one is wild, but did you know The Secret Life of Pets made $876 million at the box office back in 2016? No, well, it actually happened and we can’t figure out a) how it happened and b) why we don’t recall its massive success. But with Illumination being behind the runaway hit, it shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

A wildly inaccurate historical film or a biopic everyone needs to see depending on who you ask, Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the biggest movies of 2018. And while Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther dominated the box office conversation that year, let’s not forget that the Queen movie made $911 million before it left the big screen.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald (2018)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald didn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor or the more popular Harry Potter movies, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a success. In fact, the 2018 sequel made a cool $656 million in the weeks following its release, which is quite a feat.

Suicide Squad (2016)

David Ayer’s Suicide Squad has received a ton of crap over the years for not really making sense and feeling like multiple movies taped together instead of one cohesive film. And while we can go on and on about the 2016 DCEU movie’s shortcomings, the movie did happen to make $749 million at the box office. 

Beauty And The Beast (2017)

Not only did the 2017 live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast make more than $500 million at the box office, but it also crossed over into the $1 billion territory, which is quite surprising. All in all, the movie made $1.2 billion, which makes it one of the most successful films of all time.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

Is Alice in Wonderland a good movie? No, not really. But did Tim Burton’s 2010 adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll novel make a ton of cash? Yeah, by the boatloads. This wild, nonsensical, and nightmarish movie brought in more than $1 billion back in the day, which is mindboggling.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is often considered not only one of the worst movies in the franchise but also one of Michael Bay’s worst films. However, this 2009 summer blockbuster made a mind-blowing $836 million at the box office, which was more than $100 million more than its predecessor.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Though it didn’t make nearly as much as some of the earlier movies in the comic book franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse didn’t have a terrible run upon its release in 2016. In fact, the movie, which saw Oscar Isaac play a villain that looked a lot like a certain Power Rangers big bad, made a cool $544 million by the time it left theaters.

Over the years, there have been plenty of movies and TV shows that center around planes. But for many of us out there, flying can be a scary experience... especially if you don't do it often. And as such, these are 32 movies you should never watch on an Airplane if you're scared of flying. 

To clarify: a lot of these titles are great projects that are worth the watch. But if you're someone who is naturally nervous when traveling in the air, they might not be the best choice for you to watch mid-flight. In no particular order, here are some movies someone of that nature might want to avoid. 

Snakes on a Plane

2006's Snakes on a Plane is a campy action thriller, one that has been endlessly quotable and meme-able in the years since its release. Despite the comedy involved in the project, watching it on a plane is probably not the smartest call.

Gravity

While not set on a plane per se, Gravity is a movie that would still give me the willies if I were on a plane. After all, Sandra Bullock is on an aircraft high above Earth, and eventually crash lands in the third act. Maybe it's better to have seen Gravity in theaters.

Flightplan

Flightplan hit theaters in 2005 and was a fun psychological thriller focused on a mother whose child mysteriously disappears in the midst of a long flight. Jodie Foster is incredible as always, but this could be anxiety-inducing to watch while flying. 

Red Eye

Red Eye came from the great Wes Craven and stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy, who admitted he wasn't a huge fan of the movie. It's a thriller that's almost entirely set on a plane, so anxious fliers might want to avoid it.

Final Destination

This entry might be the most obvious on this list. In the OG Final Destination, Devon Sawa's Alex Browning has a premonition of his plane exploding While he and a few classmates rush out before it explodes, death follows them as they die in horrifying ways.

United 93

United 93 came out in 2006, just a few years after the events of 9/11. Given that this movie tells the emotional true story of United Airlines Flight 93, it's a movie you want to stay far away from while flying. 

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a cult classic 2001 film that follows Jake Gyllenhaal's title character as he navigates the space-time continuum. It all starts when a jet engine mysteriously crashes into his bedroom, and that mysterious doomed flight is a big part of the overall story. 

Plane

Plane is a 2023 thriller starring Mike Colter and Gerard Butler, which starts when lightning hits a plane that carries both police and a homicide suspect. This unlikely duo has to work together after the plane goes down, but that opening sequence is not great for nervous flyers. 

Sully

Tom Hanks stars as the title character of Sully, aka Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger the pilot who famously landed on the Hudson River in 2009 after striking a flock of birds. It's a solid movie, but not exactly what one wants to watch on a plane. 

The Mountain Between Us

The Mountain Between Us is another movie on this list that is kickstarted by a plane crash. This time it's a super small plane carrying Kate Winslet and Idris Elba's characters as the pilot suffers a stroke mid-flight. 

Cast Away

There are a few Tom Hanks movies on this list, although Cast Away is his most synonymous plane movie. He ends up stranded on an island after his FedEx cargo plane crashes, leading to a moving adventure and iconic friendship with Wilson. 

Society of the Snow

Society of the Snow is a 2023 survival drama about Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which hit a glacier in 1972. A Uruguayan rugby football team was forced to live in the unforgiving Andes Mountains, eventually resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. 

Fight Club

Fight Club is a cult classic from this list, which tells the story of Tyler Durden's descent into madness and therapy. The narrator speaks to Tyler for the first time on a plane, after having terrifying visions of a midair collision as well as a sobering conversation about plane safety that's nightmare fuel for nervous flyers. 

World War Z

World War Z is an apocalypse movie, with Brad Pitt's Mitch Buchannon trying to survive a never-ending supply of zombies One of the movie's most chilling scenes is set in a plane, where zombies cause all sorts of claustrophobic chaos to ill-fated passengers. 

The Incredibles

The Incredibles is a beloved Disney/Pixar movie, but there's one sequence that's not exactly ideal for nervous flyers. The villainous Syndrome shoots Elastigirl and the kids out of the sky, and it's only their superpowers that save them from doom. 

Flight 666

Flight 666 is a 2018 independent horror movie that is truly the thing of nightmares for nervous flyers. It follows as a zombie outbreaks begins mid-flight, bringing all sorts of chaos for those trying to reach their final destination. 

Air Force One

Air Force One is a 1997 hijack movie that shows the titular plane being taken over by bad guys while the President (Harrison Ford) is on board. It's up to the Commander in Chief to save those on board. And while I love the movie it's not exactly what you want to watch mid-flight. 

Moon

Moon follows Sam Rockwell's Sam Bell as he finishes his three-year solitary time residing on the far side of the Moon. But the idea of being left alone floating on a ship is one that might be chilling for nervous flyers. 

Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down is an acclaimed 2001 film that's considered one of the best war movies of all time. But its storyline is very much inspired by a helicopter going down, which isn't the type of programming one wants to watch when on a plane. 

Con Air

Nicolas Cage's Con Air is one of several movies centered on a plane getting hijacked on this list. While there are parts of Con Air that make no sense it's a classic... just not one that's for folks who hate flying. 

Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III movie might not be high on the ranking of Jurassic Park movies, but it's got some great things going for it. But there's also a plane crash sequence, so it's probably better to re-watch this movie on the ground. 

Passengers

There are a number of space movies on this list, as there is something similar about being lost in space and traveling on a plane for nervous flyers. Passengers hit theaters in 2016 and follows two protagonists (Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt) who are woken 90 years early from their medically-induced hibernation while traveling to a new planet. 

No Way Up

No Way Up is a 2024 thriller that combines two tried and true horror elements: plane crashes and sharks. A group of passengers try to survive as their crashed plane sinks into deep water, and it's truly a nightmare scenario.

Alive

Alive is one of the many survival movies on this particular list. The 1993 flick follows the true story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes with a team of rugby players on board.

Non-Stop

Non-Stop is a Liam Neeson-led thriller that hit theaters back in 2014. The movie ex-NYPD officer turned Federal Air Marshal who is tasked with finding a killer on a flight from New York City to London, and it's not really what you want to watch in the air. 

7500

7500 was released in 2019 on Amazon Prime and features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a pilot who is faced with an attempted hijacking situation. For obvious reasons, this is not what nervous fliers will want to watch on a plane. 

Alien

Alien is considered one of the best horror movies of all time, but it might not be great on a plane. Just like Ripley is trapped on the Nostromo, it's possible that nervous flyers might feel the same way when watching the movie on a plane. 

Airplane! is a classic comedy set on a flight where all sorts of crazy shenanigans occur. But as funny as it is (and while some fans may have what-in-the-heck reactions), some of the hi-jinx might be frightening if you're watching it in the air.

Flight

Flight came out in 2012, and revolves around Denzel Washington's Captain William "Whip" Whitaker, who is an alcoholic pilot to manages to crash land his aircraft. Those scenes, as well as the idea that the man flying a plane might be intoxicated, are sure to be anxiety-inducing for folks who hate flying. 

Turbulence

Turbulence hit theaters in 1997, and even its poster is enough to strike fear into nervous flyers. There are mid-flight shootouts, an emergency landing, and all sorts of things that you'd never want to experience IRL. 

Wall-E

Wall-E is one of the best Pixar movies and a personal favorite of mine. But watching it on a flight might not be ideal, especially as passengers are essentially trapped in their chairs like the humans in the movie's story. 

Fearless

1993's Fearless is a movie featuring one of Kurt Russell's best performances. But the movie opens on a terrifying plane crash sequence that's definitely not meant for folks who are scared of or hate flying. 

A lot can happen to a movie between the time a script is written and a premiere is held, and in some cases, a whole lot of bad can happen. Over the years, Best Picture winners, some of the greatest horror movies of all time, and cult classics have experienced nightmarish productions, with some being far worse than anyone could have ever imagined.

Come with us as we go through the history of Hollywood and break down 32 movies with disastrous productions that have since become the stuff of legend. And while we will be avoiding spoilers, some details are not for the faint of heart.

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1982)

Arguably the most infamous disastrous production, Twilight Zone: The Movie is mostly remembered for the on-set deaths of Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who were all killed in a freak accident involving a helicopter. Slate would later write extensively about the accident, what led to it, and how the segment’s director, John Landis, dealt with the ramifications.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Though known as one of the best war movies ever made, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic is more times than not remembered for being one of the most intense, grueling, and disastrous productions. An overweight and ill-prepared Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen’s heart attack, and several other issues have since been well-documented in documentaries like Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of those movies that so many people wanted to work on, but it just wasn’t in the cards. The early dismissal of original director Richard Stanley (he was replaced by John Frankenheimer less than a week into shooting), Marlon Brando’s odd behavior, and Val Kilmer stepping in when Bruce Willis left shortly before production began all contributed to the madness on set.

Rust (Unreleased)

Who knows if the world will ever get to see Rust, as Joel Souza’s Western film has been wrapped up in all kinds of investigations, criminal trials, and litigation ever since a freak accident on set claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. According to the Los Angeles Times, star Alec Baldwin was practicing a shooting scene when his gun fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring Souza. Production has been suspended ever since.

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Werner Herzog’s 1982 epic Fitzcarraldo tells the story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) as he attempts to transport a steamship through rivers and over a steep hill to find his fame and fortune. Herzog, not one to take the easy way out, decided that he and his crew would drag an actual 320-ton ship up a hill, as seen in the must-watch Les Blank documentary, Burden of Dreams. 

The Shining (1980)

In addition to having some great improvised movie moments, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining also has a reputation for being a movie where the tyrannical director pushed and pushed and pushed his cast to their breaking point. Kubrick’s primary target, Shelley Duvall, had an especially hard time on set, according to The Mirror, and was left in poor health because of the intense and chaotic shoot.

Jaws (1975)

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 summer blockbuster, Jaws, had everything you’d want in a big movie: legendary acting performances, an all-time great John Williams score, and one of the scariest monsters captured on screen. As the director remembered in Spielberg: The First Ten Years (via Vanity Fair), a boat began to sink with the actors (and sound equipment) aboard, the shark didn’t work half the time, and the whole project went over budget. Still, it’s one of the greatest of all time.

Back To The Future (1984)

Back to the Future is remembered today as one of the best ‘80s movies and an iconic sci-fi flick that helped turn Michael J. Fox into the biggest actor on the planet. But before the Family Ties star came into the picture and brought Marty McFly to life, Eric Stoltz was famously cast and then fired weeks into the production. Though all of the McFly scenes were reshot, there’s still a single shot of Stoltz in the final cut. 

The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant, which earned Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar, experienced one of the most grueling and difficult productions in recent memory. Director Alejandro G. Inarritu insisted on shooting the film in order, which caused a myriad of issues along the way, including going over budget by the tune of $7 million, subjecting the cast and crew to extreme weather conditions, and having to move everything to a different continent to find cold enough weather.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

The Wizard of Oz is a movie that should get its own biographical drama series because so much drama happened on the set of the landmark 1939 film. From the production using asbestos to make fake snow to the alleged abuse and harassment on set to recastings and new directors, a lot went wrong in the process of making one of the most influential films of all time.

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (later retitled Episode IV – A New Hope) launched one of the biggest franchises of all time back in May 1977, but it wasn’t all peas and carrots on the set of the game-changing sci-fi epic. George Lucas and company battled all kinds of issues during the disastrous production including shooting in the deserts of Tunisia and Death Valley, budget problems, and droids that just wouldn’t work led to a series of headaches for all involved parties.

Cleopatra (1963)

Described by the A.V. Club as both an unmitigated disaster and runaway smash hit, Cleopatra is one of the most well-known movies of all time. Production of the epic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton was stalled by unexploded World War II landmines, medical emergencies, and a ballooning budget.

Waterworld (1995)

A bad movie with a great plot, Kevin Costner’s Waterworld has a reputation for being one of the worst and most expensive box office failures of the ‘90s. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Costner’s choice to ignore Steven Spielberg’s advice about shooting on open water was largely to blame for the movie’s massive budget and a plethora of issues experienced by the cast and crew on the set.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

On top of being a wildly inaccurate biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody is also a film that was marred by on-set issues. A lot of the issues were connected to original director Bryan Singer, who was fired partway through production after numerous run-ins with the cast and outbursts on set. But the problems didn’t stop there, as the screenwriter later sued the film’s producers.

Titanic (1997)

James Cameron’s Titanic is one of the biggest movies of all time, as well as one that experienced one of the strangest incidents during production. As later covered by outlets like Variety, someone spiked the cast and crew’s clam chowder with PCP, which resulted in dozens of people flooding a local hospital suffering from all kinds of psychedelic and physical effects.

Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a top-tier sci-fi classic, but the director’s techno-noir film wasn’t without its fair share of incidents. From rewrites to missing deadlines to an insistence on adding narration by Harrison Ford, there was a lot that went wrong before the movie hit the big screen.

Heaven's Gate (1980)

Heaven’s Gate, the 1980 Michael Cimino movie and not the cult from the ‘90s, is often regarded as one of the worst and most disastrous movies of all time. Released a few years after Cimino’s iconic The Deer Hunter, the Western epic ended up coming in $30+ million over budget, many days late, and according to IndieWire, was so bad United Artists decided to shelve the film not long into its run.

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai, Davide Lean’s 1957 war epic is often regarded as one of the best World War II films, but it too, had its share of production issues. Among them were problems director David Lean had with the British actors and the botched filming of the iconic bridge explosion caused by a cameraman not getting out of the way in time.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Regarded as one of the best action movies of all time, Mad Max: Fury Road took the genre to new heights with its story about Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). However, as reported by Vanity Fair, the two stars hated one another, which made things difficult on set.

Tombstone (1993)

One of the best Westerns ever made, Tombstone is one of those movies you just have to watch whenever it's on TV. But we’re lucky the movie was even made, as its production was the stuff of nightmares (at least for Hollywood). Kevin Jarre, the screenwriter and original director, was fired early in production and there have long been rumors that star Kurt Russell was his replacement, not George P. Cosmatos, who’s credited as the director.

The Crow (1994)

The Crow, which would go on to become one of the biggest cult classics of the ‘90s, will forever be known as the movie in which star Brandon Lee was tragically shot and killed during production. 

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, was long believed to be a movie that would never see the light of day. Over the course of nearly 30 years, multiple attempts, and countless casting replacements, Gilliam finally released the movie in 2018

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

One of the most shocking movies of all time, Cannibal Holocaust has become a rite of passage in some circles due to its gratuitous violence and pure depravity. The found footage horror film, which features the decapitations of animals among other things, ended up getting its director, Ruggero Deodato, sent to court after people thought it was a real documentary.

Sorcerer (1977)

Riding high on the success of The French Connection and The Exorcist, William Friedkin took on one of his most ambitious projects: Sorcerer. The box office dud is mostly remembered all these years later for being the movie that sent at least 50 crew members to the hospital with ailments like gangrene and malaria, per Collider.

The Abyss (1989)

Though not the best James Cameron movie, The Abyss is still a great addition to the sci-fi genre and a wonderful alien movie. But know what wasn’t great? The film’s production. Cameron pushed things way too far for the cast, crew, and himself to the dangerous limits throughout the shoot, and, according to SyFy, he almost died on set.

Deliverance (1972)

Few movies capture a sense of dread and danger better than Deliverance, and it sounds like what happened behind the scenes was just as terrifying as anything featured in the 1972 thriller. Between Jon Voight almost dying performing a stunt, fistfights on set, and run-ins with the locals, a lot went wrong.

Alien 3 (1992)

David Fincher is one of the best directors in Hollywood, but the man behind Seven, Fight Club, and The Social Network had a bad start in the business thanks to the disastrous Alien 3. Fincher has been vocal about the production woes in the past, which could be attributed to a revolving door of creatives and a studio not knowing what it wanted.

World War Z (2013)

Have you ever watched World War Z and wondered why the final act of the 2013 Brad Pitt zombie movie feels like it has nothing in common with everything that led to that point? Well, that’s because the final third of the movie was completely rewritten and reshot.

Roar (1981)

Watch the Roar trailer and it shouldn’t take long to figure out why this 1981 cult classic is on the list. During the production of this wild creature feature, 70 crew members were injured by real-life lions, with some getting gangrene and puncture wounds.

American History X (1998)

It wasn’t so much the production of American History X that was the disaster as it was the post-production work. According to The Independent, director Tony Kaye, who was upset with New Line Cinema for making him recut and lengthen the film, ended up punching a wall and breaking his hand during the editing before going on a crusade to bad-mouth his film and having his name removed from the credits.

Tootsie (1982)

Going off an excerpt from David McGiffert’s The Best Seat in the House (via The Wrap), it sounds like Dustin Hoffman was just as difficult to work with as his character in Tootsie. In his book, the assistant director goes into great detail about the confrontations between Hoffman and director Sydney Pollack, which really adds to their characters’ scenes together.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Before all the Justice League brouhaha in the years that followed, the DCEU gave the world Suicide Squad, a movie pieced together by so many different parties it’s unnecessarily complex and hard to follow. Years later, director David Ayer still gets crap for the movie.

Some of these movies are cinematic masterpieces, while others have been largely forgotten to the sands of time. However, they all have something in common: they all had disastrous productions.

It is not unusual for an actor just starting out in the business to film scenes for a movie that, ultimately, never see the light of the day. In fact, it's not out of the ordinary for that same thing to happen to an established A-lister either. See for yourself by taking a look at some of the biggest stars you did not realize were almost in some of your favorite film, if not for the magic of editing.

Ana De Armas (Yesterday)

Yesterday is a universe-altering movie that takes place in a reality in which the Beatles never existed. Coincidentally, there exists an alternate cut of the film featuring Ana de Armas as a Late Late Show guest Himesh Patel’s Jack Malik romantically sings “Something” to. Per writer, Richard Curtis explained that the character was cut to avoid making Jack’s relationship with Ellie (Lily James) any more complicated. Though De Armas did appear in the trailer, and fans pursued legal action against Universal over the marketing.

Kevin Costner (The Big Chill) 

In one of the best movies of the ‘80s, The Big Chill, a group of friends reunite for the funeral of their friend, Alex, who was supposed to be played by the future Oscar-winning star and director of Dances with Wolves (pictured), Kevin Costner. Star Jeff Goldblum told Yahoo! that the Yellowstone cast member was “wonderful” in a flashback scene that was ultimately cut from the 1983 ensemble dramedy, in which his character finds himself reluctant to carve a Thanksgiving turkey and ruin its perfection.

Christopher Lee (The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King)

One of the most important characters from the Lord of the Rings movies, Saruman, is not in the third installment, The Return of the King. Per Ain’t It Cool News, Peter Jackson felt his scene — which was originally shot for The Two Towers — served as more of a wrap-up to the previous film than a suitable beginning for this one. While appearing at University College Dublin, Saruman actor Christopher Lee shared how shocked he was to learn his scene from the Best Picture Oscar winner — in which he stands off against the Fellowship — was cut before recommending the crowd “buy the extended DVDs.”

Harrison Ford (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)

Steven Spielberg told EW that, as a favor to him and writer Melissa Mathison (also his then-girlfriend), Harrison Ford shot a scene for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as Elliot’s (Henry Thomas) school principal that can be found on YouTube today. It never made the final cut of the 1982 box office smash, but know that had it been included, the star of the Indiana Jones movies (pictured) still would have gone mostly unseen as the camera never shows his face.

Andy García (Dangerous Minds)

Andy García told BlogTalkRadio (via Express) that when he was approached to star in 1995’s Dangerous Minds as a love interest for Michelle Pfeiffer’s inner city teacher, Louanne Johnson, he openly expressed that he found the role unnecessary. Still, the star of Father of the Bride (pictured) shot the scenes that were written for him (but not included in the initial script). But they were indeed removed from the final cut.

James Gandolfini (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

The late James Gandolfini shot scenes for 2011’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as a man Sandra Bullock’s widowed character meets at a 9/11 victims support group meeting. The Sopranos cast member (pictured) was even credited on the Oscar-nominated drama’s poster. According to the LA Times — his role was removed following a poor test audience reception.

Eric Stoltz (Back to the Future)

One of the most infamous examples of an actor cut from a movie — save one frame — is Eric Stoltz, who led the Back to the Future cast for about a month before director Robert Zemeckis and others realized his “intense” approach to the role was not working. As Collider recalls, Zemeckis got approval to reshoot most of the movie and replace Stoltz with their initial choice, Michael J. Fox, whose performance in the time travel movie classic as Marty McFly is iconic.

Ashley Judd (Natural Born Killers)

In a sequence cut from Natural Born Killers (which can be found on YouTube), Ashley Judd plays Grace Mulberry — the sole survivor of Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox’s (Juliette Lewis) mass teenager murder. She appears in court to be personally cross-examined by Mickey, who then stabs her to death with a pencil on the stand. In an interview for Metrograph, director Oliver Stone recalls removing it for its “length, and violence,” but now believes the “touching” scene belongs in the controversial 1994 satire.

Tobey Maguire (Life Of Pi)

In 2012’s adaptation of the novel, Life of Pi, the title character (portrayed as an older man by Irrfan Khan) recalls his unbelievable story of survival to a writer, played by English actor, Rafe Spall. However, according to USA Today, the role was originally played by Tobey Maguire until director Ang Lee decided the sSpider-Man star (pictured) was too distractingly recognizable and opted for reshoots. 

Chris Cooper (The Ring)

Anyone who ever wondered who Naomi Watts’ Rachel passes the curse tape along to at the end of The Ring should know it was Chris Cooper. The Oscar-winning star of Adaptation. (pictured) told Sci-Fi Wire (via MovieHole) that he shot bookend scenes for the 2002 horror movie classic. One establishes his character as a serial killer and the other shows him receiving the tape. Both were cut for disrupting the flow.

Shailene Woodley (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)

The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was meant to introduce of Shailene Woodley as Mary-Jane Watson to Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. Per MovieWeb, the Divergent star did shoot a cameo for TASM 2, which was later cut so she could officially debut in the next film — a plan ruined when the franchise was cancelled completely.

Robert Pattinson (Vanity Fair)

Before Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson played lovers in Water for Elephants, they played mother and son in the 2004 period drama, Vanity Fair. But the then-teenage actor — who went on to hit it big in Twilight (pictured) — was cut from the move, which he discovered while attending the premiere, according to his 2017 W Magazine interview.

Skeet Ulrich (Cursed)

The 2005 werewolf movie, Cursed, marked a reunion for director Wes Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, and original Scream cast member Skeet Ulrich that audiences never saw. According to MovieHole (via Killer Movies), Ulrich — also known for Riverdale (pictured) — was removed in lieu of studio-optioned rewrites and reshoots. But in 2022, the Scream fan site, Hello Sidney, revealed his role via stills from an unreleased director's cut.

Michael Biehn (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

Despite Kyle Reese' death in 1984’s The Terminator, Michael Biehn reprised the role in the 1991 sequel, which is now regarded one of the greatest action movies of all time. However, according to ScreenRant, the sequence — in which he comes to Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in a dream — was cut from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to maintain a tighter pace, but was later restored for an extended special edition. 

Angela Bassett (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)

Technically, Angela Bassett is in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but her part as Brad Pitt’s boss was originally meant to be more than an uncredited voice role. On YouTube, you can find deleted scenes from Doug Liman’s 2004 romantic action-comedy with the two-time Oscar nominee appearing in person alongside Keith David as Father.

Adrien Brody (The Thin Red Line)

Several major actors had their roles were either severely trimmed or completely removed from Terrence Malick’s 1998 war epic, The Thin Red Line, like including Mickey Rourke and George Clooney, as ScreenRant recalls. However, Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody’s character, Cpl. Fife, was the central lead of James Jones' original novel and had even done press for the film when he discovered right before the premiere that he was barely in it, per The Independent (via Eskimo).

Mick Jagger (Fitzcarraldo)

Mick Jagger’s underrated acting skills were praised by Werner Herzog (per Playboy, via The Local), who cast the rock star in his 1982 adventure film, Fitzcarraldo. Unfortunately, according to Far Out, multiple problems facing the production — including star Jason Robards’ dysyntery, as the New York Times reported — caused a delay that interfered with The Rolling Stone's touring schedule. Thus, Herzog was forced to recast Robards’ title role with Klaus Kinski and write Jagger’s character out entirely.

