Movies With Butter

Based on its troubled production, World War Z was supposed to bomb at the box office, but a Hail Mary attempt to rescue the movie worked out, and the movie ended up making over $539 million at the global box office. Now, sequel talks are underway.

However, Marc Forster won't be back to direct the sequel, should there be one, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He's just the latest victim from the fallout of the first movie. For some background, read Vanity Fair's account of the troubled production.

World War Z holds the distinction as the most expensive zombie movie ever made, with the budget rumored to be north of $200 million, so the stakeholders are lucky to not only break even, but may have made a profit when auxiliary income are accounted for.

But it sounds like those involved may want to let some time pass before tackling the sequel.

"It's still hard for me to talk about, to be totally honest," Plan B Entertainment president Dede Gardner told THR. "The criticism resonated with me on several different levels. There's the purely professional level, which involves feeling acute responsibility for this film and the investment these people made in it. Then there's the more personal concern: 'How have I failed? Have I failed?' And I was disappointed by the absence of comrades or just people reaching out and saying, 'Hang in there. It's gonna be OK.'

Gardner has revealed to Vanity Fair that the moment after screening the first cut of World War Z "was the worst day" of her life, so it's understandable she wouldn't want to experience anything like again.

As for Brad Pitt, he's in no hurry also.

"We are talking about [the sequel]," Pitt said. "We are going to investigate a script. We have a lot of ideas we will cull from. Nobody is writing just yet, but we are compiling our ideas."

Yep, he wouldn't want to tempt fate again that soon.

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