WORLD WAR Z Trilogy Planned, Film Described As 'Jason Bourne Meets The Walking Dead'

Paramount are banking on World War Z, their highly anticipated Brad Pitt starring blockbuster adaptation of Max Brooks€™ popular zombie tale, to be a long-running franchise well into the new decade. The L.A. Times reports that director Marc Forster and Paramount Pictures are planning a trilogy and believe the source material will be popular enough to justify a further two blockbusters. In a profile of Brad Pitt, the L.A. Times writes;

"Forster and Paramount Pictures each view 'World War Z' as a trilogy that would have the grounded, gun-metal realism of, say, Damon's Jason Bourne series tethered to the unsettling end-times vibe of AMC's 'The Walking Dead.'

Of course whether Forster/Paramount/Pitt get their trilogy will first of all come down to whether or not World War Z makes a good enough profit to justify one when it unspools December 21st, 2012. The film is reported to have cost $150 million to make so Paramount won't be greenlighting a sequel to a film that doesn't make at least that money back so there's still some ways to go yet but it is true studios are all about tentpoles and trilogies (as they make the most money) so it will happen if the numbers are good. With one of the bigger movie stars on the planet toplining and the zombie genre which has never been so popular, they have the best chance in the world. Mega star Brad Pitt leads as the UN researcher who travels the globe interviewing survivors to chronicle how humanity survived a zombie apocalypse and The Killing€™s Mireille Enos plays Pitt€™s wife. Bryan Cranston, Matthew Fox and James Badge Dale are the supporting players. Marc Forster directs his first movie since Quantum of Solace and it promises to be the most detailed and intense work of zombie cinema we€™ve ever seen, especially with the lauded DP Robert Richardson (Shutter Island, Inglourious Basterds) on hand to make the film look stunning. Expect some official photos to be teased in the next few months but probably no trailer until Comic Con in July.