Matt Damon (Ocean's 8)

Ocean’s 8 had some fun cameos from members of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven cast — namely Elliott Gould’s Rueben and Shaobo Qin as Yen — but we almost saw more. In addition to the late Carl Reiner telling Vanity Fair he filmed a scene with Sandra Bullock, THR reports that Matt Damon's cameo as Linus Caldwell from the 2001 heist favorite (pictured) was taken out due to “editorial and storytelling reasons,” as director Gary Ross claimed. The article does, however, mention a petition to remove Damon following comments he made about the #MeToo movement and Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Michelle Monaghan (Constantine, Syriana)

When Michelle Monaghan spoke to MovieHole to promote Mission: Impossible III, it was mentioned that she was removed from two different movies released in 2005: Constantine and Syriana. The fantasy comic book movie did preserve one of her scenes, but she's nowhere to be found in Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning political drama, which already had many storylines to juggle, as Monaghan herself mentioned.

Tim Roth (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Tim Roth is in many of Quentin Tarantino’s best movies — including Pulp Fiction (pictured) — and came very close to joining 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But Tarantino was orced to remove Roth's part to avoid a five-hour runtime. Roth did share in an interview with Uproxx that he appreciated, at least, being mentioned in the credits as “cut.”

Ellen Pompeo (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) 

As a video essay by Film Radar demonstrates, if Ellen Pompeo role’s in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had not been removed, we would have seen Michel Gondry’s trippy romantic sci-fi dramedy in a whole different light. In deleted scenes, the Grey’s Anatomy star plays Naomi — the woman Jim Carrey’s Joel left for Clementine (Kate Winslet) and whom he reconciles with after his memory wipe. Though he leaves her again when he meets Clementine on the train, unaware he has done this before.

Paul Rudd (Bridesmaids)

The Bridesmaids cast included plenty of funny people, but did you know Paul Rudd was also part of it for a moment? Director Paul Feig told EW he “felt bad” cutting the Ant-Man actor’s darkly funny cameo as Annie’s (co-writer Kristen Wiig) deranged blind date, but did so to shave down the runtime and avoid distracting from Annie’s love triangle with Ted (Jon Hamm) and Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd).

Katherine Langford (Avengers: Endgame)

In a deleted scene from Avengers: Endgame, immediately after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) “snaps” Thanos (Josh Brolin) away, he is given the chance to say one final goodbye to an older version of his daughter, Morgan (Katherine Langford), in the Soulworld. At least the sequence’s omission gives Langford a chance to play a different Marvel character at some point, hopefully.

Uma Thurman (Savages) 

The 2012 crime drama Savages could have been touted as a reunion between John Travolta and Uma Thurman, who first worked together on Pulp Fiction (pictured), had the latter’s role as Ophelia’s (Blake Lively) mother not been removed. Director Oliver Stone revealed to Huff Post that Paqu was actually one of several character from Don Winslow’s novel did not make it into the movie due to time constraints.

Amy Poehler (Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy)

When mentioning her axed cameo as a bank teller in 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy with Vulture, Amy Poehler admits she correctly predicted the movie was already too long to keep her scene, which also featured fellow SNL star Maya Rudolph as a gang leader. Thankfully, the Parks and Rec cast member did appear in the 2013 sequel alongside her buddy, Tina Fey.

Rachel Weisz (To The Wonder)

In 2012, Rachel Weisz spoke to La Stampa (via EW) about how she had the pleasure of working with Terrence Malick on To the Wonder, but would “not have the pleasure of seeing [her] work.” For unknown reasons, the Oscar-winning star of The Constant Gardener (pictured) was removed from the romantic drama starring Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko. And she wasn't alone, as IndieWire later reported that Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen and Amanda Peet were also missing from the final cut.

Viggo Mortenson (The Purple Rose Of Cairo)

One of the first movies Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortenson worked on was Woody Allen’s 1985 fantasy rom-com, The Purple Rose of Cairo. The star of the Lord of the Rings movies (pictured) spoke to ABC News' Peter Travers about how his frustrating experience shooting the film turned out to be meaningless since he was edited out the movie after it was released.

Matthew Fox (World War Z)

The 2013 adaptation of Max Brooks’ World War Z was plagued by rewrites and reshoots that resulted in an entirely new third act from what was intended. As a result, Lost cast member Matthew Fox’s role as a paratrooper was scaled down to just one line of dialogue, which may have been disappointing for the self-proclaimed fan of the OG book, per Huff Post.

Jack Whitehall (Frozen)

In a clip shared to Jack Whitehall’s official YouTube channel, the British comedian shares with an audience how his one-line role as a troll in Disney’s Oscar-winning animated film, Frozen, was reduced to a non-speaking part. The Jungle Cruise cast member and star of Clifford the Big Red Dog (pictured) goes on to say that, after discovering his line was removed when he first saw the movie, a friend of his found a photo of him at a Frozen press junket and meme-ified it. 

James Van Der Beek (Storytelling)

Tom Solondz’s 2002 anthology dramedy, Storytelling, consists of two segments dealing with various challenging topics, but there were original three. As EW reported, the omitted third chapter starred James Van Der Beek — known for being part of the Dawson’s Creek cast and Varsity Blues (pictured) — as a high school football player discovering he's gay.

Sienna Miller (Black Mass)

Before the 2015 crime thriller released, it was already confirmed tha Sienna Miller had been cut from Black Mass. She was cast as Catherine Greig, who had a relationship infamous gangster, Whitey Bulger (played by Johnny Depp in the film). Director Scott Cooper admitted to The Boston Globe that it was a difficult decision to remove the English actor -- then best known for American Sniper (pictured) -- but it ultimately “came down to narrative choices.”

Jena Malone (Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice)

Following previous rumors that she would play Robin, Jena Malone’s comic book movie debut in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actually never made it to the big screen. Luckily, her role as head S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Jenet Klyburn — first revealed in leaked footage —  would be included in the 2016 DC movie’s three-hour “Ultimate Cut."

So if your friends ever quiz you about has or hasn't starred in major movies, this list should provide you with some interesting loopholes.

For a while, director David Fincher and Brad Pitt had an exciting reunion planned. The filmmaker and actor previously produced magic making movies including Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and there was a long stretch of time when both of them were set to reunite for World War Z 2. That ended up not happening, and according to Fincher, it's for the best given that the project tread upon a lot of the same ground as The Last Of Us.

The latest David Fincher film, The Killer, is set to be released in limited theaters domestically this weekend, and the filmmaker has spoken about the not-meant-to-be World War Z sequel while on the press tour for the movie. GQ recently inquired about his "ideas" for the project, and the director explained why he's glad that it isn't happening. Said Fincher,

The Gone Girl director is referring to the very first scene of the HBO series The Last Of Us, which features two scientist characters played by John Hannah and Christopher Heyerdahl on a 1960s talk show. Decades ahead of their time, they predict the fungi-based apocalypse that ultimately unfolds and destroys the world.

David Fincher didn't go further into details about the abandoned idea for World War Z 2 beyond saying that the plan wasn't to make a movie more like the Max Brooks-authored book on which the original film is (very) loosely based. His comments make me wonder if the project was going to be another riff on the Lone Wolf And Cub dynamic, with Brad Pitt's Gerry Lane acting as a paternal figure and shepherding a ward through the zombie apocalypse. Pop culture has certainly seen a lot of that lately, with other recent examples beyond The Last Of Us including the Star Wars Disney+ series The Mandalorian and movies like Gareth Edwards' The Creator, James Mangold's Logan, George Clooney's The Midnight Sky, and Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho.

For what it's worth, Brad Pitt has previously lamented not getting to make the movie, saying that it was a "really strong story."

Whether or not we'll actually ever get to see a World War Z 2 is an unknown at present. The first film celebrated its 10th anniversary this summer, and film fans will remember that it made over half-a-billion dollars the summer it was released. J.A. Bayona was hired to direct a sequel, but he dropped out in January 2016, and that's what opened the door for David Fincher. Then-Paramount chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos confirmed in spring 2017 that the Social Network director was helming the project... but then it spent a lot of time in development hell. It was finally reported in February 2019 that the plug had been pulled on the project.

We'll have to wait and see what the future holds for World War Z 2, but for now, audiences can check out the latest from David Fincher. Starring Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell and Arliss Howard, The Killer will be in theaters this weekend and will be available to stream for Netflix subscribers starting November 10.

If you want to watch World War Z as part of your Spooky Season 2023 screening plans, it's among the horror movies you can stream on Paramount+.

Some of what many would consider to be the greatest movies of all time are also those based on classic and beloved novels. And while there are folks out there who think you don’t need to read the book after watching the movie, there are dozens of examples that prove otherwise. 

From Academy Award-winning dramas to a few landmark fantasy films and just about everything in between, here are 32 books that you might still want to read after you watch the movie. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s start strolling through this library of great titles… 

Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and the Michael Crichton book on which it was based are both cultural touchstones in their respective worlds. And while they share the basic concept of a disaster falling upon an amusement park full of cloned dinosaurs, there are some key differences that make reading the book an entirely different experience.

The Shining  

Stephen King is no fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, the 1980 adaptation of his horror novel of the same name. Kubrick’s version makes all kinds of changes when it comes to the characters (played by Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duval, and Danny Lloyd) and the overall departure of his original intentions.

The Harry Potter Books

Even though there were eight Harry Potter movies (The Deathly Hallows was split in two) that were all at least two hours long, a lot of material was cut when adapting J.K. Rowling’s popular fantasy books. While we wait for the upcoming Harry Potter series on Max, now would be a great time to go back and read all the novels.

Dune

Denis Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation of Dune (the second half is due in March 2024) gets a lot of things right when it comes to adapting Frank Herbert’s influential sci-fi epic, but like other movies based on fantasy novels, there’s a lot left on the page. This classic, 896-page epic won't be a quick read but it's a classic. 

To Kill A Mockingbird  

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is considered one of the great American novels, and it's a must-read (if you haven’t already) even after watching the 1962 film adaptation starring Gregory Peck. The narration by Scout throughout Lee’s book adds an incredible quality and pacing to the story, a childlike wonder that isn't quite captured in the screen version.

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz  

L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is totally worth reading, especially if you’ve seen the 1939 film adaptation. And while both share similar story components, the original text is full of so much more, including a longer stay in Oz, an army of mice saving Dorothy and company from the poppy field, and very different versions of those well-known characters.

The Hobbit And Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings novels, some of the best literary experiences of all time, were famously turned into two trilogies by Peter Jackson. And while the movies are awesome in just about every possible way, Tolkien’s original books include so much more story. No extended version could contain all of this.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer stands a good chance of winning a ton of awards, and rightfully so. But if you want to go back and read more about J. Robert Oppenheimer, his life, and role in the creation of the Atomic bomb, American Prometheus, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 700-page biography is going to fill in a lot of the blanks.

The Color Purple  

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is a Pultizer Prize-winning novel that should be read at least once in your life. Yeah, it was turned into a decorated movie adapted by Steven Spielberg (with a musical-based version coming out in December 2023), but Walker’s rich text and plot threads add so much to the story.

World War Z   

It’s hard to imagine a movie adaptation being less like the source material than 2013’s World War Z. Unlike the movie, which focuses on one character experiencing Hell on Earth, Max Brooks’ novel is set up like an oral history with each chapter focusing on a different, and sometimes, terrifying event, narrated by various characters. 

Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption has been the highest-rated movie on IMDb for a very long time, and is considered one of the top-tier Stephen King adaptations. Interestingly enough, the 1994 movie starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is based not on a novel, but a 127-page novella, originally included in the book Different Seasons.

It

Stephen King’s It, all 1,138 pages of it, tells the fascinating and frightening story of a group of kids (later adults) teaming up to defeat a demonic entity multiple times throughout their lives. The 1990 miniseries, and a pair of theatrical releases that followed years later, only touches on part of King’s epic, and the full story must be explored. 

Ready Player One 

Steven Spielberg’s 2018 adaptation of Ready Player One is fun and all, but it’s an almost completely different experience when compared to Ernest Cline’s original novel. There are more than a dozen major differences ranging from minor changes to massive reimaginings of key sequences.

The Martian  

If you got a kick out of the blend of comedy, drama, and intense sci-fi action in Ridley Scott’s The Martian, then Andy Weir’s novel of the same name is going to be something to check out. It has the same tone but more of it.

All You Need Is Kill (Edge Of Tomorrow)

All You Need is Kill was later turned into Edge of Tomorrow (also known as Live Die Repeat) with Doug Liman taking on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel. There were all kinds of changes made for adaptation ranging from its characters and story to how the ending plays out.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower  

Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is based on his book of the same name, is a wonderful adaptation that mostly sticks to the source material. However, there are enough changes to make reading the coming-of-age novel worth a read, specifically its epistolary presentation.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump the movie and book are two completely different beasts, so much so that watching and reading each version is an entirely different experience. Nearly every aspect of the story was changed in some way when being adapted into an Oscar-winning film, including Forrest’s personality and its ending. Forrest even goes to space in the book, which never happened in the movie.

Pride And Prejudice 

With so many different adaptations of Pride & Prejudice over the years, sometimes it’s fun to go back and read Jane Austen’s original novel to see how each version sticks, or diverts, from the source material.

I Am Legend 

Though I Am Legend the book and movie follow an almost identical path through the majority of their respective stories, the 2008 film adaptation starring Will Smith makes a drastic change to Richard Matheson’s original novella with its ending. We won’t ruin it for the uninitiated, but it completely changes how you see Dr. Robert Neville. 

2001: A Space Odyssey 

Stanley Kubrick and author Arthur C. Clarke shared credit on the 2001: A Space Odyssey screenplay, which Clarke later turned into a novelization. In addition to some shifts in the tone and style, the novel also makes the main portion of the story a mission to Jupiter opposed to Saturn as seen in the classic sci-fi epic.

Gone Girl  

We could write a whole article about how David Fincher’s 2014 adaptation of Gone Girl differs from Gillian Flynn’s novel. In fact, the entire third act was rewritten by the acclaimed author for the movie starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

The Accidental Billionaires (The Social Network)

Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book, The Accidental Billionaires, which was later adapted by Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher as The Social Network, details the founding and early days of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. If you’re looking for a more detailed (as surprising as that may be) look at the social media giant, this book will do the trick.

The Hunger Games Books

Some would say The Hunger Games is a better movie than book, but the only way to know for sure is by reading Suzanne Collins’ 2008 young adult dystopian novel and its various sequels (and prequel).

In Cold Blood  

In 1967, Richard Brooks adapted Truman Capote’s 1966 true crime thriller, In Cold Blood, a painstakingly crafted breakdown of a quadruple-murder and the two men who carried out the senseless act of violence. Capote’s words just fly off the page, especially in the tense and foreboding opening chapter. 

Fight Club 

Fight Club the movie and book have the same basic premise: a nameless narrator befriends the man he’s always dreamed of being, starts an underground combat group, and then things get out of hand. However, if you want to see characters and situations not covered in David Fincher’s movie, as well as a different ending, check out Chuck Palahniuk’s novel.

Little Women 

There have been a total of seven adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century coming-of-age novel, Little Women, each making minor changes of their own over time. If you’ve seen one, two, or all of them, you should probably read the book to see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. 

No Country For Old Men 

The Coen brothers’ Academy Award-winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men is one of the best films of the 21st century, but the book is also more than worthy of a read. It’s sparse, it’s violent, and features a lot more of Tommy Lee Jones’ character as he provides the narration throughout.

American Psycho 

After making your friends watch American Psycho, why not have a book club with Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel of the same name. Surprisingly enough, Mary Herron’s 2000 adaptation is a toned down version of Patrick Bateman’s descent into madness, and cuts back a lot of the central character's outlook on life and other social groups.

Trainspotting  

Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, which was later adapted into a film of the same name by Danny Boyle, is more of a series of short stories than the film starring Ewan McGregor. The book is also written in the Scottish dialect. While the text can sometimes be a challenge, it's never enough to take away from this story that is at times hilarious and other times heartbreaking.

Matilda  

Danny DeVito did an outstanding job bringing Roald Dahl’s Matilda to life back in 1996, but this doesn’t mean it’s a 100% faithful adaptation. This is a good reason to go back and read the timeless children’s book, as it’s similar but different, familiar yet fresh. There are also a number of changes in the 2022 musical inspired by the book, meaning fans of the Netflix movie should check out the book if they haven’t already.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been adapted for screen and stage numerous times, but it’s never too late to go back and read the fantastical and whimsical novel. It’s fun to see how Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Tim Burton’s more faithful 2005 adaptation compare to this fun children’s book with all its bad eggs and imaginative treats.

The Exorcist 

William Peter Blatty wrote both the novel and film versions of The Exorcist, but this doesn’t mean they are entirely the same. The book, which came out only two years before William Friedkin turned it into a movie, is surprisingly even darker, more sinister, and more graphic. On top of that, there are also numerous minor differences throughout its story, so much so that reading it is a fresh experience.

With a whole slew of upcoming book-to-screen adaptations coming to theaters (and streaming services) in the coming months, you can expect to see some major changes to this list in the near future. 

These days in Hollywood, it seems the goal of every movie released is to become a major franchise. Some franchises succeed and some franchises die. Even Disney has failed at building franchises from time to time. And while it’s usually the box office that decides what movies get sequels, that’s not always the case. World War Z the movie, while not a runaway smash, was a decent enough hit that plans for a sequel were around for years. And while some hold out hope for World War Z sequels one day, at this point, it seems unlikely that will ever happen.

I happened to sit down and rewatch World War Z on Netflix recently, and it reminded me of two things. First, I’m still annoyed that a movie called World War Z had so little to do with the book that inspired it, and second, it was still a great first movie in a trilogy. That trilogy could still, in the end, give us a strong adaptation of the novel. Here’s how.

World War Z Is An Excellent Prequel, Even If It’s Barely Connected To The Book

World War Z is ultimately a zombie movie, and like many of them, it has a plot that follows a character or characters as they attempt to survive following the discovery of the zombie outbreak. However, World War Z is different in more than a few ways. It focuses not simply on survival for a few characters, but on the active search to deal with the zombie outbreak. Then it ends not with an escape to someplace safe or death, but with one positive step in what will surely be an ongoing war.

World War Z only had the simplest of connections to the book it was based on, but divorcing it from the source material, it was a perfectly good movie. It told a compelling enough story that put some fresh twists on a zombie genre that we’ve seen a lot. There were certainly a fair number of fans who were always hopeful that the promised World War Z sequel would come. 

It was meant to be the first movie in a series, so World War Z's less-than-conclusive ending was very intentional. However, the beauty of the ending is that it very easily leaves a door open for a sequel to be made at any time. While Brad Pitt was meant to star in the future sequels, there’s really no need for that because a World War Z sequel is going to be, at least in my thinking, a very different movie.

The World War Z Sequel Can Easily Stand On Its Own While Building The Franchise

The first movie may have been called World War Z, but the title was something of a misnomer. While the plot took us to different places in the world and zombies appeared, there wasn’t what I would call a world war. That’s where a World War Z sequel can pick up at any time, with any cast. It wouldn't deal directly with the events of the first film much if at all, so an audience can jump into it with no problems.

The first movie was the setup. It gave us the outbreak and showed us that nowhere is safe from the zombie hordes. The only thing left to do is fight, leaving the sequel to be a war movie. It’s Saving Private Ryan or 1917, but with one side being the walking dead. I imagine us following multiple groups of soldiers all over the world. In each place, we see how each army fights, their strengths and weaknesses, and how the terrain and tactics are different. Some characters will live and some will die, as happens in war. 

Zombie movies always have their action and there’s rarely of shortage of undead being shot in the head, but it's not often the action truly the focus of most zombie movies, and even more rarely do we see trained soldiers as the focus of that action. Large portions of the World War Z book deal specifically with how the soldiers fought, what their struggles were and the tactics they had to use. Let’s see them. 

The Third World War Z Film Can Be Based On The Novel

So with movie one, we got the outbreak. In movie two, we had the war. So with the third movie in the World War Z trilogy, we get the look back. This would be the movie that fans of the book have been really looking forward to because it’s the one based on the actual novel.

World War Z by Max Brooks is an “oral history.” It purports to be a series of interviews with the people who were involved in the zombie war, all looking back on the events of the conflict after it’s all over, but told in their voice. The film version would therefore take on a sort of mockumentary feel, as it would include these same interviews, and many of them would obviously be with characters we met in the other two films.

There’s no need for World War Z 3 to be without action or drama due to this framing device. We can cut flashback sequences into the interview segments, showing the events the character is talking about in his interview. These can be used to fill in gaps in the story that we didn’t get in the other films. We could leave some gaps in the second film intentionally to be dealt with here. We could even see events from the previous films from the perspective of another character. Maybe things didn’t happen quite the way we saw, or perhaps our narrator doesn’t quite remember what happened perfectly.

A trilogy of World War Z movies that looks like this would certainly be something different. Each of the three films would ultimately fall into different genres, which I’ll admit might not work for all audiences. Fans looking for lots of action and zombie killing would love the second film in this series, and may not enjoy the faux documentary nearly as much, but I think it would make for an interesting experiment. And if it did work, those of us who have always wanted to see the original World War Z turned into a faithful movie would finally get that. 

Broadcast and streaming television have found another successful wave of inspiration through adapting best selling novels. The 2023 TV schedule alone has hits like Will Trent and Daisy Jones and the Six amping up fans of those respective books. Plus, through returning favorites like You and Jack Ryan, the ecosystem of streaming entertainment has been successfully mining that same material to fantastic results. So isn’t it about time for a World War Z TV show to have a shot at getting Max Brooks’ oral history of the zombie war right?

It’s time to reanimate this bestselling literary hit, in an age where the written word is thriving through more longform approaches. What’s even better is that through this hypothetical scenario, there’s unique chances at even expanding the World War Z universe through some careful thought. Let’s take some time and go over why TV is the place to be for this fan favorite novel, starting off with an admission we all need to accept to truly move forward. 

The Brad Pitt/David Fincher Sequel Is (Probably) Never Happening

Whether you love or hate director Marc Forster’s World War Z adaptation from 2013, it cannot be denied that the previous film was a box office hit. The long in development sequel with Se7en director David Fincher sounded promising, even for fans that may have chucked their copies of the book against the wall in frustration.

Brad Pitt’s gushing about the project only makes the sting of this sequel likely not happening all the more painful. Unfortunately, this Pitt/Fincher reunion was presumably mauled to death by the greatest threat to any project: development hell. While Paramount hasn't outright cancelled the project, the writing seems to be on the wall until further notice. 

We may never know what this unmade sequel was supposed to do with the story started in the previous film, but it's time to let that prospect go. For our purposes, the plug on World War Z 2 should be pulled once and for all, as it’s pretty much a zombie itself. However, television could be the rebirth that this adaptation could use. 

World War Z’s Source Text Inspires Two Very Promising Options For Adaptation

A huge complaint from the fans of Max Brooks and his 2006 novel was that the differences in World War Z’s film adaptation didn’t get the spirit of the book. Telling a variety of stories, with a wide cast of characters on hand to lend their unique voices, the source text was better suited for a mockumentary in the style of a Ken Burns PBS miniseries.

Using a limited series approach that employed that very concept is only one of two very promising options for adapting World War Z for TV. If whomever decided to undertake this project really wanted to, there’s even a potential for an American Horror Story style anthology, where each season adapts one specific story from the catalog of accounts gathered.

The best example of how either approach would work is taking the Battle of Yonkers as a text-specific scenario. One of the most harrowing tales told in World War Z, you could make either a single stand-alone episode that covered the whole conflict, or expand that story into a whole season depicting the grueling events in a deeper context. 

Fans Of Max Brooks’ Bestseller Would Practically Flock To This Series

Whenever a discussion breaks out surrounding readapting novels that didn’t get a cinematic fair shake, World War Z is a frequent flyer in those particular skies. Those that have taken a liking to this collection of survival stories that range from the initial pandemic to the aftermath of those very events haven’t stopped suggesting that another attempt would be able to do the story justice.

So if someone were to actually greenlight a novel-accurate adaptation of World War Z, it’d be news as exciting as when The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power was announced. Admittedly, a mixture of anticipation and anxiety would still be present, because that’s just par for the course, but the Brooks text has a cultural advantage that Lord of the Rings doesn't.

Anticipation for a new World War Z adaptation could be more optimistically viewed, as it's not following a well-beloved Academy Award-celebrated trilogy of adaptations. Should this hypothetical new attempt happen to come to pass, it'd be playing into the hands of fans who thought TV is where it belonged in the first place. That anticipation means that wherever this thought experiment lands, people would follow this project out of curiosity alone.

The Last Of Us' Success Proves That People Are Still Hungry For 'Zombie Stories'

In light of the slow decline of The Walking Dead phenomenon that helped boost the AMC network to some lofty heights, a contingent of TV watchers might say that zombie stories are dead. Despite spinoffs still keeping that once mighty champion of network TV alive and shambling, that’s not the example one should pay attention to when making a case for a World War Z show.

Instead, people should be keeping an eye on the reaction to Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s work on The Last of Us, as that’s proven that people are still hungry for “zombie stories.” HBO’s latest golden goose has proven that with the right characters, and a unique story lens, even a video game that’s as beloved and scrutinized as the book for World War Z can find itself in the right hands. 

This year marks the 10th anniversary of World War Z’s movie adaptation being released into theaters. With no movement on the cinematic front, enough time has passed for Max Brooks’ vision to be revisited. A tale of a world fighting through an undead apocalypse of epic proportions, the potential for a fresh perspective on this beloved story is riper and more timely than ever.

However, if you are a fan of the movie adaptation of World War Z, it’s still very much accessible. At the time of this writing, several streaming platforms have access to the Brad Pitt blockbuster. Those of you with a Prime Video subscription, or access to Paramount+, are free to reenter this apocalypse. 

If you’re looking for some of the best horror movies on Paramount+ to watch, I’ve got quite a list for you. One of my favorite genres has always been horror. Whether it’s because of great special effects, unforgettable scenes, or all those great scream queens, the best horror movies have always got me going. There are plenty of fun upcoming horror movies releasing in the next couple of years, but today I’m taking a look back at some of those all-time greats and new favorites available with a Paramount+ subscription.

From classics like Poltergeist to modern gems like Smile 2, there are plenty of reasons why Paramount+ is one of the best streaming services, especially for horror fans.

Poltergeist (1982)

The Director: Tobe Hooper

The Cast: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight

What It’s About: A family discovers their house is the epicenter for all sorts of paranormal activity. Though things start out innocent enough, the mood quickly turns and the family is forced to reach out to experts to make sense of the madness and bring it to an end.

What To Expect: If you’re trying to start your horror journey, Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is a great place to start. This classic horror flick has so many iconic scenes, even more lore, and an eeriness that has to be experienced at least once.

• Stream Poltergeist on Paramount+

Paranormal Activity (2007)

The Director: Oren Peli

The Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat

What It’s About: A couple sets up a series of cameras around their home to capture proof of what they believe to be a supernatural presence. But that’s just the beginning…

What To Expect: Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity, one of the best found-footage horror movies ever made, is an utterly terrifying and unforgettable experience that’ll leave you so far on the edge of your seat that you’re likely to hit the floor with some of those big jump-scares.

• Stream Paranormal Activity on Paramount+

Sound Of Violence (2021)

The Director: Alex Noyer

The Cast: Jasmin Savoy Brown, Lili Simmons, James Jagger

What It’s About: Years after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents and losing her hearing, a woman regains her abilities and sets out to get revenge against those who took everything from her.

What To Expect: Sound of Violence combines elements of slasher films and revenge thrillers to create a unique and bloody experience.

• Stream Sound of Violence on Paramount+

What Lies Beneath (2000)

The Director: Robert Zemeckis

The Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Harrison Ford, Diana Scarwid

What It’s About: After seeing what appears to be a ghost in her home, a woman follows a trail of mystery and intrigue as she begins to discover some seriously dark secrets from the past.

What To Expect: Shot between the split production of Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath is a massively successful supernatural thriller about what happens when the skeletons in your closet come looking for revenge.

• Stream What Lies Beneath on Paramount+

You’re Killing Me (2023)

The Director: Beth Hanna, Jerren Lauder

The Cast: McKaley Miller, Anne Heche, Dermot Mulroney

What It’s About: After reaching out to a wealthy and well-connected classmate to have his dad write a letter of recommendation for an elite college, a high school student is invited to a massive party where she finds herself in an increasingly intense and troubling situation.

What To Expect: Uber-wealthy and downright creepy families, all sorts of twists, and a star-making performance from McKaley Miller make You’re Killing Me a fun, exciting, and extremely intense horror-thriller that’ll leave you guessing at every turn.

• Stream You’re Killing Me on Paramount+

Smile (2022)

The Director: Parker Finn

The Cast: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey

What It’s About: A psychiatrist witnesses a patient commit suicide and begins to experience terrifying happenings after a curse is passed on to her.

What To Expect: Thanks in part to the movie’s story, the incredible Smile cast, and some terrifying guerilla marketing, the horror flick ended up becoming a massive hit at the box office before finding its streaming home on Paramount+ a little more than a month after its initial release.

• Stream Smile on Paramount+

Smile 2 (2024)

The Director: Parker Finn

The Cast: Naomi Scott, Kyle Gallner, Ray Nicholson

What It’s About: Pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) becomes the next victim of the Smile Entity and attempts to make sense of the phenomenon while also fighting for her life.

What To Expect: Fans of Parker Finn’s Smile will feel right at home, as this sequel to the 2022 surprise hit has the same signature charm, intensity, and tremendously creepy smiles we’ve come to know and love.

• Stream Smile 2 on Paramount+

Pet Sematary (1989)

The Director: Mary Lambrert

The Cast: Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Mike Hughes

What It’s About: Upon moving to a small town in Maine, a doctor learns of a cemetery that brings the dead back to life. When tragedy falls upon his family, the grieving father attempts to bring back a lost child.

What To Expect: One of the best Stephen King adaptations, Pet Sematary has a lot going for it. A great premise, some delightfully off-putting practical effects, and one of the most iconic performances by a child actor in a horror movie all make this a legendary flick.

• Stream Pet Sematary on Paramount+

Apartment 7A (2024)

The Director: Natalie Erika James

The Cast: Julia Garner, Kevin McNally, Diane Wiest

What It’s About: A young dancer rents an apartment from a devilish couple and becomes the center of a demonic conspiracy that sets up one of the most unforgettable horror films of all time.

What To Expect: Regardless if you are a fan of the horror classic or are planning to watch the new movie before finally checking out Rosemary’s Baby, you’ll find something to enjoy here.

• Stream Apartment 7A on Paramount+

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Director: Roman Polanski

The Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon

What It’s About: An expectant mother falls down a rabbit hole of nightmarish paranoia and pure, unrelenting dread as she begins to suspect that her neighbors want to use her child as part of a satanic cult

What To Expect: This slow-burn horror film has an unnerving and terrifying pace that adds even more tension to the story and Rosemary’s descent into madness.

• Stream Rosemary’s Baby on Paramount+

The Quiet Place Movies (2018 - 2024)

The Director: John Krasinski, Michael Sarnoski

The Cast: John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Lupita Nyong’o

What They’re About: After an alien invasion, the last remnants of humanity are forced to take shelter and live a life of near-silence to avoid being preyed upon by vicious (and blind) monsters.

What To Expect: From the first two films following the Abbott Family in the years after the initial invasion to the prequel showing the early hours of the event, the franchise doesn’t hold back when it comes to absolutely horrifying scenes or emotional moments.

• Stream A Quiet Place on Paramount+
• Stream A Quiet Place Part II on Paramount+
• Stream A Quiet Place: Day One on Paramount+

The Gift (2015)

The Director: Joel Edgerton

The Cast: Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall

What It’s About: A mysterious stranger shows up at a couple’s front door and claims to be an old friend from high school, but as the night carries on they begin to learn more about his past and true intentions.

What To Expect: Seriously, this is one of the best psychological thrillers of the past decade and will leave you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll.

• Stream The Gift on Paramount+

Talk To Me (2023)

The Director: Danny and Michael Phillipou

The Cast: Sophie Wilde, Zoe Terakes, Miranda Otto

What It’s About: A group of teens use an embalmed hand as a party game only to discover the consequences of their actions in the worst way possible.

What To Expect: One of the best horror movies of 2023, this fresh, inventive, and terrifying as-all-hell cinematic experience is just as fun as it is scary, which is a lot.

• Stream Talk to Me on Paramount+

World War Z (2013)

The Director: Marc Forster

The Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz

What It’s About: A former United Nations investigator travels around the world in hopes of finding a solution for a zombie apocalypse that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

What To Expect: Though World War Z is vastly different from Max Brooks’ novel of the same name, this 2013 horror-action spectacle is a wild, exhilarating, and harrowing ride. Its balance of massive set pieces and slowed-down horror is a winning combination.

• Stream World War Z on Paramount+

The Scream Movies (2022 - 2023) 

The Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

The Cast: Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courteney Cox

What They’re About: Two sisters with ties to the original Ghost Face murders are hunted by a masked killer, first in California, and then later on after moving to New York City.

What To Expect: With new protagonists, as well as some familiar legacy characters, the two most recent Scream movies breathed new life into the legendary slasher franchise while also paying homage to what came before.

• Stream Scream (2022) on Paramount+.
• Stream Scream VI on Paramount+.

With Paramount+’s collection of thrilling, chilling, and downright terrifying horror movies changing all the time, make sure to come back and see what other frights await you in the coming months.

True story, I once met World War Z author, Max Brooks, at Comic-Con. I got him to sign his new graphic novel at the time and since he seemed cordial enough, I asked him what he thought about the World War Z movie. He looked up at me while he was signing his autograph and told me that he thought it was a “great movie,” but that it wasn’t his book. And that was my impression, too. The World War Z movie is fantastic, but it’s nothing like the book at all.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There have been quite a few movie adaptations that are very different from their source material. And unlike somebody like Stephen King who can’t stand the Stanley Kubrick version of his book, The Shining, Max Brooks seems pretty cool with the adaptation of World War Z as long as it’s good. But in case you were wondering some of the bigger changes from the novel, I’ve compiled a list of just how far the movie deviated from the amazing book. And while I don’t think this statement is even really necessary given what kind of list this is, but just in case you’ve never seen the movie or read the book, major spoilers up ahead.

There Is No Real Central Character In The Book. Unless You Count The Author Himself

World War Z the movie, if it had followed the book, was always going to be a challenge. That’s because the full title of the novel is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. And the reason why this is such a challenge to adapt is because the book really is an oral history, meaning that the story is told through multiple sources discussing their role in what happened during (and after) the great Zombie War. In this way, there is no real central character like Brad Pitt in the movie.

Instead, Max Brooks (yes, the author of the novel) is the interviewer and zombie expert since he previously wrote The Zombie Survival Guide, which is an actual book. Because of his expertise in all things zombie, in World War Z, he is also an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission. So yes, it’s super meta, which is why the screenwriters probably decided to just go with a straightforward narrative about a family trying to escape a bunch of running, ravenous zombies. Oh, and about that.

The Zombies In The Book Don’t Run

One of the defining features in the movie is all the ravenous, speedy zombies clamoring and climbing on top of each other to get to people. In fact, when I initially saw the trailer, this was the first sign I had that the movie would be completely different from the book, since the zombies in the novel act like the typical, shambling zombies you would see in something like in the George Romero movies or The Walking Dead. In an exclusive interview from eatmybrains.com, Max Brooks had this to say:

So speedy zombies? No, sir. No, madam. Not in the book, at least. In the book, Max Brooks is a traditionalist when it comes to his zombies.

There Is No Biting Social Commentary In The Movie

World War Z is a very political book, and if you read it today, you’ll likely find a lot of eerie parallels with modern day times. First, while nobody really knows the true origins of the zombie plague in the novel (though, there have been cave paintings of zombies in this universe), the pandemic makes its first modern appearance in China (welp!) and then gradually spreads itself around the rest of the world. At first, people start just calling it an advanced form of rabies (African rabies, to be specific), and different nations react differently to it. The United States, for example, is woefully unprepared.

And because it’s an election year in the book (I’m serious), the powers that be don’t want to cause a panic, so it gets a lot worse in the US (double welp!) than in some other nations. And none of this is in the movie! Instead, we’re given a pretty intense action/horror flick that has pretty much nothing to say. There is a scene in the film involving Jerusalem that is kind of in the book, but it’s only skin deep and doesn’t tackle any of the excellent and biting social commentary that Max Brooks presents in his story.

There Is No Vaccine In The Book

A huge portion of the movie is spent trying to develop a vaccine for the zombie apocalypse, and by the end of the film, one has been developed. Huzzah! But the book is very different. It’s not that there isn’t a vaccine in the novel. There is. It’s just that it doesn’t work. In the novel, a vaccine called “Phalanx” is rushed out to the market, and people begin to think that things might turn out alright, but it turns out to be a placebo. At least for the zombie plague, it is.

Phalanx actually worked fine on rabies, as the disease was, as mentioned earlier, thought to be a form of “African Rabies.” So, like the last point, the vaccine in the book is just even more biting social commentary, which is all but lost in the film adaptation.

The War Has Actually Already Ended At The Start Of The Novel

Since the book is an oral history, the events of the narrative have already occurred. This is a stark contrast to the movie, which takes place in present day. This is one of the biggest departures from the novel in that the action is described at great length in the book, and as mentioned earlier, it’s from multiple sources around the world.

Instead, the movie hops from place to place with bigger, and more explosive set pieces. Perhaps if there was that oft-hoped for sequel to the film, we would have gotten something closer to the novel, but the world will probably never know now.

The Book Spends A Great Length Of Time Going Over What Happens After The War

And this was probably the most upsetting aspect for me about the movie, since this was my favorite part about the book. After the war, there are still millions of zombies wandering the world. It’s not as bad as the initial outbreak, and some countries are handling post-war life better than others (like Iceland is packed to the brim with zombies). But following World War Z, zombies could be found all over the place, including underwater and even in the mountains.

This life after the war was really intriguing to me in the novel, and it stinks that the movie decided to keep everything in the present since there is so much that could be mined for a movie that takes place both during and after the carnage. Most zombie movies are either one or the other, but not both.

As mentioned in the intro, I still really enjoy the movie. It’s a really fun, action-packed zombie flick. Still, I can’t help but wonder what a movie that was even closer to the source material would have been like. Oh, well. At least the author isn’t mad, so I guess that’s worth something.

We talk about deepfakes getting to the point where they are so real-seeming that they are making people believe what is faked is real, but sometimes a simpler job can pull the same trick. This week a Twitter user used some World War Z footage to fake an MSNBC report. Then things got out of hand.

While the original video footage is no longer on the Internet, shots from the clip still managed to spread like wildfire. The content looks as if MSNBC accidentally used footage from World War Z in a report that was about protests and rioting across the U.S. a few short weeks ago. It would be absolutely wild if it were true and you can see how people have shared the misinformation below.

The footage ended up building enough momentum that Twitter eventually caught wind of what was happening and added the “manipulated media” branding it sometimes uses when misinformation catches on. The believability factor behind the faked footage is likely due to mistakes like this happening live on the air on occasion. It was just a few weeks ago that a Fox News reporter took a mention of Monty Python on social media as an indication of protest friction. This time, however, no news station actually made a mistake.

To go back to the deepfake thing, Kristen Bell spoke out the other day about “consent” and how she never consented for deepfake porn to have been created with her face on it. The same questions can be considered about this sort of job too. What is our responsibility to be transparent about what is real and what is fake? What is our responsibility in regards to even creating this sort of content in the first place? Of course, this leads to the broader question: What is our responsibility to fully understand the content we are sharing?

The person who created the original Photoshop job did say they tried to make the falsehood of the footage clear in his original post. The Twitter user, Bad Scooter, admitted they were responsible for the fake footage and even backtracked and apologized, noting they didn’t do enough to make it clear the content was meant to be a bit of a lark.

MSNBC and World War Z as well as the Twitter community. The typical comment looks like this one:

The Twitter user has backtracked now and the Internet has moved on, but it’s a bubble showing how easily and clearly misinformation can spread on the Internet. I guess, however, it’s at least getting World War Z back into the conversation again. Where are we at on World War Z 2 again?

In case you’ve been sitting to close to a Mother Box in the past week or so, there’s been some pretty big news in the movie world. In accordance with the throngs of fans demanding Warner Bros’ release “The Snyder Cut,” HBO Max announced that Zack Snyder’s Justice League would be heading to its platform at some point in 2021.

So it’s time to relax and congratulate the internet on a job well done, right? Wrong! Utterly and categorically wrong! While I’m not calling for every movie that has had production disagreements to get its own alternate cut, there are seven movies that have earned their second chances based on similar circumstances.

These films weren’t always a result of disagreements, but here's a handful of cinematic curiosities that deserve the Snyder Cut treatment.

Suicide Squad

Hoo-boy! You kind of have to start a list of infamous alternate cuts with director David Ayer’s original vision for Suicide Squad. Not only is it a sibling case study to the eventual retooling that Justice League would go through, but even just looking at the trailers indicated that there was quite a bit missing from this one. With Ayer riding that Snyder Cut wave himself on social media, and teases of a love triangle and more Jared Leto Joker action in the wings, HBO Max could get another hit under their belt with The Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad.

Fantastic Four

Let’s just go ahead and rip this particular band aid off in quick and succinct fashion as well! The original vision of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four film is something that’s intrigued many a comic movie fan, and it was all thanks to the rather heated discussion that’s surrounded this project since its release into Thursday previews back in 2015. That “fantastic” version is something Trank doesn’t think people will see, but if only to set fan’s curiosities at ease, and to give the next iteration a clear slate to work off of, the ghosts of Fantastic Four’s original cut should be put to rest once and for all.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The temperature on the process of changes that made Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the finished product it eventually became was moderately spicy. While there weren’t any huge public displays of change, or even highly publicized firings like that of Solo: A Star Wars Story, there was still a lot of retooling that altered things, like the original “happier” ending. Much like the original Star Wars, Rogue One was a movie apparently found in the editing room. It’d be really neat to see how that initial version differed between the original intent and the finalized approach.

World War Z

Sometimes that seemingly perfect ending is evasive as all get out. World War Z is one of those cases where such an enterprise resulted in a radically different third act. We’re talking an ending so different that Matthew Fox’s presence in the film made more sense, and everything from the second act plane crash onward played out differently, and in Russia. It might not make the Brad Pitt film any better, and it probably won’t resurrect World War Z 2, but you’d be insane if you didn’t think audiences would flock to see what could have been.

Tomorrowland

Not every cut on this list is born of intense upset or pressured notes. When it came to Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird’s Disney tentpole Tomorrowland, the film was altered to be a little more streamlined and audience friendly. However, deep cut fans of that film have, over time, discovered details from the original shooting script, which have helped put together something known as “The Dreamer’s Cut” of the film. Using deleted materials from the Blu-Ray release, and those notes, a totally different version of this movie has yet to receive any official recognition from Disney. Five years later, it’s about time everyone got to see “The Dreamer’s Cut” of Tomorrowland, exposed to the light of day.

Cursed

Even director Wes Craven has been subjected to the knives of studio executives; just ask anyone who’s a fan of his PG-13 werewolf film Cursed. The mention of that rating is no mistake either, as Dimension Studios cut his contractually obligated R-rated film into a more “market friendly” product. That original cut is apparently still out there, with an executive from Dimension swearing it still exists in the studio’s vault. With tons of actors, and a huge portion of the original plot, being excised, stories of the production’s woes have built quite the narrative since the movie’s 2004 release. Wes Craven may no longer be with us, but it’d be nice to see one of his most infamous films get the edit it deserves.

The Avengers

Last, but not least, we circle back to Warner Bros, as its troubles with a compromised final product stretch even farther than most would imagine. A dud upon its 1998, director Jeremiah Chechik’s The Avengers adapted the ‘60s spy show of the same name into a total disaster. What was supposed to be a 115 minute movie was slashed to 89 minutes, junking a lot of scenes that still remain in the script and official novelization of Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes’ would-be blockbuster. After 22 years later, it still waits to be restored, with Chechik even offering to recut the film for free. If HBO Max is going to give Zack Snyder’s Justice League a spin, then why not bring the true vision of The Avengers to life?

A lot of fans of various movies are going to be coming out of the woodwork and suggesting that their alternate cut should be the next big resurrection. But in the afterglow of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, these are the movies that feel like the most valid candidates for a second shot at telling another version of their story.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be on HBO Max sometime in 2021, but who knows when, where or if any of these other films will get their own streaming debuts. One can only hope that if the Snyder Cut can prevail, others will follow in its footsteps.

Last week, author Max Brooks teamed up with his father, comedy icon Mel Brooks, for a PSA promoting the importance of social distancing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the younger Brooks isn’t a doctor, he does have some experience when it comes to plagues, as his book World War Z, which was later adapted into a movie starring Brad Pitt, was a collection of accounts delivered from a world where an infection led to a zombie outbreak, and war unfolded between humanity and the undead.

Now with the coronavirus hitting the world hard, World War Z, like other virus-related stories, has received some renewed attention. That said, Max Brooks doesn’t see himself as having predicted this latest pandemic through World War Z, but simply as something that was inevitably going to happen. As the author put it:

From the Black Death and the Spanish flu to the SARS epidemic of the early 2000s, humanity has dealt with so many plagues over the centuries, so it was easy enough for Max Brooks to apply that history to a zombie apocalypse tale. Published in 2006, World War Z, which was a follow-up to Brooks’ 2003 book, The Zombie Survival Guide, was met with a lot of positive reception, and joins the ranks of stories from the likes of George Romero, Robert Kirkman and many more speculating on how Earth would be changed if zombies suddenly started roaming about.

Max Brooks also mentioned in his interview with SyFy Wire that he’s “saddened” there’s so many parallels between World War Z and modern pandemics, noting that George Romero came up with the formula for the “modern zombie story” as an allegory for how such pandemics can be preventable. Alas, where the coronavirus outbreak is concerned, it’s hard to say when its spread will start slowing down and things go back to normal.

Seven years after World War Z hit bookstores, the World War Z movie arrived in theaters, with Quantum of Solace’s Marc Forster sitting in the director’s chair. While the cinematic adaptation took a lot of creative liberties with the source material and there were some production setbacks, it ended up making around $540 million worldwide. A World War Z third-person shooter video game was also released last year that takes place in the film’s universe.

For years, there were plans to make a World War Z sequel, and David Fincher was finally confirmed to direct in the summer of 2017. However, by early 2019, World War Z 2 was cancelled following several months of preproduction, with China’s ban on zombie-related content reportedly factoring into the project being scrapped. However, there’s still interest in reviving the sequel down the line.

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how the coronavirus is impacted the film and TV industries, and look through our guide of all the movies that have been delayed by this pandemic.

For about as long as I can remember, I have always been drawn to zombie apocalypse movies, and have long thought that the best horror movies involve armies of the undead. What started out as a fear of flesh-eating ghouls slowly turned into an enjoyment of the genre. If there was a zombie movie on DVD, I had it in my collection. And whenever there was a possibility of some kind of ghoul showing up in an upcoming horror movie, I would make plans to be there.

I've watched a lot of zombie movies over the years and thought it would be fun to put together a list of my favorites and the various ways you can watch them online. And yes, George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later are finally on the list after not being available digitally for years.

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning Of The End (2024)

Seemingly released out of nowhere in late 2024, Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End premiered on Prime Video and quickly became a massive hit. Set in Spain, Carles Torrens’ zombie thriller follows a grieving widow named Manel (Francisco Ortiz) as he tries to survive a mysterious viral outbreak turning people into flesh-eating monsters. Equipped with a dirtbike, some great improvised armor, and his trusty pet cat, Manel races against time (and an army of the undead) to reach safety.

Stream Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End on Prime Video.

28 Days Later (2002)

After being missing from streaming for a few years, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later is finally available in digital storefronts. First released in 2002, this low-fi thriller centers on a courier named Jim (Cillian Murphy) as he awakes from a coma to discover that London has been devastated by a mysterious virus. Joined by other survivors, Jim seeks to make sense of the mad world around him, ultimately ending up in an abandoned mansion with a group of soldiers.

Rent/Buy 28 Days Later on Amazon.

Dead Snow (2009)

A skiing trip in Norway seems like a great way for a group of medical students to blow off some steam, until they find themselves fighting an army of the undead north of the Arctic Circle. But these aren’t just normal zombies - they’re a battalion of Nazis whose corpses have come back from the dead decades after the end of World War II. Tommy Wirkola’s has everything you’d want in a zombie movie: thrills, chills, blood, gore, and Nazis getting absolutely wrecked.

Rent/Buy Dead Snow on Amazon.

Blood Quantum (2020)

Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum offers a unique spin on the zombie genre. Set in an isolated Red Crow reserve, the movie follows a group of natives immune to the zombie plague as they try to protect those who are not while also keeping order in their community. Blood, drama, guts, action, and an interesting premise make this 2020 horror flick an engaging and intense thriller like no other.

Rent/Buy Blood Quantum on Amazon.

Alone (2020)

When a zombie outbreak turns his city into a feasting ground for the undead, a young man named Aidan (Tyler Posey) makes the decision to barricade himself in his apartment in an attempt to wait it out. As the days turn to weeks and weeks to months, Aidan makes the brash decision to go out into the world to save another survivor, a decision that could cost him his life.

Rent/Buy Alive on Amazon.

Maggie (2015)

If someone were to pitch a zombie movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, most would assume it would be an action-packed thriller with some wild sequences and catchy one-liners. However, Henry Hobson’s Maggie is anything but that. In this tense and incredibly emotional drama, Schwarzenegger plays the devoted father of a young girl (played by Abigail Breslin) who has become infected after being bitten by a zombie. A touching and gut-wrenching affair, the movie shows the great lengths parents go to protect their children, even in the face of an inevitable fate.

Stream Maggie on Prime Video.
Rent/Buy Maggie on Amazon.

The Night Eats The World (2018)

Dominique Rocher’s The Night Eats the World (or La nuit a dévoré le monde in French) follows a musician living in Paris (played by Anders Danielsen Lie) as he awakens one morning to discover that a zombie outbreak has taken over the French capital. Less of a movie about daring escapes and the search for answers, this thrilling horror film instead focuses on a lone man’s attempt to survive the apocalypse one day at a time.

Stream The Night Eats the World on Peacock.
Stream The Night Eats the World on Prime Video.
Rent/Buy The Night Eats the World on Amazon.

The Dead Next Door (1989)

The Dead Next Door is perhaps one of the cheesiest zombie movies of all time, but that’s honestly part of its charm. J. R. Bookwalter’s 1989 horror flick follows a group known as the Zombie Squad as they attempt to get control of a massive outbreak of undead flesh-eaters. Things take a turn, however, when they enter the turf of a crazed cult that may or may not have a cure. Outrageous gore, voiceovers by Bruce Campbell, and the home video look and feel make this a cult classic worth revisiting.

Stream The Dead Next Door on Plex.
Stream The Dead Next Door on Tubi.

Dawn Of The Dead (1978) 

Featuring some of the most resourceful horror movie characters, a great setting, and more social commentary than we know what to do with, George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is still considered one of the best zombie movies of all time more than 45 years after its release. This 1978 classic follows a helicopter pilot, his pregnant TV news station producer girlfriend, and two cops as they escape Philadelphia and take refuge at a massive indoor mall. Bountiful resources and a place to lay their heads await, but so do hundreds of flesh-eating ghouls trapped within.

Sure, this horror sequel is campier than its predecessor, Night of the Living Dead, and it doesn’t feel as claustrophobic, but this doesn’t mean it’s lacking in any way. In fact, thanks to Tom Savini’s impressive and inventive make-up and special effects work, this movie blows away anything that came before.

Rent/Buy Dawn Of The Dead on Amazon.

Braindead (1992)

Before Peter Jackson became a director known for The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and documentaries like The Beatles: Get Back, the New Zealand filmmaker made a name for himself in the world of horror. One of his best features is 1992’s Braindead, a zombie movie that combines equal parts horror and comedy to create a hilarious and blood-soaked cinematic experience.

Also known as Dead Alive, the movie follows Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme) as he tries to keep his mother, Vera (Elizabeth Moody) in quarantine after she is bitten by a rat, only for her to repeatedly escape and infect more and more of their neighbors. Filled with camp, comedy, romance, and buckets of blood, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Rent/Buy Braindead on Amazon.

Nightmare City (1980)

Umberto Lenzi’s 1980 Italian horror film, Nightmare City (also released as City of the Walking Dead) combines elements of zombie movies, vampire thrillers, and anti-nuclear sentiments to tell its wild, engaging, and terrifying story. Sent to cover the emergency landing of a military plane carrying scientists investigating a nuclear accident, a news reporter (played by Hugo Stiglitz) instead witnesses a group of crazed and seemingly invincible men attacks and drink the blood of soldiers on the runway.

What follows is a race against time to not only tell and warn people of the ensuing danger but also try to get to the bottom of the story and figure out its cause before it's too late. Forced quarantine, a city bursting at the seams with ghouls, and other dangers make this no easy task.

Stream Nightmare City on Kanopy.

Night Of The Creeps (1986)

Fred Dekker, who’d go on to work on everything from The Monster Squad to Tales from the Crypt, got his start with the 1986 sci-fi/horror comedy, Night of the Creeps. When two college students (played by Jason Lively and Steve Marshall) steal a cadaver as part of an initiation ceremony to join a frat at their college, they unwittingly take a corpse that is under the control of alien invaders. As the zombies begin to grow in numbers (thanks to extraterrestrial slugs), Corman University becomes ground zero of the apocalypse.

If you’re a fan of B movies, zombies, aliens, and all things ‘80s, then this campy yet earnest horror flick is going to quickly become one of your go-to cult classics.

Rent/Buy Night Of The Creeps on Amazon.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

Released in 2007, 28 Weeks Later is one of those awesome horror movie sequels that works despite being a major departure from its predecessor. Set months after the initial release of the “Rage” Virus that decimated England, the movie centers on a group of U.N. soldiers as they try to contain its spread.

Though none of the actors from the 28 Days Later cast return for this one, the audience is introduced to some outstanding characters throughout this action-packed horror thriller. Oh, and that opening sequence is still just as great more than a decade-and-a-half later. And with the upcoming 28 Years Later on the way, now would be a fun time to revisit this thrilling zombie flick.

Rent/Buy 28 Weeks Later on Amazon.

Army Of The Dead (2021) 

Seventeen years after coming onto the scene with his surprisingly good Dawn of the Dead remake, Zack Snyder returned to the zombie genre with the Netflix exclusive, Army of the Dead. This flashy, over-the-top, and action-packed Las Vegas adventure feels like Ocean’s Eleven with zombies, because of its setting and large ensemble cast.

Set years after a zombie outbreak devastated Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries led by Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) is sent into the ruins of Sin City to break into a massive vault and recover $200 million hidden inside. Just like his Dawn of the Dead movie, this action-packed, blood-filled, and rather emotional zombie flick has a lot of brains and heart.

Stream Army of the Dead on Netflix.

Little Monsters (2019)

In 2019, Abe Forsythe gave the world his unique spin on the zombie genre with the horror-comedy, Little Monsters. Instead of a group of mercenaries sent into a deadly location or a group of scientists trying to find a cure, this charming tale centers around a kindergarten teacher played by Lupita Nyong’o, a children’s TV show host portrayed by Josh Gad, and Alexander England’s washed-up musician as they try to protect a group of young kids from a deadly zombie outbreak.

With a lot of heart, soul, and so much gore, this remarkably funny zombie romp is full of surprises and great moments around each corner. Like zombies grabbing your limbs, this movie takes hold of your heart.

Stream Little Monsters on Hulu.

Zombie (1979) 

Zombie (or Zombi 2) is Lucio Fulci’s 1979 unofficial sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. But instead of taking place in a shopping mall, the movie is mostly set on a Caribbean island and follows a researcher, a journalist, and several other new characters as they investigate claims of a strange viral outbreak.

This movie is just as terrifying as it is campy (a zombie fights a shark), features one of the most disgusting eye scenes of all time, and is definitely not for the faint of heart. However, this is a classic addition to the genre that is a must for horror fans, even if it is just to check out the impressive zombie effects and all that incredible gore.

Rent/Buy Zombie on Amazon.

Land Of The Dead (2005)

After a 20-year break, the late George A. Romero returned to his iconic zombie franchise with 2005’s Land of the Dead. Set in a walled-off Pittsburgh protected from the millions of ghouls outside its gates, the movie plays out like A Tale of Two Cities but with zombies, in that the wealthy live a life of luxury and security in a massive tower while everyone else fights for scraps (and their lives).

If a rebellion to overthrow the ruthless Paul Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) isn’t bad enough, the survivors also have to deal with a group of undead who have evolved and started to work under the direction of Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), one of the smartest and best movie zombies of all time.

Rent/Buy Land of the Dead on Amazon.

Planet Terror (2007) 

Released as one half of the Grindhouse double-feature, director Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 zombie thriller, Planet Terror, is one hell of a ride. On a seemingly normal night, a rural Texas town becomes overrun with zombies that bring death, destruction, and chaos to the once-quiet community.

Injured go-go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), whose leg is ripped off in the mayhem and later replaced with an assault rifle, and her ex-boyfriend El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) lead a group of survivors through the night in hopes of creating a better tomorrow. This proves to be no easy task, however, and survival is far from guaranteed.

Rent/Buy Planet Terror on Amazon.

One Cut Of The Dead (2017) 

Shin'ichirō Ueda’s uniquely funny 2017 Japanese zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead, follows an obsessive filmmaker, his cast, and crew as they film a horror movie in an abandoned and haunted plant that is attacked by real zombies. Instead of screeching to a halt, the production continues and is completed in a single take due to various reasons.

It’s best to stop reading about One Shot of the Dead there, as the movie takes some wild and crazy turns that are so off-the-wall they’re hard to believe.

Rent/Buy One Cut of the Dead on Amazon.

Train To Busan (2016)

Nearly a half-century after George A. Romero introduced audiences to the idea of the flesh-eating undead masses, South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho gave us one of the most refreshing and beautifully crafted films in the genre with 2016's Train To Busan. Set aboard a high-speed train infested with the walking dead, this movie carries on a lot of the messages that Romero inserted into his classic Dead anthology.

Throughout its nearly two-hour runtime, Train To Busan contains some of the best and most inventive trappings for its survivors. With one half of the survivors stuck on the back of the train and the other half on the front, they must find a way through the wall of zombies separating the two.

Stream Train to Busan on Peacock.
Rent/Buy Train to Busan on Amazon.

Rec (2007) 

Often considered one of the best found footage horror movies, the 2007 Spanish thriller, Rec, follows a young reporter (Manuela Velasco) as she and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) become trapped in an apartment complex in which the residents are turned into flesh-eating zombies.

Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, this streamlined thriller makes the most of its 78-minute runtime to produce one of the most frightening and unique experiences that pumped new life into the zombie horror subgenre upon release.

Stream Rec on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Rec on Amazon.

Cargo (2018) 

Based on their 2013 short film of the same name, Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke’s 2017 zombie drama, Cargo, follows a father (Martin Freeman) as he and his infant daughter navigate rural Australia in hopes of being rescued in the midst of a massive viral outbreak that turns people into rabid monsters within 48 hours.

In a race against time, and the onset of infection, the father searches for a way out of the terrifying situation, one that only gets more dire by the minute. Far more dramatic than most zombie movies, Cargo will absolutely leave you gutted by the time it’s finished.

Stream Cargo on Netflix.

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

You couldn't have a list of the best zombie movies without including George A. Romero's landmark low-budget thriller, Night Of The Living Dead. Not only did this 1968 classic start one of the greatest horror franchises in the history of cinema, it was also paramount in the creation of the modern zombie movie.

This black-and-white tale of the undead follows a small group of strangers who seek shelter in an old farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. As the zombies slowly begin to overtake the exterior of the house, the survivors are verbally ripping one another apart as they fail to put aside their differences.

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Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Not all zombie movies have to be dark and dreary retellings of the apocalypse as Edgar Wright showed us in the hilarious horror comedy Shaun Of The Dead. Written alongside the film's star, Simon Pegg, this parody of the genre remains one of the best zombie movies.

Following the life of Shaun (Pegg), a down-on-his-luck electronics salesman and his best friend Ed (Nick Frost), the film pits the two deadbeat losers against hordes of undead on the streets of London. While technically a comedy, Shaun Of The Dead doesn't hold back on the gore, guts, or headshots as Shaun, Ed, and their friends and family try to escape to their favorite bar, the Winchester, where who knows what'll happen.

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Zombieland (2009)

If you are looking for a star-studded cast, loads of comedy, and plenty of zombie kills then Zombieland is the movie for you. Released in 2009, this Ruben Fleischer picture brings together Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as the group of outcasts come together and make their way across the continental United States that has been all but destroyed by the masses of undead littering the landscape.

One part comedy and one part horror, this highly imaginative mashup of the genres offers some of the most inventive zombie kills and plot devices ever seen in horror movies. With a long list of "rules" in order to prolong their survival, this ragtag group gives us laughs, chills, and plenty of kills. There are even a few tears along the way.

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Day Of The Dead (1985)

In 1985, George A. Romero completed his original Dead trilogy with Day of the Dead, an extremely bleak concluding chapter that picked up years into the zombie apocalypse. Confined to a military base established in an old mining system, a group of scientists and soldiers attempt to coexist in hopes of finding a cure for the virus that has brought humanity to its knees.

While Romero's previous efforts lacked in the detailed gore department, Day of the Dead goes all out with some of the best work by legendary special effects artist Tom Savini. It’s slower, meaner, and less action-packed than Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, but this ‘80s horror movie has quite the bite.

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Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead, which was written by James Gunn, is similar to George A. Romero’s horror classic in name and setting only, but that's not to say it's a bad movie. Instead, it's just a different approach to the zombie mall concept. With an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Ty Burrell before he went on to become the lovable Phil Dunphy on Modern Family, this reimagining has some bright spots.

The most memorable of those scenes is the film's opening, in which Polley's character must escape her suburban neighborhood as it's being ripped apart by the undead masses. The way the scene transitions to the superb title sequence still amazes me.

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Warm Bodies (2013)

Who says you can't have a romantic comedy set inside a world that has been overtaken by millions of zombies? I guess no one told Jonathan Levine that before he adapted and directed the 2013 zombie comedy Warm Bodies about a ghoul by the name of "R" (Nicholas Hoult) who falls in love with a very living Julie Grigio (Teresa Palmer).

Based on a novel by the same name, the oddball comedy horror mashup is as funny as it is terrifying as the romance blooms in a world that is nearly a decade into a widespread zombie outbreak. With their perfect mixture of romance, thrills, and chills, Warm Bodies is perfect for anyone looking for a happier approach to the zombie genre.

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The Dead Don't Die (2019)

I could hem and haw about the intricacies of Jim Jarmusch's absurdist The Dead Don't Die, but I'll cut to the chase and say that this is one of the most refreshing and hilarious zombie movies I've ever seen. Not quite a horror movie and yet still not exactly your typical comedy, this mishmash of genres, along with the insane cast (Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, etc.), The Dead Don't Die is a gem.

When a zombie outbreak takes over a small city, the local police force, mortician, and hermit must make sense of the world around them as the dead mysteriously return from the grave. This one isn't for everyone, but man is it great.

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The Return Of The Living Dead (1985)

I was just a kid when I first saw The Return Of The Living Dead, so young that I failed to see the humor in this 1985 oddball horror comedy and thought it was the scariest movie I'd ever seen. It was truly frightening watching this classic on WGN that fateful October afternoon. Since then, I've grown to love this unconventional zombie movie about a viral outbreak in Louisville, Kentucky, of all places.

Written and directed by Dan O'Bannon, who's mostly known for writing the screenplay for Ridley Scott's Alien six years earlier, The Return Of The Living Dead takes place in a world in which Night Of The Living Dead was based. Add a medical disaster, a gang of street punks, and a soundtrack for the ages, and you have yourself one of the goofiest and goriest comedies to come out of the 1980s.

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World War Z (2013)

And then there is the Marc Foster-directed World War Z, starring Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who is tasked with finding the cause of a viral outbreak that has spread throughout the world. Based on the novel of the same name by Max Brooks, World War Z, is a fun, globetrotting adventure about a man who happens to find himself in the face of danger at every turn.

The film is a departure from the narrative structure of the well-written novel on which it was based, but World War Z does have some of the most exciting action sequences and a finale in the zombie-infested World Health Organization headquarters that still makes me quiver all these years later.

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Well, this should be enough to hold you over while we wait for the next great zombie movie to take us back to the graveyard.

He is Brad freakin’ Pitt, and he never forgets it. It is that confidence that helped Brad Pitt earn his first acting Oscar (Best Supporting Actor) for playing stuntman Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, which is easily one of the most badass roles of his career.

In fact, the 56-year-old, who had previously received an Academy Award for producing the Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave in 2013, has played quite a few badasses (in various senses of the word) throughout the years. It is why, even at a time when he is technically a veteran of the industry, Brad Pitt is still sought out to play roles like a bold space explorer in Ad Astra, a World War II tank commander in Fury, and an invisible vigilante in Deadpool 2.

Yet those are only a couple of the notable characters that have made Brad Pitt one of the most badass actors alive. If you want to hear about more, I have 11 right below here, ranked by badassness.

11. John Smith (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)

World class secret agent. Deadly assassin. Devoted suburban husband. These are the lives that John Smith, while not privy to the fact that his wife, Jane (Angelina Jolie, who would eventually become his real-life spouse) has the same job and he is her next target. Coincidentally, she is his.

Directed by Edge of Tomorrow helmer Doug Liman from a screenplay by Simon Kinberg, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, is a fun, heartwarming romantic comedy about a strained marriage given a second chance when they realize their failure to kill each other must mean that they are made for each other. Shout out to Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, too, of course, for doing what they do best: making such a despicable occupation look so effortlessly cool.

10. Gerry Lane (World War Z)

What sets author Max Brooks’ acclaimed oral history of a global zombie outbreak apart from other stories of reanimated, flesh-eating corpses is that World War Z plays out more like a geo-political thriller than an action/horror hybrid. Star and producer Brad Pitt made the film adaptation into an action/horror hybrid, but at least made it fun by giving us a hero worth rooting for.

Retired United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is forced to leave his wife and children behind (in safety, nonetheless) to travel the world in search of a cure to the pandemic turning people into mindless, angry, cannibalistic monsters. What makes Pitt’s World War Z protagonist a badass is the lengths he will go to save the world, even if that means giving his own life.

9. Rusty Ryan (Ocean’s Eleven)

It may have been Danny Ocean’s show, but Rusty Ryan was the showrunner. The secret to how Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven-- about a parolee (George Clooney) who recruits 10 other professional criminals to nab the ultimate Las Vegas jackpot by robbing three casinos in one night -- became one of the coolest movies of its, or really any, generation is, arguably, Brad Pitt.

From his impeccably calm line delivery, aspirational sense of style, and the unusual aura of sophistication he brings to snacking on a carton of nachos, Brad Pitt made his character the ultimate badass of Ocean’s Eleven. The criminal lifestyle is the one that comes with a price, but Rusty Ryan makes it look priceless.

8. Tristan Ludlow (Legends of the Fall)

There are several key moments throughout the 1990s which could be credited as the beginning of Brad Pitt's reputation as a Hollywood hunk and several that could mark the beginning of his reputation as a badass. I feel that a good candidate for both might be the 1994 World War I-era drama Legends of the Fall.

Brad Pitt gives a Golden Globe nominated performance as Tristan Ludlow, one of three brothers living in the Montana wilderness with their father (Anthony Hopkins), whose relationship is tested when he and his brother Alfred (Aidan Quinn) fall in love with Susannah (Julia Ormond), the fiancée of their younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas), after he is killed in the war. Of course, Susannah cannot help but choose Tristan, the charming war hero and globe-trotting man of the wild. You could also say he is the kind of man who would willfully go toe-to-toe with a bear.

7. Achilles (Troy)

In 1250 B.C., Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) convinces Spartan Queen, Helen (Diane Kruger), to leave her husband (Brendan Gleeson) for him, igniting a war. Keeping Troy’s undefeated reputation in mind, the Greeks enlist the help of the greatest warrior known to man: Achilles (Brad Pitt)

If there is just one reason to watch director Wolfgang Peterson’s 163-minute 2004 adaptation of Homer’s poem “The Iliad,” it is Brad Pitt’s performance as the resilient, unmatched, legendary Achilles, tearing through his enemies like a knife through hot butter with no sense of mercy. Even if Troy turned out to be a critical misfire with underwhelming box office returns and Pitt himself credits it as a huge turning point in how he chooses projects, at least he can credit his role as an undisputed badass.

6. David Mills (Se7en)

In a world defined by unrelenting grimness, where corruption is its spirit and humanity is its prey, Lt. William Stone (Morgan Freeman) is desperate for an escape. Meanwhile, newly minted hotshot detective David Mills (Brad Pitt), his partner on a case tracking down a killer inspired by the Seven Deadly sins, is ready to grab this miserable existence by the balls and bring it to its knees, if only he knew what fate awaits him.

Until its devastating conclusion, Brad Pitt’s David Mills spends most of David Fincher’s grisly 1995 noir masterpiece Se7en exhibiting a nearly indulgent outlook to his otherwise dismal job, unfazed by his partner’s dispirited nature and assuming himself to be an incorruptible force against evil. It is an admirable and decidedly badass quality to attain, despite proving to have no avail in the film’s unnamed setting: a place that evil calls home.

5. Mickey O’Neil (Snatch)

Brad Pitt’s undeniably badass role in Guy Ritchie’s classic sophomore directorial outing is purely a testament to the actor’s physicality. This is not only due to Irish Gypsy Mickey O’Neil intense fighting ability, but because there is not a single line of decipherable dialogue spoken by the character throughout the film.

Brad Pitt was actually so impressed by Guy Ritchie’s 1998 debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels that he personally asked the filmmaker to be in whatever he would do next, inspiring him to rewrite Snatch with a role specially created for the actor. This explains why the often misunderstood boxer’s role feels so loose from the diamond hunt at the center of the plot, yet Mickey O’Neil still ended up becoming, arguably, the film’s most memorable (and undeniably badass) character.

4. Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Fury)

I guess Brad Pitt just has the look of a 1940s military officer because Fury, from director David Ayer, is one of two World War II-era films mentioned on this list, but he has starred in a handful. His role as a gruff tank commander fixing to toughen up his young new gunner (Logan Lerman) is one of his darker and, of course, badass characters in that regard.

The quality of his fatherly leadership and resilience in the face of the enemy makes Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier an army of his own. His decision to stay and face a fleet of German soldiers even with his titular tank is an act of valor few people would be willing to make.

3. Cliff Booth (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

Leonardo DiCaprio played the role of film and TV star Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. However, I walked out of Quentin Tarnatino’s love letter to the industry’s Golden Age feeling that I would much rather be his second banana, Cliff Booth.

Brad Pitt won an Oscar for making an overly confident, down-on-his-luck stuntman who may or may not have murdered his wife, somehow, the most likable gent in a movie that fuses a fictionalized behind the scenes look at celebrity in the 1960s with revisionist history lesson in the Manson Family. Even during his hilarious quarrel with Mike Moh’s Bruce Lee to his intense visit to Spahn Ranch to his bloody, acid-laced final stand-off nearly the film’s conclusion, Cliff Booth never ceases to emit the kind of charming magnetism you would have to kill for (which, in his case, is not unlikely).

2. Lt. Aldo Raine (Inglourious Basterds)

Despite the fact that Brad Pitt has top billing, the real hero of Inglourious Basterds is not his character, Lt. Aldo Raine, but Melanie Laurent’s French-Jewish cinema operator Shoshanna. However, every minute of screen time featuring the leader of the special unit of Nazi scalpers is owned by Pitt.

The hick-accented, neck-scarred soldier’s commitment to bringing the greatest villains of World War II to justice, made especially evident by the eloquent savagery of his introductory speech to his Jewish-American brethren, makes him as fearsome as it does admirable. Lt. Aldo Raine may have his moments of bumbling (essentially giving up any effort for a convincing Italian accent at a movie premiere crawling with Nazis), Brad Pitt’s first collaboration with writer and director Quentin Tarantino was a match made in history rewriting heaven.

1. Tyler Durden (Fight Club)

Many would agree that Tyler Durden is the ultimate Brad Pitt role, if not one of the top 10 ultimate movie characters in cinematic history. As the unlikely companion to Edward Norton’s anxious nobody in the formation of the titular Fight Club, he redefines what men aspire to be, for better or worse.

It is difficult not to get lost in, and almost be inspired by, the clearly heinous and despicable philosophies preached by Tyler Durden in this 1999 adaptation of Chuck Palhniuk’s novel that satirizes modern consumerism’s influence on toxic masculinity, but how can you resist the words coming from a guy who looks like you want look and is free in all the ways that you are not? Fight Club is yet another collaboration between Brad Pitt and David Fincher that sees the world through a deeply cynical and antagonistic lens, which the unforgettable portrayal of Tyler Durden makes an irresistible classic.

Needless to say, Brad Pitt is, and has always been, a badass. But, he is even more than that: he is an Oscar-winning badass.

Despite numerous delays, for a little bit there a couple of years ago it looked like World War Z 2 was actually going to happen. The sequel to 2013’s zombie film was set to be helmed by none other than David Fincher, reuniting him with his Se7en co-star Brad Pitt. Alas it was not to be as Paramount Pictures pulled the plug on the film last February. But it takes a lot to kill a zombie and World War Z producer Jeremy Kleiner explained why he still wants a sequel to happen, saying:

Jeremy Kleiner is the co-president of Plan B Entertainment alongside co-president Dede Gardner and owner Brad Pitt and under their leadership the production company has shepherded a slew of hits and awards winners including 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight and World War Z. And as one of the people behind Marc Forster’s zombie film, Jeremy Kleiner clearly hasn’t given up on World War Z 2.

As Jeremy Kleiner tells The Hollywood Reporter, he and the team at Plan B still want a World War Z sequel to happen simply because they are huge fans of the material. There is a whole world to explore in Max Brooks’ 2006 book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and the Marc Forster film that adapted it and Jeremy Kleiner loves that zombie-infested universe.

As fans of the universe of World War Z, Jeremy Kleiner seems to believe that there are still things to explore and ideas to mine in this world. The sponge has not yet been wrung dry and because of that, it’s hard to say World War Z 2 will never happen. The story doesn’t feel like it’s over to Jeremy Kleiner and because of that, he’s leaving the door wide open for a possible sequel.

Jeremy Kleiner does not however offer any indications that there is currently movement towards making World War Z 2 happen or when such a hypothetical film might finally see the light of day. Still though, for fans of World War Z, it’s good to hear that people in positions of power to do so are still interested in continuing to tell this story.

That’s the thing nowadays too. We’re seeing that it really is never too late for a sequel or spinoff or continuation or reboot. Movies we never thought would happen are happening with regularity and sequels are coming years after the first movie. Five years is nothing, we’re frequently seeing 10-year gaps between things, if not decades in some cases.

Now, a lot of those are nostalgic properties, which World War Z is not, and for every triumphant return there’s a movie that makes us regret wishing for a sequel in the first place. But still, we can’t write off World War Z 2 completely. Hopefully if and when it does happen it manages to be as intriguing as the sequel with Brad Pitt and director David Fincher was shaping up to be.

We’ll keep you updated if this undead project rises to feed once more. In the meantime, check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see what movies you can look forward to this year.

What is scarier than a machete-wielding maniac in a hockey mask or an abandoned mansion where vengeful spirits lurk? If you ask me, zombies are the most horrifying concept in horror cinema and zombie movies are among some of the finest in the genre.

Some may ask, "Why? How does the idea of a hungry, rotting corpse suffering from rigor mortis sound scary? It's completely impossible!"

Not to say that these naysayers are wrong, and even television shows (see The Walking Dead), exploring the concept of the rise of the undead have provided thought-provoking looks at how society is consumed by chaos, widespread hysterics, senseless violence, and our own loss of humanity. So, while the supernatural plot device may not be as convincing, the message is shockingly believable.

Through generations of zombie movies from the works of George A. Romero to Jim Jarmusch's upcoming The Dead Don't Die, what cinematic tale of gore and survival challenges our beliefs most effectively? I have picked eight iconic creature features (and one franchise that you could probably guess) and rank them by how realistically they imagine a world that has been overrun by the dead.

9. Overlord (2018)

Gamers all over the world eyed this J.J. Abrams-produced gem with ecstatic anticipation that they were finally seeing the film adaptation of the zombie-inspired levels of Call of Duty they had dreamed of. As it turns out, it is not the Army vs. undead splatterfest they expected, but that is essentially what helps Overlord maintain some shred of plausibility.

As a twist on true accounts of human experimentation by the Third Reich during World War II, Overlord follows a small group of American soldiers who discover the Nazis’ scientific approach to achieve immortality has spawned horrifying results.

The film is more war than gore, with references to reanimated corpses and violent mutants appearing less frequently than traditional armed combat, but a zombie outbreak on the eve of D-Day would have had you shaking your head, saying, “That never happened.” Overlord keeps it covert without beating you over the head with its horror elements, resulting in a WWII fantasy more believable, at least, than Inglourious Basterds.

Speaking of Brad Pitt...

8. World War Z (2013)

Author Max Brooks stated in the documentary Doc of the Dead that zombies do not scare him; he is not convinced by the idea of cannibalistic reanimated corpses at all. What does scare him is the concept of a virus powerful enough to create widespread mania and destroy humanity as we know it.

Max Brooks took that approach to his novel, World War Z, framed as an oral history of an epidemic turning people into ravenous, flesh-craving mutants, which producer and star Brad Pitt made into this action-packed disaster flick.

The film manages to treat the subject matter maturely, not treating its zombie themes as excuses for gore or even going for the apocalyptic aftermath route. Instead, it puts you right into the middle of the event, as Pitt’s United Nations investigator struggles to figure out the cause and, hopefully, the cure for this international catastrophe, while also serving up potent political commentary.

However, I cannot say I find mindless flesh-eaters smart enough to climb a several-hundred foot wall particularly realistic, so it loses points there.

7. Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Despite being pretty straightforward, Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead still managed to become one of the most iconic movies of the zombie genre. The key to Shaun of the Dead's success, and its realism, may be its highly relatable characters.

Shaun (co-writer Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are a couple of average slackers who are far from prepared to take on a horde of undead overrunning London, leading them to make some very bad decisions as they struggle to avoid the fate of the infected. But how can you blame them?

The characters’ ill-advised efforts only make them more authentic and, while they also serve as setups for some memorably hilarious moments, they lead to heartbreaking consequences that make you wonder why you were laughing in the first place. People are dying here!

6. Train To Busan (2016)

The Korean horror extravaganza Train to Busan may be the most potent example in recent memory of the key elements of a perfect zombie movie: relentless terror, critical thinking, and a heart.

A divorced businessman (Yoo-Gong) is taking his daughter (Su-an Kim) on a train from Seoul to Busan to visit her mother when a woman infected by a mysterious virus comes aboard. Infection breaks out as the passengers find themselves trapped in a mobile fight for survival.

Train to Busan is a brainy, highly entertaining, no-holds-barred gore fest that is not for the faint of heart, but the scariest thing about the film is not the cannibalistic monsters just one train car away. It is the constant dread of being caught in uncontrollable chaos and the lengths one must go to protect loved ones and even strangers alike.

5. [Rec] (2007)

Before the found footage horror trend took its time running itself into the ground, many credit this Spanish-language thriller as the genre’s peak of brilliance.

[Rec] follows a young television reporter and (Manuela Velasco) her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) who become trapped inside an apartment building experiencing an outbreak of a deadly virus turning its victims into hunters and the uninfected into their prey.

Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza use the found footage method as an effective way to authenticate [Rec]’s horror elements and take advantage of its singular internal setting to provide the audience with a first-hand, claustrophobic experience that feels almost too real to handle.

4. Colin (2008)

Zombie movies are always concerned with how the living deal with the dead. This low budget British thriller asks the question, “How do the dead deal with being dead?”

Alastair Kirton stars as the title character of Colin, who discovers a zombie bite on his arm within the first few minutes of the film. Following his death and reanimation, he serves as our apocalyptic tour guide, mindlessly stumbling through the wreckage of suburbia longing to satisfy his new appetite.

Colin features top-notch acting and surprisingly good special effects for one, but its most impactful moment comes when Colin comes across his own family, horrified to discover their loved one, who can’t even recognize them, is now their greatest danger. It is a thought-provoking reminder these monsters steal not just human lives, but also humanity, and sees the traditionally feared undead earn our unexpected sympathies.

3. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

Today, the term “zombie” is often associated with rotting corpses seeking fresh, live meat, thanks to George Romero, but if you look back to the first inception of the concept, it gets a little weirder.

Directed by Wes Craven, The Serpent and the Rainbow focuses on the concept of black magic, which anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) travels to Haiti to investigate following reports of a drug resurrecting people from the dead. His findings bring him closer to the truth than he wanted, as, not just his life, but his soul soon becomes threatened.

The film is a return to the origin of zombies, defined as corpses reanimated by the use of witchcraft as a tradition of Haitian folklore. While still regarded as a supernatural thriller by execution, considering its nightmarish themes and historical significance, it sure makes you want to steer clear of voodoo.

2. George A. Romero’s Dead Series (1968-2009)

For the definitive depiction of a soulless, subhuman flesh-eater that we have come to know, love, and fear, we have the late George A. Romero to thank.

After first introducing us to the modern incarnation of the zombie in 1968’s revolutionary Night of the Living Dead, Romero kept bringing us back to his nightmarish vision of survival and carnage throughout the decades with more iconic films like Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead, imposing a new concept of potent social commentary with each.

He even took advantage of the found footage trend with Diary of the Dead in 2007 and a more sympathetic approach to his monstrous creations with Survival of the Dead two years later.

Despite inspiring many films to come forward later, what keeps Romero’s Dead series standing out among the rest is how their highly plausible depiction of the aftermath of chaos and how they serve as a reflection of human nature, commenting on topics like race, modern consumerism, and war.

But, if we’re talking about realism here, even Romero can’t beat this modern classic.

1. 28 Days Later... (2002)

The debate over whether or not it is accurate to call director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland’s chaotic tour de force a “zombie” movie is a little pointless to me.

Sure, the plot revolves around agile maniacs infected by biological rage as opposed to slow-moving dead people, yet that is precisely what makes it the most realistic “zombie” movie of all time.

The story picks up speed after Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma four weeks after a virus that is non-fatal, but turns most of London into senseless, adrenaline-fueled predators, breaks out. Not even simply avoiding a bite can save you as Brendan Gleeson’s fate shows that a single drop of blood entering your eye is enough to awaken the rage.

28 Days Later... makes the concept of society crumbling in the wake of disease scarier than the stories that inspired it because it forces you to believe it could happen.

What do you think of our realistic zombies movies ranking? Still not convinced, or are you prepping to zombie-proof your house now? However you feel about zombie movies, hopefully you can survive long enough to check back for movie updates and more here on CinemaBlend.

Out of all the monster movie genres out there, few have gotten as many entries as the zombie genre. Some may argue hype on the genre has somewhat cooled, although with The Walking Dead set to start making Rick Grimes features, and more shows and films springing up all the time, it's safe to say the zombie genre will not die. Kind of ironic, right?

With that said, there have been so many entries in the zombie genre that some of the better quality features have been lost in the mix as decades pass. Additionally, some audiences may have specific zombies they want to see in a movie, be it the iconic walker, aggressive runners, classic voodoo, or the lighthearted funny zombie flick. These are the definitive picks for the best zombie films someone should hit up first before getting into the other offerings.

The Best Walker Zombie Movies

Walker zombies are the traditional type of zombie most people are familiar with. They're slow moving, work in large numbers and aren't always the sharpest tools in the box. There are exceptions, of course, but these types of zombies are built more towards building films more on suspense and claustrophobic situations than fast-paced over-the-top action.

Dawn Of The Dead

It's impossible to make a list of great zombie films without featuring at least one by the godfather of modern zombies. George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead is one of his most profitable and critically acclaimed features, and has served as the inspiration for numerous zombie movies that followed. The effects may be a bit dated compared to shows like The Walking Dead, but the story is as timeless as ever and remains a classic.

Zombie

Zombie, or Zombi 2 in Italy, features the traditional type of walker zombie, although this one is technically a mixture between walker/voodoo genres. With that said, voodoo isn't as heavy to the plot as some of the entries seen later. What this movie is heavy on is some truly gross and cringe-worthy imagery to see in this feature. There's also an underwater zombie that gets into it with a shark, and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Planet Terror

Planet Terror isn't the most conventional zombie film out there, which may be why more folks are drawn to it as time goes on. While Robert Rodriguez's feature was viewed as the lesser in the grindhouse double feature, there's no denying its unique style and aesthetic have helped it become a stand out of the genre. It also helps Rose McGowan's character has a gun for a leg.

The Best Runner Zombie Movies

As the name would imply, runner zombies are more fast-moving and generally more athletic than the walker-types. These zombies plow ahead with reckless abandon, and generally have little regard for their own preservation or other zombies around them. Speed is obviously a scary attribute for a monster that doesn't have to worry about endurance, so runner zombie movies are often high-action and high intensity throughout a bulk of the feature.

28 Days Later

There are some movies that, if someone is looking to get into the zombie genre, can't be missed. 28 Days Later is mandatory viewing for its heart-pounding action, fast and strong as hell zombies, and view of just how bleak a post-apocalyptic zombie world can be. There's also times where Danny Boyle's film is beautiful, in what may be one of the most aesthetically pleasing zombie movie for film buffs.

Train To Busan

South Korea isn't typically known as a hub for films that appeal to an American audience, but the nation has had a few hits over the years. Even for those who aren't too psyched for foreign language films with subtitles, Train To Busan is worth checking out. Perhaps the best part of this film is the zombies' one weakness being an inability to see in the dark, which makes for incredibly tense and heart-pounding scenes.

World War Z

A lot of die hard zombie fans will take issue with this entry, mainly because it's not the same quality of the Max Brooks novel it was adapted from. Be that as it may, World War Z has some fantastic sequences with runner zombies, and it takes advantage of its big Hollywood budget to show some scenes most zombie movies haven't pulled off. Unfortunately, the long in-development sequel was cancelled, so chances of a follow up are slim.

The Best Voodoo Zombie Movies

Before George Romero brought zombies back into the mainstream, voodoo zombies were typically the cinematic standard for zombies in cinema. These creatures are typically similar attribute-wise to walker zombies, but enslaved throughout the use of Haitian Voodoo magic or some spell that enslaves them to an individual. For those looking for some of the beginnings of zombies in Hollywood, these are the films to start with.

White Zombie

White Zombie is regarded as the first feature length zombie film, and the movie that laid the groundwork for others. Dracula icon Bela Lugosi plays a witch doctor who is capable of taking dead bodies, re-animating them and making them his slaves. It's far from the modern interpretation of a zombie, but it is based in the Haitian voodoo interpretation of zombies. For those that want to see where it all started, this is where it starts.

Sugar Hill

One of the more contemporary voodoo zombie films, Sugar Hill is a '70s blaxploitation film about a vengeful woman who seeks revenge on the mob boss who killed her boyfriend. Diane "Sugar" Hill goes to a former voodoo queen and ends up summoning Baron Samedi and zombies to take the fight to the mob. This might be one of the only movies where the main character is actually the source of a zombie outbreak.

Voodoo Man

Voodoo Man is one of the weirder entries on this list, as it goes from traditional voodoo zombie film to meta by the movie's end. Without revealing too much about the film's ending, a character suggests making a movie called "Voodoo Man" and requests that Bela Lugosi (who is in the film) be in the movie. Considering this movie starts with a doctor tricking women into stealing their essences to resurrect his dead wife, that's kind of impressive.

The Best Comedy Zombie Films

These aren't necessarily a type of zombie per se, but there's been a handful of zombie comedy movies that are some of the best zombie films out there. These movies typically have a mixture of different zombie types, and can poke fun at the overall silliness of the genre. For those looking for a laugh just as much as gore, look no further than these great movies.

Zombieland

One of the zombie genre's funniest films is also one of its most star-studded, as Zombieland boasts talent like Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray. The zombie rules of survival in this movie are great advice should an actual zombie apocalypse ever hit, and the zombie attacks highlight some of the sillier encounters a more serious zombie film wouldn't tackle. It's no wonder audiences are still excited for a sequel a decade later!

Shaun of the Dead

Had Shaun of the Dead never been made, it's possible the careers of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wouldn't have skyrocketed to the status they enjoy now. That's not important when it comes to the film, which is a fantastic zombie flick regardless of its impact on those individuals. Shaun's story is exceptionally well told, and most zombie movie lovers can attest that strong individual stories are not a strength of the zombie genre.

Dead Alive

This is zombie comedy that's a bit of a cult classic, mainly because its relatively unknown director at the time became a pretty big deal years later. Even if most folks check this out due to their love of Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson, Dead Alive is a pretty funny film, with some of the more obscene slapstick humor that can't be found in most zombie films.

Do you have a great zombie movie that didn't make the list that folks should check out? Be sure to post it below in the comics and keep with CinemaBlend for all the latest news on zombies, movies, and all things entertainment.

The process of cutting together a great movie trailer has arguably become an art form in its own right recently, as previews for films like Avengers: Infinity War and Mission: Impossible - Fallout have blown audiences away. That said, there are some seriously tired trends in even the best movie trailers that we're sick of seeing.

To be clear, we're not saying that these trends never worked. All we are saying is that they've lost some of the impacts that they used to have, and therefore they should be retired for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, let's dive in and kick things off with a discussion about the use of slow and eerie pop songs in modern movie trailers.

Slow Covers Of Pop Songs

The Trend: If you have watched a trailer in the last few years, then there's a good chance that you have seen this several times. The trailer slowly fades in, and we're treated to ominous-yet-familiar renditions of beloved songs that tend to have some sort of thematic relevance to the plot of the film being advertised, such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" being used in a horror movie set in a high school.

Why It Sucks: This one was definitely effective when we first started seeing it in trailers because it took something familiar and then made it creepy and alien. However, through overexposure and overuse, audiences have arguably become relatively inoculated to its effects. Now the use of these covers feels more like a move towards commercialism than a genuine attempt to capture the spirit of the film itself.

Example: The Gallows

Slow Covers Of Classic Themes

The Trend: We had to follow the slow and creepy covers of pop songs with the similar trend of slow and creepy covers of classic movie themes. This is a particularly common trope in the world of blockbuster filmmaking, in which many of the movies being promoted already have incredibly iconic theme songs that audiences can recognize from the first note.

Why It Sucks: Like many of the entries on this list, there are several examples of instances in which this has worked, such as the slow piano cover of the James Bond theme in Spectre. However, the process of recycling somber themes has also become incredibly repetitive, and it no longer has the effect of subverting our expectations and creating a sense of dread toward beloved franchises. Now it just feels tired; we want to hear the old themes come back.

Example: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Smash Cutting To Text

The Trend: This has, without a doubt, become one of the most widely-used methods of cutting trailers together in the world of movie marketing. Part of that likely stems from the fact that it's incredibly simple to do. All the trailer has to do is intersperse sequences of action or laughs with text to give audience information about the movie.

Why It Sucks: This trend initially worked because it helped lend a sense of intensity to the movies being promoted. Now it just feels lazy. It has become the equivalent of the old narrator saying "in a world," and it spoon-feeds exposition and release details to the audience in a uniform manner instead of conveying the tone of the movie. By using this technique, trailers are becoming far too similar to one another.

Example: Suicide Squad

Pre-Trailer Teasers

The Trend: Movie marketing has evolved with the boom of the digital era, and that means catering to audiences who now have the ability to skip many YouTube videos after five seconds. As a result, we have seen a notable uptick in trailers that actually begin with rapid-fire teasers preceding the full preview that attempt to show off some of the most important action and drama highlights before an audience member would typically click the "skip" button.

Why It Sucks: These teasers suck because they give away vital footage to a trailer before audiences have a chance even to watch the preview. A lot of work goes into editing the best trailers, and those explosive, rapid-fire montages ruin the tone of many of them. It's like taking a shot of hot sauce before diving into a gourmet meal.

Example: Most trailers

Jump Scares

The Trend: The horror genre has experienced a significant boom over the course of the last few years, and part of that stems from the fact that directors have shown increasing audacity in the construction of their scares. Alas, with such short time in a trailer, many fall back on the use of jump scares to jolt the audience and get the adrenaline pumping.

Why It Sucks: The use of jump scares in trailers sucks for many of the same reasons that jump scares suck in general. Horror movies often rely on the building of suspense to deliver their best thrills, and jump scares in a two to three-minute trailer don't have the same amount of time to pay off the build-up of tension that a horror movie can afford a filmmaker.

Example: Insidious: The Last Key

The "Inception" Noise

The Trend: Out of all the trends that we have seen in modern movie trailers, this one is intriguing because it can be directly traced back to one very specific movie: Christopher Nolan's Inception. It is the trailer-editing trend in which random horns (reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's iconic score) boom loudly in the background as action fades in and out of the screen.

Why It Sucks: Inception was a bonafide box office hit, and much of that stemmed from some truly great marketing. However, the horns in the Inception trailer were very specific to the tone of the score and the use of booming sound effects to convey the slowing of time. For other previews to adopt that method honestly does not make that much sense in the grand scheme of things.

Example: World War Z

Laying Out The Full Movie

The Trend: Movie trailers are mini-movies. The best of them tell stories that echo the themes and essential plot points of the movies they're selling. However, some trailers have taken that a step further in recent years by following the tentpole story beats of their respective films to the point at which many fans can dissect a trailer and accurately break down the movie.

Why It Sucks: We get the rationale of trying to construct a narrative, but laying out the entire plot of the movie in simple and easy-to-understand terms in a movie trailer sucks because it basically eliminates the point of actually seeing the movie when it finally comes out. This trend has turned trailers into Sparknotes versions of movies, rather than methods of selling films to audiences. That's the absolute wrong approach to cutting a movie trailer together.

Example: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Teasing Major Spoilers

The Trend: This one might actually be the most frustrating because it seems to go against the very logic of having a twist ending or a third act-reveal for a movie. As many of you have likely seen in recent years, there seems to be a disconnect between those who make trailers and those who make movies, as marketing often showcase major plot reveals before the movie event debuts.

Why It Sucks: Unlike the other entries on this list, teasing major spoilers stands apart because it was never an appealing trend in movie trailers. Spoiling anything that would have managed to surprise audiences in a pleasant way is never okay, and it is something that even the most mainstream trailers have an issue with in recent years.

Example: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Hiding Crucial Plot Points

The Trend: Have you ever seen a trailer for a movie and then found yourself absolutely flabbergasted by elements of the story that were left out of the film's promotional material when you sat down to actually watch the movie? That's what this trend is -- the omission of critical details that fundamentally inform what a movie is going to be about.

Why It Sucks: This one is the polar opposite of the significant teasing of spoilers because it involves the film withholding key information or design details that many audiences want to see. For example, if we know that a film is going to focus on an iconic character, then at the very least we want to look at that role teased at some point in the preview. Some elements of a story (particularly character design) shouldn't be kept secret.

Example: Venom

Ending On A One-Liner

The Trend: Finally, we come to the trend of ending modern movie trailers on one-liners. You've almost certainly seen this before. It primarily involves giving the trailer one last joke, gag or humorous punch to punctuate the entire preview. In the cases of sequels, these often include calling back to a previous film in some way.

Why It Sucks: These work on a case-by-case basis. Of course, sometimes it fits the tone of a movie to tease one of the film's better gags. However, more often than not, one of these jokes is used at the end of a serious trailer to tell the audience that the film won't be all doom and gloom. In the end, it often ends up sabotaging tone and compromising the emotional integrity of the footage that preceded it.

Example: Independence Day: Resurgence

Saber Interactive and Paramount Pictures made a pretty big announcement during The Game Awards 2017, revealing that there's a co-op, third-person shooter in the works for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC in 2018. The trailer reveals what the environments will be like and where players will travel, along with a small hint at what the frantic gameplay will be like.

The trailer is only a minute long, and it starts with a voiceover talking about how the walls couldn't keep the zombies out. There was hope that the freezing cold would slow them down, but it didn't. And they were hoping that the military would stop them, but they couldn't.

Multiple voiceovers explain that they were left all alone and that "they just keep coming". In between this time we get to see a number of scenarios that players will presumably be able to visit in World War Z. This includes streets barricaded with tanks and debris, a bar that seemingly seems flooded with snow, and the iconic plane scene from the movie.

In fact, the scene with the carrier looks so ominous, with the cabin lights being on in the cockpit and the side door being open, while the ramp in the back of the plane is also lowered. The entire airport is empty while a thunder storm rages overhead.

In between, we get a few other shots of some remote and unoccupied locations, including a gas station, city ruins, and subway stations.

Things eventually get a lot more intense when we get a scene of a snow-covered train station where the camera moves through a tunnel that eventually gets flooded with the infected, almost looking like something out of 28 Days Later.

What's interesting here is that the zombie behavior in World War Z. The game is identical to how it was portrayed in the movie. We see hundreds of zombies running aggressively toward the camera. For the group that are unable to make it through the gate opening, they begin climbing over the wall.

Another impressive shot features an overhead flyby of the city streets that are filled to the brim with zombies. Not only that, but they race all throughout the city streets and can even be seen leaping from the top of the building to the ground below. Helicopters fly overhead while surveying the area.

Another shot, showcasing what looks like a Middle-East town being overrun with zombies is put on display. Across the bridges, through the ravines, and over the walls, the horde of the infected are identical to how they were portrayed in World War Z the movie from back in 2013.

We eventually get to see other players shooting at the hordes in Russia, and what looks like New York. Fans of Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor will likely feel right at home.

The zombies look absolutely overwhelming, so it will be interesting to see how that turns out in the full game when it launches in 2018 for the PS4, Xbox One and on Steam for PC. There's a mailing list on the official website, so if you want to stay tuned in for future updates on the game you can.

While TV shows like The Walking Dead and iZombie currently have a vice grip on walking corpses, there's plenty to look forward to on the silver screen, as well. One such zombie movie that many fans have been waiting years to see is World War Z 2, which has maintained radio silence since David Fincher signed on to direct in April. In the face of mounting fan curiosity, Fincher recently addressed the status of the sequel to Marc Forster's 2013 film and confirmed that it's still in the story phase, but it's still definitely coming. Fincher said:

So, if nothing else, it sounds like World War Z 2 is still happening. According to David Fincher's recent comments in an interview with Little White Lies, everyone involved is just trying to dissect the story to figure out which pieces of the overarching mythology need to be used in the sequel. When we last heard about the film, producer David Ellison confirmed that a script had been written, so now it looks like that story is still being workshopped to make sure it's ready for production.

As far as mythology goes, World War Z is about as dense as zombie fiction can get. Although the original World War Z film mostly focused on the early stages of the zombie outbreak, Max Brooks' book is a decade-long story about the introduction of zombies into our collective consciousness and their subsequent socioeconomic impact on the world. These stories take a look at a New Deal-esque approach to government-funded work programs, Cuba becoming a major world superpower, and England returning to a feudal system thanks to castles proving themselves to be major strategic assets against the living dead. There's quite a bit of material to pull from, but putting it all together (and making it work with the story of Brad Pitt's Gerry Lane) has become an intensive process for everyone involved in the sequel.

The desire to get World War Z 2 wholly locked down before commencing production makes quite a bit of sense when we take the first film's tumultuous production into consideration. According to many reports, World War Z was a nightmare to shoot, and the rocky production eventually led to exorbitantly expensive reshoots. Among the many changes made to the film included the decision to entirely scrap the original third act and scale things down from the bigger set pieces from earlier in the movie. Despite an overall positive critical and commercial reception, it makes perfect sense to assume that everyone involved wants more solid footing for the sequel.

At this point, it sounds like we're going to have to keep waiting for more concrete information about World War Z 2. Until more details about the project roll in, you can take a look at our World War Z 2 guide, as well as our 2017 movie premiere guide and our 2018 movie premiere guide.

David Fincher isn't really known for cranking out sequels to existing franchises (Alien 3, notwithstanding). And Brad Pitt's generally immune to sequels, as well (the Ocean's franchise, notwithstanding). But when the two of them agree to do a sequel together? We sit up and take notice.

In a longer profile on new Paramount chief Jim Gianopulos, it has been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that David Fincher officially has signed on to direct World War Z 2, with Brad Pitt in the leading role. That's literally all that is given in the profile, as Gianopulos states "we're in advanced development" on the sequel, then confirms that Fincher and Pitt are involved.

This has been the rumor for some time. We have stories going back almost a year that link the Fight Club and Zodiac director to the open chair for World War Z 2, a sequel to a surprise hit for Brad Pitt and his Plan B Entertainment. We say surprise because the party line on the original World War Z was that it was destined to be a disaster. There's no point in dredging up all the production issues that the movie ran into, because when it finally opened, the film was a success. Reshoots and rewrites on the zombie-apocalypse thriller had worked -- even though they attracted negative headlines for the movie -- and as the box office receipts climbed north of $540 million worldwide, the talk of a franchise began.

There's a reason. The source material, a book by novelist Max Brooks, followed the aftermath of a global zombie war, and followed numerous characters, all of whom had big-screen potential. If other directors wanted to plow this fertile horror field for new stories, there was thought to be a lot of narrative potential. Revisit the first movies trailer to see how it turned out:

So, this news begs the question of WHEN we might see World War Z 2, as directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt. As recently as a few months ago, the sequel still carried a 2017 summer release date. Clearly that's not happening. The sequel would even have to begin filming soon if it hoped to hit a 2018 release date... and the last time we checked, most key weekend in 2018 have been claimed by Marvel, DC and Star Wars movies. The safest bet for World War Z 2 likely will be 2019, though it could be a second-half drama, or a CGI-heavy summer blockbuster. With Fincher at the helm, even for a horror movie, we're leaning on the former.

Update: As of early February 2019, the tentative plans for World War Z 2 have been cancelled. But, this is Hollywood, so if things do get moving again, we'll know about it and be sure to let you know via this guide!

They said it couldn't be done. Folks thought that World War Z could never be adapted into a Hollywood motion picture that captured the thrills and scares of Max Brooks' best selling novel of post-apocalyptic remembrance. Depending on who you are, that claim could be debated; however what can't be debated is the fact that the 2013 film was an absolute hit! So, naturally, a sequel was put into development, and World War Z 2 went from pipe dream to ongoing concern in that moment.

With a release date that hasn't quite been tied down yet (we'll get into that in a bit), it seems like a good time to sift through the facts that we know, as well as speculate on the facts we don't have just yet. Throughout the next couple of pages, we'll take a look at everything on the table, and piece together what we feel to be the future of World War Z 2. Keep in mind, this feature is based off of the knowledge we have at the current moment, and will be refreshed as major developments occur. So bookmark this page for future reference, as this is our guide to What We Know So Far about World War Z 2.

What Is The World War Z 2 Rating?

More than likely, Paramount is going to want to keep the rating to World War Z 2 in the same ballpark as World War Z. This means we're expecting a solid PG-13 rating to be bestowed upon this second round of zombie carnage, with the possibility for an "unrated cut" heading to Blu-ray after the film hits home video. With the previous film grossing $590 million worldwide, during the summer of 2013, the PG-13 rating didn't hurt the film's chances at the box office, despite the controversy among horror fans. However, considering the controversy that the previous PG-13 outing had raised with fans of the source material, as well as fans of zombie flicks altogether, Paramount could revise their plans and bump the film up to an R rating.

What Is The World War Z 2 Release Date?

Hang on, folks, because development on this movie got real tricky, real fast. For a while, World War Z 2 was penciled in for a June 9, 2017 release date. But, after original director J.A. Bayona left the film, along with other behind the scenes shuffles, it was taken off the schedule mere months before that date hit. Naturally, we weren't surprised that the release date was bumped up to a 2018 - 2019 release date, particularly with reports that Paramount was reluctant to give the film a full greenlight. In the summer of 2017, David Fincher finally committed to directing the project in full, along with Brad Pitt agreeing to reprise his leading role. But, just a few months later, in November, Fincher admitted that while a script had been written, the story was still being worked on. That delay allowed Pitt, in early 2018, to begin filming his latest collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, stopping the film from getting underway sooner. Then, with Pitt off filming with Tarantino, Fincher's commitment to the second season of his Netflix show Mindhunter got in the way, meaning that instead of beginning to work on WWZ2 at the end of 2018, the director would be heading up his series, instead. In other words, we probably won't see filming begin on this movie until early 2019, so a release before 2020 is highly unlikely.

The Director

With World War Z director Marc Forster deciding not to direct the sequel to his summer hit, the search was on for a directing candidate who could step in. The first, and up until recently, only, candidate was The Orphanage director J.A. Bayona, who entered the ring a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, after around 2 years or so of development, Bayona dropped out of the project, as not only did his duties on A Monster Calls demand his attention, but he also picked up another gig in the meantime. Then again, if we were given the opportunity to direct Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, we'd have to jump at that chance as well.

While 2017 brought word that the possible replacement for J.A. Bayona's vacant director's chair was David Fincher, who was labeled as "very creatively interested in directing the movie," it's clear that for WWZ2 to really get underway it's going to take quite a bit of maneuvering from all involved parties. For a while, the studio was making a big deal about delaying a greenlight under former Paramount chairman Brad Grey, but his successor, Jim Gianopulos wasn't as shy about making a deal. With a proper director and the star of the original looking to make it happen, let's hope that World War Z 2 comes together within the next couple of years.

The Writer

In the early days of World War Z 2's formation, writer Steven Knight, a talent known for his work on films such as Dirty Pretty Things, Locke, and Pawn Sacrifice, as well as the TV show Peaky Blinders, was working on the film. A fan of the first film's breakneck pace, Knight has brought some big ideas to the table with his approach to the World War Z 2 script, which may or may not follow directly after the events of World War Z. Of course, Steven Knight's work was only the first pass at the film's story, as a new writer was brought into the fold: Dennis Kelly. Kelly, best known as the writer on the mind-bending conspiracy thriller series Utopia, was brought onto the project in October 2015. While that produced a script everyone was incredibly happy with, as noted above, it's being looked over again to make sure they have the correct take on the story.

Brad Pitt

As U.N. investigator Gerry Lane, Brad Pitt was the heart, soul, and face of World War Z. Loosely based off of the unnamed narrator in Max Brooks' original film, Gerry was the center of the globe-trotting film, as his "man on a mission" attitude powered him through visits to several countries, countless zombies, and even a close encounter with the undead - thanks to his strategy of playing ill to fake out the zombie hordes. Without Brad Pitt, this character wouldn't have been as effective as he was, and as such it's a good thing that Pitt is on record as returning for World War Z 2, at least for the time being.

While Pitt is a producer on the project, and David Fincher is circling the directing post for World War Z 2, the delay in production for the sequel could play havoc on Brad Pitt's availability for the project. Though Pitt has certainly kept himself busy in the meantime, as he was featured in last year's Allied, this year's Netflix original War Machine, and is currently attached to the sci-fi mindbender Ad Astra. Though a lack of an official production date could put that film on the backburner, should David Fincher officially be announced as the official helmer in the near future.

Where The Last Movie Left Off

Originally, World War Z was supposed to end with a massive showdown in Russia, which had Gerry fighting to rescue the Israeli soldier traveling with him, and ultimately saw his wife ending up with Matthew Fox's randomly appearing soldier from the beginning of the film. After a massive re-write by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard, World War Z saw Gerry Lane visiting the World Health Organization and confirming the discovery that if the zombies thought you were already sick and/or dying, they avoid you altogether.

This lead to a "vaccine" being developed, which allowed people to camouflage themselves as ill, thus allowing them to maneuver through the zombies without a hitch. As the film ended, we saw Gerry reunite with his family in Nova Scotia, as his voice-over narration warned humanity to fight and be prepared for anything, after showcasing a montage of victorious looking footage. Strangely enough, part of the footage that's used in this victory montage looks to be from the original ending, repackaged as the "Battle of Russia."

Where The Sequel May Go

While World War Z had set itself up pretty effectively for a sequel, it didn't lay out a clear through-line that was considered vital to the building blocks of a new installment. Even reports from one of the writers who'd worked on the project, Steven Knight, stated that the crew behind World War Z 2 wasn't completely beholden to picking up directly after the events of the first film. Now this could mean one of two possible scenarios could take place, especially if Brad PItt's schedule doesn't accommodate whatever other pitfalls World War Z 2 may suffer: either Gerry Lane could be brought in as a role of limited scope, connecting the sequel to the first film, or Gerry could be written out all together.

Choosing to keep Brad Pitt in the sequel would undoubtedly help keep the blockbuster franchise World War Z wants to think it is on track, however there is one big positive factor, should Pitt decide not to be interested anymore. If Gerry Lane isn't our main character, then World War Z 2 could help kick off the brand as an anthology series of films that utilized different stories from the Max Brooks text to tell the various stories that World War Z's print incarnation is famous for.

What Material Could Be Used From The Original Book

If there was a complaint greater than the fact that World War Z was a PG-13 rated blockbuster, it's that the film was pretty much an adaptation in name only. While some of the stories in the book were referred to, with characters from those stories being included in Marc Forster's film, the actual meat and potatoes of the stories in the book were left untouched. While this was a disadvantage for the first film, this could be used as a clear advantage for World War Z 2, as Gerry Lane could easily find himself dropped into any of the scenarios the book cooked up.

If we were to pick one story that needed to be adapted to the big screen for World War Z 2, it'd have to be "The Battle Of Yonkers" section of the book. With its massive action set-piece friendly setting, as well as its eventual downer ending, the story of Todd Waino and the protracted siege on the Saw Mill River Parkway could serve as a great centerpiece for World War Z 2's grand finale, or even the film's hypothetical second act. Though a case could also be made for almost an entire film being dedicated to this battle, with Todd's story taking center stage and Gerry Lane either serving a supporting role as the person recording the story, or as a first-hand observer who's once again in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But if "The Battle Of Yonkers" isn't the direction the filmmakers of World War Z 2 want to go, then there's another option that's already been partially explored. As previously mentioned, the original ending of World War Z had Gerry Lane going to Russia, where he made the big discovery that the old and already sick were not attractive to the zombie menace. As it happens, World War Z the book has a section that also takes place in Russia... although a much different story comes to light: that of military upheaval and a Russian revolution that turns the country into a religious monarchy.

While the country has its Cold War stockpiles of weapons, Russia has two fronts of zombies to deal with. With the woes of the zombie war piling up on top of good old fashioned human insecurity, some wild times are to be had in the Russian army, which ultimately leads to a policy where if you're infected, you have to kill yourself. This leads a priest, Father Sergei Ryzhkov, to help out those who do not want to commit suicide, but are going to die anyway. Since suicide is a sin, he offers the service of delivering a bullet to the brainpan of any infected soldiers - all in the name of the almighty. His bravery is commended, and eventually the Holy Russian Empire rises. If the folks writing World War Z 2 wanted to get creative, they could land Gerry Lane in the middle of Russia to see this revolution taking place, and they might even be able to work in some of the previously shot footage of the original third act!

There's a lot we don't know about World War Z 2 at the moment, but judging by the information we do have at hand, this project could be one of those rare sequels that outpaces the original. We'll see how much this sentiment holds up as time and further information change the structure of what World War Z 2 has in store for us. In the meantime, if you'd like to experience World War Z all over again, you can do so thanks to Amazon's streaming and purchasing services.

Not to state the obvious, but it's incredibly difficult to put down zombies permanently. The entire subgenre has existed as a staple of the Hollywood horror scene for half of a century, and the popularity of the walking dead has only gone up in recent years. One zombie franchise that has kept us intrigued for the last few years is World War Z (based on Max Brooks' novel of the same name) which recently took a big step forward when it was announced that the studio has a script that it's happy with.

On that note, we think it's worth taking some time to dive into the World War Z lore to figure out what the sequel needs. Max Brooks' book is a fantastic source of inspiration, but the first World War Z movie barely acknowledged any aspects of the literary material. With that in mind, we have gone through the book and pulled out a few key traits that World War Z 2 should incorporate into its narrative. If you're a fan of the franchise, let us know wat you want to see in the upcoming sequel in the comments section below. Now let's kick this list off with the weirder stories that make World War Z so damn endearing in the first place.

Embrace Some Of The Weirder Stories From The Book

One particular aspect of the World War Z book that sets it apart from other zombie fiction is its unique and in-depth look into strange zombie adventures. There are a ton of excellent chapters that are chock full of some genuinely outlandish stories, such as a group of English survivors who survive indefinitely within the walls of a medieval castle, and a blind Japanese man who learns how to kill zombies by hearing them like Matt Murdock. There's even a story about a group of astronauts who sacrifice themselves on the International Space Station to keep radios working on Earth. World War Z isn't just a story about survivors pulling off impressive headshots (although there are plenty of those as well), it's a compilation of ridiculous adventures and truly insane exploits that just happen to include the walking dead.

Keep The Flashback Format From The Book

Another aspect of Max Brooks' World War Z book that ultimately sets it apart from its competition is the fact that it's told almost exclusively through flashbacks. The stories are recollections related to a UN investigator about a decade-long zombie war. Not only is it a unique storytelling tactic, but it also adds a layer of depth to the World War Z story because we can plainly see the devastation that has occurred even though the zombies have (mostly) been defeated. The first World War Z movie showed us the initial outbreak and the terrifying first few days of The Zombie War, but the sequel should embrace the format of the source material even more by opening in the world in which the living dead have become an everyday occurrence that no longer induce immediate terror.

Focus On Todd Wainio

The original World War Z novel doesn't have a main character. It's a mashup of a variety of different viewpoints from a variety of different characters. That said, the closest the book ever gets to a central perspective is the account of United States infantryman Todd Wainio. An everyman soldier in the same vain as Elijah Hunt Rhodes from Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, Wainio served in almost every major battle of The Zombie War. With Wainio front and center, audiences can see how the United States military suffers its first major defeat at Yonkers, New York, and then changes its methods to become an Iron Maiden blaring, zombie killing fighting force years later. Oh, and get Mark Hamill to play Wainio because his performance as the character in the World War Z audiobook is damn near perfect.

Explore The Concept Of "Total War"

Some of the coolest scenes in the World War Z book don't directly involve the fight against the zombies. An entire section of the novel is devoted to how the United States experiences a complete overhaul to its economic and social landscape to adapt to the zombie threat. Instead of making World War Z 2 exclusively about the actual war against the undead, the movie should level its focus on the home front and show us how average, everyday Americans contribute to the war effort. From Hollywood shifting its focus to produce propaganda films that keep morale up, to lower class American teaching the wealthy how to perform essential tasks like fixing machinery and sweeping chimneys. World War Z isn't just a story about gore and carnage; it should be an examination of how Americans band together when their backs are against the wall.

Examine The Global Scope Of The War

What happens when the entire world is forced to cope with the undead epidemic? How do various cultures come together in the face of global annihilation? Those are serious questions raised by Max Brooks' World War Z novel, and the international scope of the story genuinely helps sell that idea that humanity is at stake. Although the first film was a globetrotting adventure, World War Z 2 should explore how various cultures, world leaders, and political spheres respond to this idea. In particular, we really want to see the apartheid inspired "Redeker Plan" (a heartless doctrine which forces countries to sacrifice entire cities as bait in order to retreat to safety) incorporated into the narrative. Zombies are a uniquely international threat, and the World War Z franchise should wholeheartedly embrace that idea.

Use The Story For Social Commentary

Zombies have been used by Hollywood to make commentary on American society as far back as George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. It doesn't matter if it's race, rampant consumerism, or the military industrial complex, there's a way to make these flesh-eating beasts say something about us because they are us. Max Brooks' book understands that in a way that the original World War Z movie does not, and there are a ton of great satirical chapters that are perfect for the age in which we live. Perhaps most notably, we want to see a segment of the film devoted to tough as nails mercenary T. Sean Collins in a chapter focusing on a group of one-percenters whose addiction to attention and social media brings a horde of average survivors down on their ultra expensive bunker in Long Island.

That's our perspective, but what's yours? Let us know what you want to see World War Z 2 in the comments section below to keep this conversation going! While you're at it, make sure to take a look at our 2017 movie premiere guide for more information related to this year's highly anticipated theatrical debuts!

If there's ever an award given out for "Most Difficult Sequel To Get Into Production," World War Z 2 is surely a candidate for such a dubious honor. With its planned 2017 release date vacated at the last minute, and everything from the script to the director's chair undergoing radical changes, there's probably very little of a movie to be fretting over at this point. And yet, Paramount and the producers behind the film really want this movie to happen, so an update has been given as to where the project's currently at.

Producer David Ellison said as much when he sat down with Collider at SXSW to talk about his latest film, Life, as well as the untimely removal of World War Z 2 from this year's schedule. His status update on the project is rather hopeful, as he says the project is in the following state of readiness:

So the good news is that World War Z 2 has a script that the studio, and presumably star Brad Pitt, are happy to put into production. That's a crucial step, and considering that the film had gone this far without giving up on its 2017 release date, it was obvious that the project was having some growing pains. Much like a book report done at the last minute, you really don't want to admit you need to bump the project unless you absolutely have to. But the even better news is the fact that somehow there's still hope that director David Fincher might be convinced to sign onto World War Z 2, reuniting him with Pitt and giving the sequel a chance to really shine.

While World War Z delivered $540 million on a $190 million production budget, it still managed to get under the skin of folks hoping a more book appropriate/R-rated approach. Hiring David Fincher not only brings the prestige of his name attached to the project, it also brings the hopes that his pull can overcome any studio pressure to keep the sequel in the similarly rated wheelhouse. At the very least, one can assume that Fincher will give the script a once over with a writer he chooses, so as to ensure the resulting picture measures up to his high standards. So as excited as David Ellison is for the possibility of a World War Z 2 directed by David Fincher, you can count us even more excited.

World War Z 2 is currently awaiting a director and a script, and it currently does not have a specific release date in mind. However, the film is eyeing a 2018 - 2019 release window, and as soon as we have an update, we'll report back as soon as we know.

Movies are weird. The movies themselves are entertainment. They’re artistic creations designed by people with stories to tell and messages to convey. However, you only get to tell that story if a business believes that enough people will pay enough money to see you tell it. But, maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Could it be so simple that the best story will make the most money? One writer thinks so.

World War Z was a movie whose production has become famous for its difficulty. Eventually Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof were called in during production to rewrite parts of the script. The entire third act was reshot. It made World War Z much more expensive than originally planned. However, the movie became a tremendous hit, bringing in more than half a billion dollars at the global box office. According to Drew Goddard, in an interview with Creative Screenwriting, this was not a coincidence. He surmises: 

It seems like the most obvious thing in the world but, as Drew Goddard says, a lot of times it just doesn’t happen like that. Studios see additional expenses as cutting into eventual profits, as opposed to being a way to actually increase those profits down the road. Instead, many films that have production issue are just thrown out to audiences to recoup whatever costs they can, rather than having the time taken to fix the problems.

However, most of the examples that we have where studios allow the filmmakers to take their time and make the movie right sees success. Peter Jackson spent years in preproduction on The Lord of the Rings before a single frame was shot. The director has said himself that the reason The Hobbit trilogy is not as good is because he did not have that extra time.

J.J. Abrams has credited the injury to Harrison Ford for making Star Wars: The Force Awakens a better movie. Much like Goddard says, it gave Abrams the chance to take a step back and reevaluate things, due to the forced pause in production.

Is it all that simple? Will just taking the time to make the best product result in the financial success the studio requires? Let us know your thoughts.

The zombie outbreak film World War Z had more than its share of problems. We already know about changes to the film’s ending that resulted in major reshoots and delays. Now, the movie’s original cinematographer has spoken out about additional issues with filming that were so bad for him, they forced him to remove his name from the movie entirely.

Robert Richardson, who most recently was the cinematographer for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, was part of an in-depth discussion on the craft of cinematography with The Hollywood Reporter, where he explained how the studio completely changed some of his work, and how he felt he had to take a stand on behalf of his industry.

A lookup table is used for modifying the color when you want to make changes so that the final image looks significantly different than what was originally shot. Essentially, when shooting digitally, the image that comes out is always going to look different than what you were looking at on the set. The lookup table is basically the equation used to modify all the images so they all look cohesive. What’s more, when the studio designed to release the film in 3D, that conversion is also going to affect the film’s final color, and Robert Richardson likely would have used different lookup tables had he known 3D was the plan at the beginning. Essentially, by changing the table, Paramount made the film look completely different than what Richardson designed the film to look like. Since the final result wasn’t his work, he didn’t want his name associated with the movie.

Robert Richardson says that as a cinematographer, he has the ability to change anything in a final film. But as he can do it, so can the studio. Meaning the studio can change the final work of many of the different artists and craftsmen involved in a film. He tried to take a stand for the artistic integrity of his own, and potentially many other, professions. Unfortunately, the only significant result has been that Richardson hasn’t been sent a script by Paramount in years.

The art and the business of filmmaking are often at odds with each other and it’s always difficult when the two collide. Is it the cinematographer's job to accept what the studio wants, or should the creative people be given the freedom to do the jobs they were hired to do? What do you think?

Zombie movies are very much like their own undead subject matter – impossible to kill. Despite being plagued with production issues and reshoots, World War Z – based on the book of the same name by Max Brooks – made an impression with moviegoers when it hit theaters back in 2013. With such success, sequels were pretty much a given – and now it seems progress has been made towards making that a reality.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has enlisted Dennis Kelly to pen the script for the next installment of the grandiose zombie adventure. Kelly is perhaps best known for his works on the British television show Utopia. Utopia itself follows a group of people dealing with a potential apocalypse, so the opportunity to write for a devastating zombie plague seems well within Kelly’s wheelhouse. J.A Boyana is slated to direct the film, with Brad Pitt signed on to return as lead character Gerry Lane, as well as take on producing duties.

The original World War Z deviated significantly from the source novel. That being said, the upcoming sequel has reportedly always been about deviating from the story of the original. Earlier this year it was reported that the sequel would differ from the original film in a major way, and much of that had to do with the likelihood that the filmmakers would adapt more stories from the novel – which is structured as an oral history of a zombie war that has already taken place. To get a sense of just how much the original World War Z centered upon the initial impact of the zombie outbreak, check out the trailer below to see for yourself.

No matter what, it would behoove Kelly to make sure that his work on the script is satisfactory the first time around. The original World War Z met with incredibly poor reception towards its third act when it was screened for test audiences. This led to exorbitantly expensive reshoots which completely altered narrative of the film – although in the end it still maintained a cohesive story. The source novel has a plethora of stories to adapt, ranging from the Battle of Yonkers (humanity’s first major loss against the zombie horde) to the story of a downed air force pilot trekking her way through the wilderness. No matter what, it seems as though the film will likely take elements from the book, but adapt them in a way that tells a story as it happens, rather than through flashbacks.

We here at Cinema Blend will bring you more details on World War Z 2 as they become available. As of now the project is slated for a June 9, 2017 release date.

Whether you liked World War Z or didn't, you knew there was going to be a sequel in the works. The Paramount film starring Brad Pitt went from being counted out before it had even shown a trailer to making $540 million worldwide, proving that sometimes a film can beat the odds to become a success story. With new director J.A. Bayona at the helm, it would seem like the perfect time for a new writer. Which is good news for screenwriter Steven Knight, as he just happens to be the new guy with the gig.

Variety says that Knight has been hired to start writing the sequel to World War Z, which was originally based off Max Brooks' best selling book of the same name. This news comes after reports that Pitt was looking at possibly starring in another project also written by Knight. It would appear that the actor/producer so impressed with that script that it was enough for him to both enter into talks for the project and lure the writer responsible to his next big blockbuster

I hated World War Z with a passion, largely due to the overly sanitized PG-13 nature of the film, as well as the general lack of narrative thrust and characters worth giving a damn about. That said, if a sequel must move forward, the team they're assembling so far seems like a good fit. J.A. Bayona's disaster docudrama The Impossible made a really good impression on critics, and even garnered some awards attention. Mix that with Steven Knight's track record, which includes an Academy Award nominated screenplay (Dirty Pretty Things) and a film that's currently being praised for solid character work (the Tom Hardy starring Locke), and the foundation is there for a film that can possibly handle the proper scope and weight of a true adaptation of the book that deserves so much better than the first film that was made.

Brad Pitt is still debating whether he's going to star in the film or not, but honestly I wouldn't mind if the script decided to follow a different character. Gerry Lane's story has already been told, and it can stand as an initial installment of an anthology of long-form films that tell a more diverse swath of stories, much like the book it was based off of did. For those of you who wanted to see more of Gerry's exploits, you can blame Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard for writing a completely different third act to the film that already had a good hook for a sequel in its initial form. That's not the ending we got, and instead we have a fitting end to Gerry's story, with him finding his family. Let him go, and move on to the meatier source material of what Russia was doing at the time of the great zombie war.

There's no release date set for World War Z II: Necrotic Boogaloo, but Paramount had better act fast. While the first film defied expectations, the longer they wait for a sequel, the weaker their chances of repeating their success becomes.

Thanks to the epically troubled production process behind World War Z, it was a surprise to few when it was revealed back in October that director Marc Foster would not be returning for the announced sequel. Of course, that announcement made everyone wonder who would be hired as the filmmaker in charge of the production, and today The Hollywood Reporter has delivered the answer. The trade is reporting that Juan Antonio Bayona has been hired as the director of the untitled World War Z 2.

Bayona likely ended up on Paramount and Skydance Productions’ radar thanks to his last film, the Oscar-nominated The Impossible. While not exactly a summer blockbuster, the movie did feature a number of big screen thrills recreating the devastating tsunami that hit Southeast Asia back in 2004. The filmmaker’s big breakout, however, was the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror film The Orphanage, which arrived in the United States in 2008. You can watch trailers for both movies below:

What the World War Z sequel will be about remains a question mark. The first film was an extremely loose adaptation of Max Brooks' book of the same name (pretty much the only connection the movie had to the text), so it's hard to imagine that the literature is where the studio and Bayona will be looking for inspiration. The first ended with Brad Pitt’s character finding a cure for the zombie virus and reuniting with his wife and daughters, so it’s hard to say where the story could progress from there. The production is currently on the hunt for a writer, and THR says that the new director will be overseeing the scripting process. Perhaps they could go back to Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard?

The fact that we're getting a World War Z sequel shouldn't be a huge surprise given the success of the first movie. By the end of its run the film made $540 million worldwide, which was enough to make the reported $190 million budget worthwhile. The question, however, is whether or not we actually need a sequel to the global zombie thriller, considering the first one actually wrapped things up pretty well. Are you excited for World War Z 2? Do you think Bayona is a good choice to direct? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

From the “Uh, no shit” department comes today’s top headline: Marc Forster reportedly will not be back in the director’s chair if and when a World War Z sequel goes into production.

The nugget is buried in a puff-piece cover story The Hollywood Reporter wrote on Brad Pitt and his production company, Plan B Entertainment, as they prepare to open Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave following a very successful film-festival run. The trade officially writes:

So no official quote on Forster’s status in the sequel. Just the confirmation of what we all believed: That despite the surprising success of the finished product, Pitt and Forster simply locked horns too many times for Paramount or the A-list star to ever consider bringing him back.

The on-set conflict became one of many running narratives as Word War Z worked its way to theaters. Co-writer Damon Lindelof gave an in-depth, blow-by-blow account of the chaos caused by the Pitt-Forster rift. (Read this and this if you need to catch up.) Of course, both played nice on the red carpets of the film’s various premieres, with Forster even saying at one point that if they continue the story, he’d like to listen to offers and possibly be a part.

Apparently we’re not going to get to that point.

So with Forster out, who should Pitt get to replace him? The director has an excellent working relationship with David Fincher. Maybe instead of allowing the Social Network director to plunge to great depths for a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake (which no one needs), Pitt can dangle a zombie thriller in front of his Se7en and Fight Club collaborator? There’s also, George A. Romero. Sorry, I’m kidding. But how about The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont, or someone from that show? Darabont also directed one of the most underrated horror films from recent years, the reboot of The Mist.

There’s also no need to rush anything here. Paramount was pleasantly surprised that audiences flocked to World War Z. Now it can take its time and develop a solid sequel. Pitt does so few of them. Make sure it’s worth his while … and ours.

There were better blockbusters released in theaters this summer, but maybe none as fascinating as World War Z, which looked like a complete catastrophe until it opened to a surprise $66 million and reviews that seemed positive almost despite themselves. Much of the credit went to the film's new ending, which was totally rewritten by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard to be a tense interior scene as opposed to yet another battle scene. Marc Forster, who had reportedly feuded with Brad Pitt, was seen as the guy from whom the movie had to be rescued. But now the director is finally giving his side of the story on the film, and those changes that rescued the finale.

"Basically in the original ending, after the Israel sequence and the plane crash, Gerry is in Russia, and the storyline of what he finds out at the WHO lab is what he finds in Russia but he applies his theory in a battlefield setting," Forster explained to Movies.com ahead of the film's release this week on Blu-ray. " We never finished that footage because we all agreed after Israel and the plane crash you’re battle fatigued and you really want the movie to be more quiet and you don’t want it to go into another huge combat situation" As Forster points out, some of the Russian battle sequence can be seen in the quick montage at the end of the film, but the complete sequence will never be seen. "I don’t think you’ll ever see the Russia sequence, because we never really finished it; we never spent the money to do the visual effects. Once we shot it and we did a rough cut, everyone agreed that this is too big and too exhausting, it would be better to go a simpler route."

Apparently ready to let bygones to be bygones, Forster also gets into detail on the film's actual ending, when Brad Pitt's character Gerry gets up close and personal with a zombie in the abandoned wing of the WHO headquarters in Wales:

That tense moment between Gerry and the zombie, and the entire suspenseful sequence inside the WHO office, is much more like a traditional zombie film, in which there isn't the budget to stage the kind of massive action sequences that World War Z thrived on. But that slamming on the brakes, and allowing Gerry to become a hero in a quiet setting, really did rescue the movie. Watching teeming piles of zombies overwhelm Philadelphia and Israel became exhausting well before Forster admitted it did, and especially given how chaotically he edited all of the action sequences, the idea of yet another one-- at night, no less-- would be horrifying. Who knows how Forster came to recognize that what he did with the final sequence didn't work, but kudos to him for being willing to go small-- and now talking about it as if it was all totally fine with him, whether it really was or not.

You can catch World War Z, though not that famously scrapped ending, on Blu-ray this week.

World War Z Blu-ray

Much of the buzz surrounding the release of World War Z relates to all of the predictions of financial ruin and how that assumed failure was seemingly overcome almost single-handedly by Brad Pitt's star power. Focusing on that knowledge is somewhat unfair, however, as it loses sight of the fact that World War Z actually turned out to be a fine summer movie that doesn't give audiences one moment to unclear their fists or catch their breaths during the length of its run.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on World War Z at all, you’ll know that the third act was written and then re-written and reshot in what was a costly effort on the studio's part to make the last portion of the film more character-driven. Those who look closely might be able to tell the latter portion of the film takes us in a bit of a different and subtler direction from what we get from the rest of the movie. Still, it achieves what it wanted to achieve: showing off Pitt’s character as a family man.

Pitt stars in the film as a former U.N. employee Gerry Lane, a man who used to extract people from war zones and other dangerous situations. When a plague begins spreading across the United States and much of the rest of the world, Lane does what he can to get his family to safety and then trots around the globe trying to get to the bottom of the zombie epidemic and how to beat the undead.

Hordes of zombies are always tough to describe. Like vampires, the rules are always different. Where do they come from? What are their motivations? How do you dispose of them? World War Z answers these questions craftily, and the unrated version on the Blu-ray does so in roughly ten more minutes than the theatrical release. That may not be enough of a reason to go out of your way to catch the unrated version of the film, but even without the few added moments World War Z manages to explain its mythology without ever really slowing its pace. Our questions are answered in smart ways that heighten our anticipation and equal a big, blowout summer movie that also tickles our brains a little bit.

You can order World War Z over at Amazon.

Best Special Feature: I would have really liked it if Paramount Home Media Distribution had just bit the bullet and given fans access to the disasterous first cut that was almost World War Z. I could wish about that all day and it would never happen, though, so instead I’ll just talk about the WWZ: Production featurettes available with the set.

There are technically four of these that look at the outbreak, the beginning of the journey, the wall scenes in Israel, and “Camouflage,” a segment that explains some of the details from the final scenes of the film. During the featurettes, we get to hear a lot of the cast and producing team talking about how “thankful” they are for the experience, but the more interesting segments are when they focus on how they puzzled through the plot and worked on the special effects.

Other Special Features:

“Looking to Science”

Bates Motel: Season 1 Blu-ray

The horror genre has become more popular on television in recent years, with shows like American Horror Story and Bates Motel standing out in cable’s lineup as both creepy and kooky. I’ve never watched the former, so when I tuned in for the latter I was wildly, pleasantly surprised by what horror on cable can offer.

A prequel of sorts to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Bates Motel follows Norma (Vera Farmiga) and Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) in the time just after they set foot in White Pine Bay, Oregon to open a motel. The location and the contemporary time period don’t make the series a full-fledged prequel, but after watching the first season, I can’t imagine a cast or setting that is more fitting for A&E’s freshman drama.

Farmiga shines as Norman’s mother in the series, a possessive, quick-to-anger woman who equally seems dominant over and scared of her teenaged son. Their relationship is a complicated one, and throughout the first round of episodes, it grows even more problematical, as Norman’s estranged brother Dylan (Max Thieriot) shows up on the scene and Norman begins to open up to several girls, including the lovely and kind Bradley (Nicola Peltz) and the spunky and smart Emma (Olivia Cooke).

Bates Motel begins with a dead body, and it certainly isn’t the only dead body viewers see through the show’s ten-episode run. The tranquil town of White Pine Bay opens up some of its secrets and becomes something a little more sinister, with drugs and sex slave rings running amok. The mix of regular coming-of-age tropes and a shifty criminal enterprise is an intriguing way to frame a series, as well. Bates Motel isn’t afraid to mix and mash horror tropes, drama, and complicated relationships. The tightly woven first season is a clear indication of the direction A&E can go with its drama lineup, and with a few new projects at the network, we'll see if any new programming can manage to match up.

You can order Bates Motel: Season 1 over at Amazon.

Best Special Feature: There aren’t a ton of bonus features with the Blu-ray set, and the best extras are certainly the deleted scenes. When a TV set puts together episode-related bonus features like deleted scenes, the home entertainment people have to decide whether or not to put the deleted scenes in a big chunk on the disc or to spread them out to coordinate with each of the episodes.

In this instance, Universal Studios Home Entertainment opted to lump all of the bonus features together. The deleted scenes are the big bulk of these, and some of them give us added moments of character development, as Norman and his teacher, Miss Watson (Keegon Connor Tracy) exhibit added tension and as Norma and Dylan have a couple of bonding moments. Occasionally, it’s difficult to tell which deleted scenes fit with which episode, but that’s a small criticism.

Other Special Features:

Paley Center Panel Discussion with the Cast and Creative Team

Behind the Candelabra Blu-ray

Due to its subject matter and all-star cast, Behind the Candelabra received a lot of attention before it made its debut on HBO. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, the film follows the life of Scott Thorson and his reported lover, the famed pianist Liberace, during the late 1970s. The TV movie is based on the book of the same name written by Thorson in the eighties.

The story of love gone wrong is not a new movie trope. However, if you throw in Liberace’s wild personality, vibrant costumes, and eccentric lifestyle, you have the makings of something a little more interesting. Behind the Candelabra, despite its faults and its monumentally unlikeable characters, is always interesting.

The movie takes us through the rise and decadence of Liberace and Thorson’s relationship. A lot of the focus during the first portion of the movie is on Thorson’s introduction into Liberace’s public lifestyle. It’s tough to play chauffer to a man Thorson clearly feels equal to, and while there is plenty of glitz to living with Liberace, it does come with its own problems. When Liberace decides he wants Thorson to undergo plastic surgery to emulate him, the threads begin to unravel.

Soderbergh’s film is darkly comedic and certainly worth the watch, but HBO Home Entertainment’s DVD set is certainly not up to the company’s usual standards. It’s a flimsy white case with few bonus features, but it also only lists for $19.99, and it’s already available for cheaper over at Amazon.

Best Special Feature: HBO’s DVD set is a barebones affair, and the only bonus feature is a behind-the-scenes “Making of” segment that talks to the cast and crew members. If you really liked the movie, it might be worth a perusal, but don’t count the bonus feature as an additional reason to purchase the movie. It’s not particularly awesome.

Grimm: Season 2 Blu-ray

During its second season, Grimm finally found its niche in the NBC lineup. With the fandom related to the series, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has put together an extremely nice Blu-ray set that is chock full of bonus features—somewhat unusual for an NBC network show.

Grimm is a series that is often shot in the dark, and one of the first things buyers of the Blu-ray will notice is that the scenes shot in darkness are lit incredibly and look great in High Definition. Thanks to vampire dramas being prominent, there are so many shows that are frequently set during nighttime hours (see True Blood and The Vampire Diaries) and Grimm is the best I’ve seen at lighting those hours up.

The series follows Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) as a cop and descendant of the Grimms, a group of hunters who fight supernatural creatures. There’s plenty of myth and lore in Grimm, and the characters are well-developed enough in Season 2 that a wide variety of creatures, including hexenbiests, all seem to be pretty commonplace. The show’s always been part ensemble supernatural drama and part procedural and that weird mix is what is most engaging about the show.

That’s not to say some of the characters aren’t entertaining. Burkhardt’s buddy, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), still offers comedic relief, but is also a more helpful part of the team in Season 2. Additionally, Nick’s mom, Kelly (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) also pops up in the first episode of Season 2, and threatens the balance and alliances that Nick has achieved with some of the wesen living in the area. Season 2 offers a solid 22 episodes of content, and the set is actually quite fun to peruse.

You can order Grimm over at Amazon.

Best Special Feature: A large chunk of the bonus features are available on the fifth disc in the set, but it’s kind of tricky to spot them as there are also several episodes on disc five. There are a lot of really engaging bonus features, including the webisodes and some of the featurettes. It may be worth it, however, to purchase the Blu-ray if you are able and willing, as the HD picture is worth the cost and the Blu-ray sports a few bonus features not available with the DVD.

The best of these Blu-ray only extras is a feature called the “Grimm Guide.” It’s interactive, and it offers an index of most of the supernatural creatures that have popped up in the series, along with photos, definitions, and video footage.

Other Special Features:

Collector’s Cards

Extended episode

Grimm Guide

Deleted Scenes

Gag Reel

“Grimm: Myths, Monsters, & Legends”

“Grimm: Creatures and Chaos”

Bad Hair Day Webisodes

Monroe’s Best Moments

Other September 17 Releases

We are nearly in the throes of fall television, and while there haven’t been a ton of big budget movie releases over the last few weeks, this column can’t begin to cover all of the great fodder that Home Entertainment companies now have available on Blu-ray and DVD, should you be a big enough fan to want to own a copy of the season. Among these are some freshman season network hits that managed to get renewals for this fall, including The CW’s hot DC comics property Arrow and ABC’s country music-oriented drama, Nashville. You can check out some of the rest of September 17th’s releases, below. Unless otherwise noted, titles are available on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Arrow: The Complete First Season

The Mentalist: The Complete Fifth Season DVD

The Hollow Crown: The Complete Series DVD

The Bling Ring

Nashville: The Complete First Season

Disconnect

The East

Haunted History DVD

Java Heat

Suddenly

Augustine

Drift

Admittedly, after all the reports of problems on set, we thought Brad Pitt’s ambitious zombie epic World War Z was destined for failure. But proving that production hell doesn’t always result in a train wreck of a movie (cough The Lone Ranger cough), the film that Pitt produced and fronted defied expectations and became one of the summer’s biggest hits. Having scored surprised critical praise and more than $536 million worldwide, the $190 million horror-thriller was deemed a major success. So, a sequel almost seems a no-brainer, right?

In the wake of Pitt’s stellar summer success, Pitt is attending the Toronto International Film Festival to promote his upcoming drama 12 Years a Slave. Asked about a part two to the most financially successful film in his career, Pitt told Variety:

Check out a video excerpt of this interview below to enjoy Pitt’s clearly pleased smile at World War Z’s remarkable turnaround.

It’ll be interesting to see where Pitt and his production team decide to take the story of World War Z from where the first film left off. The original shooting script ended in a clear-cut starting spot for a sequel, with Pitt’s character Gerry on a quest to reunite with his wife and children, who’d ended up out of government protection and under the thumb of a sleazy soldier. However, that ending was (thankfully) scrapped, and instead the final film ended (SPOILERS AHEAD) with Gerry uncovering a sort of vaccine against attracting zombie attention. This leaves the possibilities for World War Z2 (or maybe WWZ II) far more open-ended.

In the film’s final moments, a beleaguered Gerry, back in the arms of his family, says, “This isn’t the end. Not even close.” But is it the end of his story? It seems unlikely Pitt would want to pass off a lead role for the franchise to anyone else. But since the filmmakers have set up such an expansive world, the story for World War Z’s sequel could really go anywhere. Perhaps a leap into the future with his kids grown? Perhaps a new family to focus on altogether? Whether you’ve read the Max Brooks book the film is based on, or just enjoyed the movie as is, tell us in comments where you’d like to see a sequel go.

While not a beloved summer family film, Brad Pitt’s latest vehicle, World War Z earned a fresh rating and did quite well at the box office, pulling in more than $474 million worldwide. These facts won’t tell you whether or not the flick is to your liking, but if you already are pumped up about World War Z’s Blu-ray and DVD release, or just want to check it out, Paramount Home Media Distribution is bringing the film to Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD on September 17. Additionally, if you just want to catch the theatrical edition of the film, the company is putting together an early Digital release, which will allow users to access the film starting on September 10.

Any cover art featuring Pitt is usually eye-catching, but the Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray copies will be particularly special, since they will offer both the theatrical version of the film on the DVD, as well as the unrated version of the film on the nicer formats. There’s currently no word on exactly how long the unrated cut will be, but since it’s quite hard to tear your eyes from the screen during the wild action sequences in World War Z, you may not notice the extra minutes going by, anyway.

I’ve already talked up the Blu-ray copies of the film, but the Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray copies are the only ones that will come with any bonus features. DVD copies will be pretty barren and will include the theatrical version of the film only, while HD picture will also entitle viewers to extras including “Outbreak,” a segment that will spend time with Brad Pitt and Marc Foster on set. Additionally, plenty of behind-the scenes extras will be available, including a look at the final confrontation and exploring the big Jerusalem scene that popped up in the film and in most of the trailers leading to the theatrical release. You can check out the full list of extras, below.

World War Z Blu-ray Bonus Features

• Origins
• Looking to Science
• WWZ: Production
• Outbreak
• The Journey Begins
• Behind The Wall
• Camouflage
  
  As an added vote of confidence in favor of the film, Paramount recently brought the movie back into theaters for another theatrical IMAX run. The new run for World War Z is a limited engagement that began on August 2 and will run for one week only. You can check out more details at World War Z’s official movie site.
  
  

We're almost halfway through July-- I know, right?-- and just past the midway point of the year, which means that we're also almost done with summer movie season. The blockbusters are petering out, the dregs of summer are appearing on the horizon (sorry, R.I.P.D.) and the really great movies of fall feel so far away. So why not take this moment to look back over the year so far, and pick out the movies that we actually did love?

Every writer on our movie staff picked their favorite movie of 2013 so far; in cases where multiple people wanted the same one we made them choose otherwise (you'll notice that in the write-ups), for the sake of variety. Only one of these movies is a blockbuster currently in theaters, several of them are art house efforts still playing in major cities, and one of them can already be found on DVD. So if you're not into Pacific Rim or Grown Ups 2 this weekend, check out one of these options-- they come pre-approved.

Before Midnight

by Katey Rich

It barely even feels like hyperbole to call Before Midnight a miracle. The final piece of one of cinema's unlikeliest trilogies, it's a perfectly crafted, biting and emotional love story of the kind that's almost never seen on film: a romance in its middle section. Watching a couple like Celine and Jesse argue their way through what was supposed to be a romantic night would be effective no mater what, with a script this good and performances this lived-in from Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke. But we also have the benefit of the films that came before, watching the two of them fall impulsively in love in Before Sunset then reunite, older and more tentative, in Before Sunrise. Before Midnight isn't just the logical, rough-edged conclusion to a fairytale love story, but an incredible work of filmmaking all its own, proof that Richard Linklater is peerless in getting comfortable with but never easing up on his characters. If we're lucky, we'll have another visit with Celine and Jesse in 9 years. If not, we can at least be proud that a series this good managed to end with its best entry yet.

Watch the Before Midnight trailer...

Stoker

by Eric Eisenberg

I don’t give away five-star reviews freely. When I give a movie a perfect rating I am calling it exactly that: perfect. And that’s what director Park Chan-wook’s Stoker is. A gothic monster movie without out any fanged or clawed beasts, the film is a breathtakingly beautiful coming-of-age story about a young girl named India (Mia Wasikowska) who unravels a terrifying mystery after the death of her father (Dermot Mulroney) and the arrival of her enigmatic Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode). And every single piece of it is completely flawless.

From its use of long, flowing shots to its brilliant performances to its spine-chilling sound design, Stoker is the work of a filmmaker who has finely crafted every detail of his art and ensured that every frame is everything it needs to be. Audiences without patience for Wentworth Miller’s deliberately paced story may find themselves lost or disinterested in the movie, but really that only means that they need to be paying closer attention. Watch the flowers change their color. Listen to the sound of gurgling blood and crushed egg shells. Feel the chill on your spine as more layers of the mystery are pulled back. It’s cinematic sensory overload and everything you could want from a film.

Watch Stoker's trailer...

by Sean O'Connell

Stoker was taken (excellent choice, Eric), so I’m going with The Bling Ring, a movie I feared would be a superficial rehash of the standard celeb-culture denouncement, but ended up being a telling glance through the SoCal-inspired looking glass of our TMZ-riddled society. Writer-director Sofia Coppola regularly chases the contact high that comes from celebrity recognition, and her deep understanding of both the vapid “elite” and those who’d actually be interested in them informs both sides of Bling Ring’s discussion. The movie goes beyond the contemporary notion of entitlement. When Ring-leader Rebecca (Katie Chang) and her shallow band of thieves infiltrate the overstuffed mansions of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, we’re amazed at how much stuff these starlets have received, though never actually earned. The initial lure of The Bling Ring, for some, might be watching Harry Potter beauty Emma Watson transform herself further into a credible actress blessed with more range than the magic franchise allowed her to show. But it’s Coppola’s non-judgmental stance on modern hero worship – and insightful, enabling performances by Chang, Watson and Leslie Mann – that help it feel like the director’s most complete analysis of fame and foibles to date.

Watch The Bling Ring trailer...

The Kings of Summer

by Kristy Puchko

All grown-ups remember what it felt like to be under the thumbs of our parents. And if you somehow forgot all the chafing frustration of parental oversight, the feature directorial debut of Jordan Vogt-Roberts makes them blazingly vivid once more, but with a healthy dose of hilarity. This comedic coming-of-age story follows three teen boys who have had enough of their parents' overbearing brand of love, and so take off into the woods where the build their own house with their own rules. Their freedom is so sweet you can practically taste it. But grounded by heartfelt portrayals of its young leads (Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moises Arias), The Kings of Summer blooms into a poignant story about friendship and the growing pains of going from boys to men. It's so compelling that I declared it "the best film of the year" in my review.

Bolstered by sidesplitting supporting turns from TV stars Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Megan Mullally (Party Down), and Allison Brie (Community), it's easily one of the funniest movies of the year to boot. But screenwriter Chris Galletta's careful balance of the boys' perspective with that of their flustered (and frustrating) parents makes this an instant classic, sure to be treasured summer after summer.

Watch The Kings of Summer trailer...

by Nick Venable

The best film of 2013 so far has got to be Park Chan-wook’s Stok…Dammit, Eric! That’s all right, though, because while I did love that film, it didn’t continue to stay securely and uncomfortably nestled in my psyche for days on end like Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines did. With a plot split between two time periods, the film introduced me into character after character that I probably wouldn’t want anything to do with in real life. Ryan Gosling is a cocky, motorcycle riding bank robber whose attempts at pacification and fatherhood are only slightly more successful than his son Jason’s (Dane DeHaan) eventual attempts at friendship. Bradley Cooper plays a cop who lets his guilt and honest nature cloud his hero status, which doesn’t jibe well with his fellow officers (including a painfully constrained Ray Liotta), and his son AJ (Emory Cohen) is somehow less reputable than Gosling at his worst. As much as I love watching comedies, I always end up flocking to films that challenge my baseline sense of complacency as a viewer, and The Place Beyond the Pines delivers that in spades and red jackets.

Watch The Place Beyond the Pines trailer...

World War Z

by Kelly West

It may help that I haven't read World War Z yet, and therefore went into the film looking for an action packed zombie-mayhem adventure and not an adaptation of a popular novel, as I hear the latter barely applies. I was reluctant to declare a big-budget popcorn flick as my favorite movie of 2013 so far, but when it comes down to it, it really was. World War Z is the most satisfying movie I've seen this year. It not only delivered on every promise its over-played trailers made, but it also managed to offer a fun, exciting and exceptionally satisfying story in under two hours, without any substantial lulls or the time-sucking fourth act that so many movies seem to think they need these days. World War Z introduces Brad Pitt and his family to us. The zombie mayhem ensues. Brad Pitt embarks on a mission to figure out how to stop the virus. More zombie mayhem ensues. The story never deviates from that, or tries to be more than it needs to be to get us through it. Was it as gory as your typical zombie movie? No, but the film made up for that with suspense, some truly intense and thrilling moments, and the right kind of plot resolution in the end. Also, Daniella Kertesz as Segen was a fantastic added bonus, giving a great performance and adding a strong female character in the film.

Watch the World War Z trailer...

It was little more than a year ago that Brad Pitt's World War Z seemed doomed to be a massive flop. The big-scale zombie apocalypse movie, loosely based on the popular faux-historical novel by Max Brooks, was by many accounts crumbling in production. After various issues arose, director Marc Forster was said to be fighting for control with storied cinematographer Robert Richardson, who was rumored to have tried to quit mid-project. Then news surfaced that producer/star Pitt was no longer on speaking terms with Forster. Added to production delays, release date shifts, seven weeks of re-shoots and a complete rewrite of the film's final act, and World War Z looked like it would be DOA. But to the surprise of critics and moviegoers around the world, while flawed, it's turned out to be a pretty fun and shockingly cohesive movie.

This leaves us wondering how much was really changed in that seven week reshoot? (Spoilers ahead as we will be discussing in detail the end of World War Z.) Last week details on what last-minute hires Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard brought to the screenplay were revealed, telling us that essentially everything after Gerry (Pitt) boards the plane leaving Jerusalem is new. There was some mention that the prior finale involved a big bloody battle in Russia, but not much else was said as to what was discarded from the old draft of the film. But Movies.com has uncovered an early draft of the screenplay, and while it's unknown how much of this version was actually shot, it presents a very different and much bleaker World War Z.

So, instead of Gerry and Israel soldier Segen ending up at the World Health Organization facility, where they discover that people with terminal illnesses are invisible to the zombie, World War Z's original ending has the pair headed to Moscow, where they arrive without incident. From there the passengers are divided. The sick and elderly are executed and everyone else (Gerry included) are forced into military service to fight the zombie threat. Here Gerry loses his cell phone and thereby his lifeline to his wife and kids.

Cut to: months later, Gerry is a cold-eyed but effective zombie killer, leading a battalion who kills with Lobos, a sort of shovel/battle axe mentioned in the original book. Movies.com has a lot of details about how the battles in Russia go, including a bizarre decision to divide up the fighters by their religion and a discovery about how to stop the zombies that's totally, totally different from the one we see on film.

After more successes on the zombie battling front, he finally calls Karin, who like in the movie has been moved to a refugee camp. But in this version, it's in the Everglades far from the protection of cold temperatures. Worse yet it's the kind of place where you are forced to barter for safety, and Karin's been bartering her body to a sleazy soldier who months before had helped Gerry and the kids into that saving helicopter. If you were watching very, very closely, you might have noticed that soldier who has about one line of dialogue was played by Matthew Fox , who was thought to have been dropped from the film. In the original version of the film, Fox's parajumper character calls Gerry back after Karin hangs up on him, and basically tells him to move on with his life. Gerry refuses and takes his phone and friends and sets off to find Karin. In this draft, World War Z ends with him and his rag tag crew washing up on the Oregon Coast, his journey to reconnect with Karin still not complete.

Like we said, no one knows how much of this ending actually went into production, but this behind-the-scenes shot of Pitt and Daniella Kertesz (Segen) on an icy boat suggests that Gerry's nautical passage back to America was shot. It'll be interesting to see how much of this aborted final act makes it onto the movie's Blu-ray and DVD extras. Something tells me Plan B will be less than forthcoming with this footage.

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From the very beginning everyone behind World War Z has been frank about hoping for a sequel-- though in the cautious, "we'll have to wait and see how it does" way that pretty much everyone is before their movie opens (Man of Steel being the rare recent exception). In early 2012 word broke that director Marc Forster was imagining the film as the beginning of a trilogy, but that was before the movie's ending was completely changed, leading to an avalanche of bad press and the sense that Paramount was just aiming to get the film out there, try not to totally lose their shirts on it, and forget all about it.

And then the power of Brad Pitt showed up to surprise us all. World War Z made an estimated $111.8 million worldwide this weekend, a remarkably strong debut for a non-sequel, decidedly non-family movie not based on a familiar property (Max Brooks's novel is great, but not exactly household name). Confident all over again, Paramount has told THR that they will now be actively developing a sequel, though the original plans for a trilogy seem to have at least been sharply altered back when the ending was changed. The current ending of the movie certainly leaves plenty of room for a potential sequel, and given how little World War Z used from Brooks's novel, they could mine entire scenes and story lines from there alone.

You might think that Pitt would be less than eager to return to a film that required him to do unbelievable amounts of publicity, but as a producer of the film he was a champion for it the entire time, and it's a huge hit for his Plan B Entertainment in addition to Paramount. It's also, unbelievably, the biggest opening of Pitt's career. Sure he's earned critical acclaim and significant box office success with recent prestige picks like Moneyball, Inglourious Basterds and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but the ability to make sure a blockbuster opens big is a major element of being an A-list star, and it's something Pitt has done far less often than Tom Cruise, Will Smith, or even Angelina Jolie. Pitt and Jolie's shared best-ever opening was Mr. And Mrs. Smith, until Jolie bested it with Wanted in 2008.

World War Z will doubtlessly be one of the summer's most unlikely success stories, and Paramount has to feel confident going into a sequel because, hey, now they know they've at least come up with one version of the story that can work. If you saw World War Z this weekend-- and based on the box office numbers, a lot of you did-- let us know if the movie had you interested in a sequel. If you've got ideas for that sequel too, by all means, share them in the comments.

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There haven't been very many PG-13 zombie movies, and for good reason. The entire genre depends on you being able to see humans-- undead humans, but still humans-- killed in brutal and unsentimental ways, usually with a massive blow to the head. Unlike usual horror movies, where our heroes are the ones avoiding being killed, zombie movies allow us to identify with the killers, and with that kind of destruction the blood is going to flow freely.

But as a big-budget, summer blockbuster zombie movie, World War Z had pretty much no choice but to go with a PG-13 rating, which makes it by far the most bloodless zombie movie of recent movie. Because it's such a big movie, with more scenes of zombie hordes overrunning a city than close-up moments of zombie destruction, it gets away with it… to a certain point. Can a PG-13 movie really be a zombie movie, or do you need the blood to even understand the story? Katey and Kristy duke it out below in our latest Great Debate.

KRISTY: Typically, when it comes to violence in American movies, I am deeply troubled when filmmakers pull their punches. For instance, how Christopher Nolan shows plenty of violence in The Dark Knight, but avoids blood to the point of absurdity.To my surprise, I wasn't bothered at all by World War Z's attempt to pull its punches on gore to score a PG-13 movie, and actually felt this restraint made it a better movie. But Katey, you were quick to disagree with me on this point.

KATEY: To be clear, I'm no huge fan of violence, and I was way less bothered by The Dark Knight Rises than you were-- I have no trouble making the intellectual bargain of forgetting about blood in exchange for really impressive action. But the action in World War Z is mangled to the point of near-incoherence, and the many times that it avoids showing blood only makes it that much less clear.

KRISTY: I took issue with The Dark Knight Rises because that movie is trying to affect "gritty realism" but then avoids the reality of blood to not incur the wrath of the MPAA, and by doing so the film is being irresponsible in its depiction of the consequences of violence. However, in World War Z, the violence is in the midst of riots and carnage, that I didn't feel like blood was needed to get the point across. Plus, because it's more fantastical in its premise--being about the reanimated dead and all that--I didn't feel it demanded the same attachment to realism.

But I didn't have a problem with the way the action was cut. Was there a scene in particular--without getting into heavy spoilers--where you felt blood would have made things more clear?

KATEY: There is a scene in which Brad Pitt lops off someone else's limb. It is a very dramatic, very crucial scene. And yet we don't see it happen, because they can't show the blood. That's the kind of thing that wouldn't even be excessive-- it's key to the storytelling. But the PG-13 keeps it offscreen and totally unclear.

KRISTY: I do think you have a point there. I wasn't personally bothered by that action being off-scene, but I have spoken with others who thought that moment in particular was, well, butchered for the rating.

Still, I didn't realize World War Z was PG-13 until its final act, where--and I will go into no spoilers that matter by saying this--the most aggressive violence enacted against zombies is purposely and obviously framed out of the shot. But I was so freaked out by everything I'd seen so far, that I was frankly relieved to be spare a closeup or even a wide of it.

KATEY: Yup. That bothered me at the end too. We've earned the right to see these monsters-- and they are monsters-- have their heads bashed in. That's the entire basis of the zombie genre, a way to see humans as complete alien monsters and then get rid of them. In all the scenes before that, zombies got killed in ways we could barely see because the camera was moving so damn much. But in the end, when the filmmaking gets much better, you really realize what you're missing

KRISTY: That's true, when the focus is narrowed the lack of focus on the violence against zombies becomes more obvious. It's strange for me, because I am a fan of horror movies. I am not averse to outrageous gore in films, and I love zombie movies in particular. But perhaps because so many of these zombies still looked so human, I didn't want to see the ghoulish business of bringing them down focused on to closely. Before I had actually seen the film, I am confident I would have said the opposite.

KATEY: I think there's a way to make a huge-scale zombie movie like this, where it's a focus on an entire city being overrun and not just one person vs. the horde, that could work with PG-13. And scenes like the stairwell escape in Newark, where it's dark and all about the visceral fear, work well with no need for gore. But there are moments where it is glaring... and a lot of moments where I really could have used a little more attention to blood just to understand what the hell was happening

KRISTY: Did you find the zombie mob scenes scary?

KATEY: Yes... when I wasn't frustrated by them. They do a really good job of making it seem overwhelming and powerful-- like a force of nature, as one person put it after the screening. But then moments that get closer up, like when Pitt has to kick one of the zombies off the side of his car-- you realize what you're missing when there's no blood. They can't really show you what's happening, and it becomes more irritating than scary.

KRISTY: I think this might be the source of our division. The zombie riot scenes I found uniquely horrifying because it melded the panic and frenzy of abrupt catastrophes with the horror of zombies turning from your loved ones to a face-munching threat. I totally agree there are problems in some of the closer shots, but I was so effectively freaked out by the wave of growling snappy jawed zombies that I really didn't notice the lack of blood and outright gore until the third act. The tension of those scenes and some of the later ones pulled me through. And by the third act, when I did see the punches pulled, I was honestly so overwhelmed by everything that came before that I was fine with leaving out more graphic shots. Though I do wish the intention to censor themselves was not so pronounced. But for you, World War Z would have been a better movie with more blood, the kind of thing an R-rating would have allowed?

KATEY: I think World War Z would have been better if it were allowed to be itself-- to use blood when it needed to for storytelling, to rely on the massive waves of zombies when it needed to do that. It's doing something different with the whole "mass panic" angle of a zombie invasion, and for that part you're right, you don't need the blood (though I still hate the way those scenes were shot). But I think to really tell the full story of what a zombie invasion would have been like, they needed more blood. And the moment you start thinking about that, it takes you out of the story.

KRISTY: That makes sense to me. While I didn't miss the blood and gore, I hate the idea of filmmakers having to limit or censor their visions to appease the loathsome MPAA gods, who rule over movie marketability.

KATEY: Yup. And while I get why they didn't want to make a massively expensive R-rated zombie movie, I now do want to see the no-holds-barred version of this in which you can actually tell what the hell is happening.

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Brad Pitt's epic-scaled zombie drama World War Z has been working hard to overcome bad buzz and prove itself with critics. With the reviews actually positive and Pitt still a giant movie star, a lot of moviegoers may find themselves witnessing the zombie apocalypse this weekend… and in most theaters, they'll have the option of wearing 3D glasses while they do it.

But is that extra cost for the 3D worth it? That's what we're here to answer in the latest installment of To 3D or not to 3D, in which we break down World War Z's 3D effects into individual parts and help you decide which ticket to buy. Before you head to the movies this weekend, check out our guide, and vote in the poll to let us know how you to decide to see it.

Does 3D Fit?

?No longer limited to movies that were looking for a big and obvious gimmick, 3D gets applied to nearly every genre of film these days, but it seems to work best in a few specific ones: big epic-scaled action movies, animated films, or anything that wants a little schlocky scare. World War Z fits two of those categories (though there is plenty of animation in there too), and between its big scenes of zombies overrunning cities and the later, close-up moments with the terrifying zombie faces, there's a lot of potential for 3D to add an extra pop to the movie's slow-boiling tension and terror.

Planning & Effort?

?Sadly, your movie can have all the potential in the world to be great in 3D and fall apart completely if you don't put the work in. World War Z had one of the most famously troubled productions in recent memory, and when you're on a set where the director and lead actor are rumored to not even be speaking to each other, it's hard to plan much of anything, much less a 3D conversion that's going to happen months later. It's unclear exactly when Paramount opted to convert the film into 3D, but it wasn't public knowledge until a Super Bowl spot touted the 3D. When the film was shown in sections for various bigwigs last month, director Marc Forster was still working on the conversion. I don't know if it's possible to have less 3D planning on a movie this big.

Before the Window?

?This category, which refers to the space in front of the "window" of the screen where especially prominent 3D objects can pop out at the audience, is the place where a normal zombie movie might have a lot of fun, flinging weapons or body parts out at the audience to get them to scream. But World War Z, with its PG-13 rating and global scale, is not an average zombie movie, and its somber tone means they're not about to do something as gimmicky as actually having fun with the 3D. This is a hard effect to accomplish with post-conversion anyway, so it's not much of a surprise to see so little of it here.

Beyond the Window

?To be honest, it's possible that there's a lot more beyond the window effect happening than I'm giving it credit for, and that some of the larger scenes in the film do a lot with making the frame seem deeper. But Forster's camera work in the film's biggest scene is so shaky and frenetic that I was constantly struggling to even focus on what was happening, much less understand the 3D depth. There's a handful of still shots-- like one of Brad Pitt and his family reflected in a puddle-- that make striking use of depth. But in the scenes where it would add the most, the effect is almost impossible to see.

Brightness

?Horror movies and 3D tend to go well together except for one element: the many, many scenes that take place in the dark. Putting on a pair of 3D glasses is effectively like wearing sunglasses indoors, and filmmakers have to compensate a lot for that extra dimming effect. World War Z does a pretty good job compensating, but there are several scenes-- including one tense escape scene in a dimly lit apartment building-- where you really wish you could boost the levels a bit. It's not so much that they don't do enough to compensate, but that you can't help but realize some of these scenes were planned before they knew their audiences would be wearing glasses to watch them.

The Glasses Off Test

?There were several scenes in World War Z in which I felt forced to remove my glasses, so disoriented by the action that I assumed removing the glasses would help me focus. Normally I take off my glasses as a test to see just how much 3D effect we're actually getting-- the more blurry the image is when you remove them, the more 3D "pop" you'll see when you put them back on. In World War Z's action scenes the blur was minimal, but it was enough to make me more than a little seasick (see below for more on that) when I wore the glasses. Truly the worst of both worlds-- not a lot of 3D impact, but just enough to make the film harder to watch.

Audience Health?

It has been a long, long time since I felt ill in a 3D movie, but I genuinely worried about my health in many of World War Z's action scenes. There's a reason that most 3D films avoid the shaky cam style-- when you've got that extra layer of action to pay attention to, the shaky cam can make everything almost impossible to follow. As mentioned above, I removed my glasses a few times not to test the 3D, but just to hang on for dear life as the camera flew all over the place. It's not only proof that nobody was planning for 3D when they shot these scenes-- it's the strongest evidence of the way that the 3D in World War Z can actively ruin your experience of the movie.

Final Verdict: For all its reported troubles I was surprised that World War Z had anything going for it as a movie. But the 3D conversion is pretty much everything the movie itself was rumored to be-- sloppy, half-baked, unnecessary and in some cases, sickening. Avoid it. Avoid it avoid it avoid it. It's hard to imagine a bigger waste of your 3D glasses this summer.

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Jimmy Fallon’s often one of the goofier late night hosts (the only one who beats him in terms of goofiness is probably Craig Ferguson). Rarely does an entire episode of Late NIght with Jimmy Fallon go by without the host swimming toward the deep end, but a video segment that aired earlier this week may have actually been the former SNL cast member's goofiest endeavor yet. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Fallon coaxed one of the world’s suavest actors into doing the skit with him too. If you haven’t caught the sketch, which follows Fallon and Brad Pitt as they go on a yodeling adventure, you can do so by watching above video.

In the video, Fallon opts to take a break from his busy work schedule to head to the rooftop of a tall building in New York City. There, viewers learn that Fallon is actually a better-than-passable yodeler as he belts out a tune that is not too shabby on the ears. However, Fallon’s not the only male on a rooftop working on his yodeling skill set. Apparently, Pitt also happened to be practicing and the two engage in an amusing yodeling conversation with subtitles underneath.

The way things look, Pitt couldn’t make it to the set for an onscreen interview, and the clip was a good way to amuse viewers as well as promote Pitt’s newest movie endeavor, World War Z, which hits theaters on Friday. In fact, during the clip, Fallon makes sure to say, “By the way, congrats on World War Z,” which seems a little pre-emptive, but whatever. The clip aired early during the episode on Tuesday night to make room for actual interviews with Jerry Seinfeld and Ice Cube.

Fallon has been known for viral videos in the past, including the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s hilarious and continual spoof on Downton Abbey called “Downton Sixbey.” The late night comedian also has some pretty good comedic videos that he has filmed with First Lady Michelle Obama in the past, as well.

While Pitt is less known for putting together viral videos than Fallon, he did amusingly make a name for himself this fall when he put together a super serious video for Chanel N°5 that has accrued over 8 million YouTube hits at this point. Lest you forget that beauty, you can check it out in all its yodel-less awkwardness, below.

There are a couple of different ways that one can watch Marc Forster’s World War Z when the movie finally opens in theaters on Friday, June 21. You can challenge it to live up to your lofty expectations if you happened to read Max Brooks’ source novel (which tells its story in a completely different fashion). You can attempt to enjoy it as a large-scale, apocalyptic summer popcorn thriller. Or you can analyze it scene by scene to see where the “old” version of Forster’s movie stops and the “corrected” version begins.

It’s possible you aren’t aware of this, but Forster’s production endured a very difficult, rocky and tumultuous schedule that – according to reports – led to costly reshoots, multiple rewrites, and a new ending that fixed the previous conclusion (which wasn’t working). If that side of the movie’s existence interests you, your “Bible” will be the Vanity Fair cover story from earlier this year that documents several of the problems the movie endured.

But with the movie approaching, The Huffington Post quotes a source about specific scenes that were altered. Consider waiting if you haven’t yet seen World War Z and want to remain unspoiled.

Still with us? Here's the “dividing line” between the initial film Forster worked on and the reshoots – most of which were penned by the trio of Damon Lindelof, Drew Goddard and Christopher McQuarrie. Reports say that the original ending of the movie, which involved a large-scale zombie battle in Russia, didn’t work. And so the minute Pitt’s character boards an airplane in Jerusalem, the new ending kicks in – including the chaotic mid-air attack that you can see in most of the film’s trailers:

HuffPo confirms, “Everything starting with [Pitt’s character Gerry] Lane entering the aircraft, including every incident on the flight, was written by Goddard and Lindelof.” The rewrites also get credit for a completely different ending, which builds more suspense than a digital Russian battle likely would have generated.

But that’s not all. The HuffPo story says that certain scenes spotted in the trailers also were rewrites, including the opening of Pitt and his family at the breakfast counter watching news reports about the outbreak, and a couple of slower-beat character moments involving phone calls and conversations that give a nice reprieve from the zombie action.

There will be a ton of discussions over the next few days and weeks as to whether or not the corrections helped Z enough to succeed at the box office. I believe that the movie works very well in its current state, and I prefer the ending that exists now versus the big battle one we won’t be able to see (unless it’s on a DVD at some point in the future). Either way, this behind-the-scenes insight is priceless, and probably will get curious folks into the theaters to see where Z has been stitched together like a rag doll.

We report all the time on crazy ways that movie studios and other companies conspire to get you to pay extra money. There was the guy who paid $500 to see Identity Thief in the comfort of his own home. There was the aborted scheme to ask people to pay $60 to see Tower Heist on VOD just three weeks after its theatrical release. And of course, there's always the option to shell out $2 million to build an IMAX theater in your own home.

But what's much harder is finding ways to get people to pay more to see movies in theater, beyond the usual 3D and IMAX surcharges. That's where Paramount is stepping up to the plate for the release of this month's World War Z. Over at Fandango you have the option to buy a $50 "Mega Ticket"-- but only for theaters in Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Diego. Here's what comes with that sky-high price tag:

-One (1) adult admission ticket to the 6/19 advance 3D show of World War Z

-One (1) HD digital copy of movie when available*

-One (1) pair of World War Z collector's custom 3D glasses**

-One (1) official limited-edition movie poster

-One (1) small popcorn

Since World War Z doesn't open until Friday, June 21, that's a two-day head start on the crowds for the really enthusiastic World War Z fans. What seems to be the real selling point, though, is the digital copy, which could be available sooner than the DVD street date and would provide what most of us really want when we go see a movie we like-- the ability to own the movie yourself as soon as possible. The tricky part, though, is launching something like this on a movie like World War Z, which isn't a sequel or based on anything most people have heard of, and doesn't come with the kind of anticipation that, in an earlier time, would have had people camping out all night for tickets.

But imagine them doing something like this for Star Wars: Episode VII, or (someday) the Justice League. I know more than a few geeks who would happily pay extra to be two days ahead of the crowd. The World War Z experiment may not be a huge hit this time-- hell, the movie itself may not be a hit at all. But don't expect this to be the last time that theaters attempt to sweeten the deal and encourage you to buy a ticket. With a few tweaks, I can see this becoming a major success for them.

We've seen the trailers for World War Z. In fact, I can't remember the last movie I saw in the theaters that didn't show the zombie thriller's promo beforehand. Now we have a look at an actual clip from the film. It doesn't give much away, though it does fill us in a bit on Brad Pitt's character. Not only was he once a top investigator for the U.N., but he's also a family man, who's reluctant to separate from his wife and kids in this time of crisis.

Directed by Marc Forster, and based on - or at the very least, inspired by - Max Brooks' book, World War Z follows Brad Pitt's character Gerry Lane as he tries to stop the zombie pandemic that's making its way across the planet, threatening to wipe out humanity. The clip above, which comes to us via Yahoo, is set aboard the U.N. command ship U.S.S. ARGUS. It looks like the higher-ups have decided that Gerry's a necessary person in their attempts to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it. But as the trailers have revealed, Gerry has a family. Now he's forced to decide if he can be a better protector to them by staying with them, or parting ways with them to work with the U.N. to put a stop to the madness before it's too late for everyone.

By comparison to the thrilling moments we've glimpsed in the trailers, this isn't the most exciting snippet from the film, but it does tease some of the personal conflict in the story from Pitt's character's perspective.

World War Z arrives in theaters June 21, 2013.

A public, but still limited, event held in New Jersey Wednesday night continued Paramount’s push to introduce Marc Forster’s World War Z to audiences. None other than Brad Pitt attended a public sneak of the anticipated zombie thriller, which several media members attended … weighing in on the film’s impact below.

“We gotta do a screening for the fans. So, we decided there was no better place to do that than Jersey,” Pitt exclaimed to a packed theater, according to ScreenCrush, which was in attendance. The site went on to describe the film as a “crowd-pleaser,” saying, “If you’ve heard any of the production problems the film has had, don’t believe the hype: World War Z isn’t a disaster. But as a disaster movie, it’s actually pretty good.”

Huffington Post editor Mike Hogan, who attended a smaller, celebrity-filled screening at MoMA in New York City weighed in with his own opinion, stating, “I think it works, though I suspect some people who see the movie cold will wonder why its scale contracted instead of expanding. … I'm curious to know what a paying audience will think. But for now, at least, the dark rumors that World War Z would be dead-on-arrival appear to have been greatly exaggerated.”

Both reports are referencing a steady stream of disastrous production stories of a ballooning budget, costly reshoots, an ending that didn’t work, and so on. All of this led those tracking the production to believe that Z would be more trouble for Paramount than it was worth.

Yet as Forbes points out, all of this negative buzz tends to matter to inside-baseball trackers, but has little impact on the box office.

Too true. If Z is good – and we hope it is – audiences will flock, interested to see the finished product, caring little about what went into making the movie before it reached your local screen.

If you follow the movie industry closely, there's nothing more fascinating than an autopsy of a disaster, when the people behind a film get away from the promotional speak and soundbites and really dig into what made a film fall apart. It's rare to get that level of candor at any point, but it's practically impossible to get it before a film opens. Which is what makes Vanity Fair's cover story on World War Z an absolute, stop-everything must-read.

Brad Pitt doesn't chime in on the various setbacks and disasters on the film, and the conversations with Marc Forster aren't especially enlightening-- talking about a film that endured expensive reshoots and a complete rewrite of the third act, Forster says "For me, it’s like, I had a good time on this film. I didn’t feel like it was a big drama." But conversations with many other people on the project, including Pitt's Plan B producing partner Dede Gardner and Damon Lindelof, who was brought in to rewrite the film's ending, reveal a film that ran into all kinds of problems that might tank a smaller film. Millions of dollars of debts from the film's first shooting location, in Malta, went unpaid because someone lost the forms in a drawer. They shot an entire battle scene set in Russia even when everyone on the film now admits (with 20/20 hindsight) that they knew it didn't work for the script. And while Forster denies pervasive rumors that he and Pitt stopped speaking to each other on set, he admitted his falling-out with the film's on-set visual effects supervisor: “John Nelson and I, it was a chemistry thing." Nelson, who won an Oscar for Gladiator, was replaced during post-production.

Of course, these are all just standalone facts, and you've really got to read the whole thing for a story that sounds a whole lot more interesting than the version of World War Z that we'll see onscreen on June 21. From the moment Forster made the decision to adapt Max Brooks's heady novel as an action-packed adventure, the whole thing seemed to snowball into a mass of bad decisions. But did Lindelof and co-writer Drew Goddard manage to right the ship? More importantly, do you feel remotely inspired to pay for a ticket to this and find out for yourself?

Marc Forster’s upcoming adaptation of World War Z is going to be one of those films we end up talking about for the next few years … even though – much like the movie – the ending has yet to be scripted. If the movie’s a massive success, then we’ll be marveling at how Brad Pitt, Forster and a team of experts salvaged what was shaping up to be a disaster. If the movie falls flat on its zombie face, we’ll be dissecting where a global horror thriller went wrong, allowing a budget to balloon and working without a script when you have one of the world’s biggest stars at your disposal.

If you have been tracking World War Z, you know that production on the film was rocky. Pitt plays a U.N. representative helping respond to the outbreak of a pandemic that’s turning our planet’s population into zombies. But the news from the set centered around rewrites by Damon Lindelof, the need for reshoots, production problems, additional reshoots and more.

Very little of this matters to the audience if the corrections lead to a better film, and we’ll know that for sure once World War Z finally opens on June 21. But already, those who helped put Humpty Dumpty back together again are going on record to say what they did (or didn’t do) to help the film succeed.

In the cover story for the June issue of Vanity Fair, Lindelof explains to the magazine how Pitt brought him in after production had been well under way, saying they had an abrupt and incoherent ending that didn’t make sense.

This meant dumping a lengthy battle scene set in Russia, and reshooting a lot of footage to come up with an ending that made sense. Also speaking to the magazine, Marc Evans, president of production at Paramount, recalls the silence that met the first screening of Forster’s initial War Z cut, saying, “It was, like, Wow. The ending of our movie doesn’t work. I believed in that moment we needed to reshoot the movie.”

It’s rare to have people involved with the movie talking openly about production problems before the film reaches theaters. Perhaps it’s because they are confident that the finished product survived the problems? And now they’re saying, “Look, we went through hell, but it was the right call, because the movie is better.” I hope that’s the case. Pitt will carry World War Z across the finish line in June. We’ll see if all the effort in production paid off.

Paramount Pictures had it’s big presentation this evening at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada, but it wasn’t just new Star Trek Into Darkness footage that the studio had on display – they also brought some intense zombie action to the proceedings as well, showing off a brand new scene from director Marc Forster’s World War Z.

After showing off a great deal of footage that I actually got to see a few weeks ago, the presentation delivered a never-before-seen clip from the upcoming zombie epic to the crowds in The Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace – which some of you may remember from the climax of the second theatrical trailer that was released last month.

The scene opens on an airplane calmly drifting through the sky, most of the passengers either asleep or sitting comfortably in first class – including Brad Pitt’s character, Gerry Lane. We then see a Chihuahua hop off its owners seat and head to the back of the plane where it starts barking at a door. A flight attendant walks up and gives the dog a quizzical look before pressing a button and opening the door – which, of course, unleashes the zombie that waits inside. Panic quickly unfolds in coach, which leads Gerry and many of the other first class passengers to wake up. Peeking through the curtain and seeing the growing violence, the hero silently calls for all of the other first class passengers to take their luggage and create a blockade that will keep the zombies out. This plan works for a while, as the zombies don’t seem to notice what’s going on, but then one of the first class passengers accidentally drops a bag on the other side of the blockade. The zombies take notice immediately and begin to charge, bringing the same state of panic to the front of the plane. A soldier that Gerry is with begins to open fire at the zombies and Gerry grabs a grenade off of her belt. After a moment of pause, deciding if using the weapon is really the best option, the soldier nods in agreement and lets the explosive device fly. A gaping hole opens in the side of the plane and all of the zombies get sucked out, leaving Gerry, the solider, and a few others holding on for dear life as the plane plummets from the sky.

World War Z will be in theaters on June 21st and be sure to stay tuned here on Cinema Blend for the rest of our CinemaCon coverage throughout the week!

For more of our CinemaCon 2013 coverage head over HERE!