World War Z 2: The sequel That Could've Redeemed a Sci-Fi Classic (and a Director!)
Brad Pitt's Zombie Epic: A $540 Million Hit With a Canceled Sequel
Brad Pitt's World War Z (raking in a massive $540 million worldwide!) was a zombie blockbuster. That ending however, set up a sequel that would have changed everything! Gerry Lane (Pitt) discovered a way to make humans invisible to zombies (via a curable pathogen). This set the stage for a potential World War Z 2 where the military might have stood a chance!
Paramount wanted a sequel after that first film's enormous success. It unfortunately entered “development hell”; a common ailment for sequel productions – meaning many different issues ultimately stopped its continued development entirely and World War Z 2 got cancelled. But get this: This would’ve been amazing, not simply because of its sequel potential and that amazing plot but this could’ve had an even more impressive aspect and outcome; especially concerning one extremely famous director! Let's find out just how amazing this would’ve been!
David Fincher's Redemption Arc: From Alien 3 to World War Z
David Fincher signed on to direct World War Z 2 in 2017! This would have been his first sci-fi film since Alien 3—which is notoriously a disaster Fincher totally disowns due to studio meddling! So many of those past studio pressures had already hampered so much of this director’s ability to craft stories of his design that this entire situation truly deserved serious consideration, and why fans wanted so much for this sequel to appear! And Fincher was almost certain to ensure the opposite thing would happen!
With Fincher's stellar reputation after Alien 3, it's assumed he'd have total control! And that could have corrected the very problems in Alien 3, allowing a talented director to have a sequel on his terms!
Alien 3's Production Nightmare: A Masterclass in Studio Interference
Alien 3’s mess started before Fincher signed on. William Gibson’s initial screenplay (an absolute winner even after it got rejected!) got massively shortened due to the threatened Writers Guild of America strike (1988)! And this didn't help at all.
Multiple writers joined later, including Eric Red (and David Twohy). Multiple directors got replaced! First Vincent Ward, then producers Walter Hill and David Giler. All this ended with Fincher being given a completely chaotic project; completely lacking a sense of creative direction; made worse because the film never stopped going through several key production decisions, making things even worse than ever! Studio meddling ended with a wildly inconsistent, highly uninspired version of what should've been awesome. Fincher basically disowns Alien 3, even years later! All of those events involving various studio inputs entirely stifled this film's overall quality.
World War Z 2: Fincher's Vision (That Sadly Never Was…)
That cancelled World War Z 2 could have been totally epic; providing an outlet for Fincher's unique sensibilities; which he expressed even before its cancellation – particularly that his work was very, very similar to HBO's The Last of Us! In that same interview with GQ, which focuses on his newest production: The Killer; Fincher is then asked how his World War Z 2 could've possibly been made. His ideas even mirrored what already existed in that aforementioned show.
It’s also worth mentioning rumors concerning a key storyline point; those regarding that vaccine's limited effectiveness: reports implied this thing lasts only about 36 hours – turning into a far worse scenario that's more politically complex; which alone could have added so much into the storyline.
Conclusion: A Lost Opportunity for a Major Cinematic Event
That World War Z 2 cancellation sucks. It's sad, really. It was poised to be an insanely impressive zombie movie. It is truly frustrating because the possibility involved was more than a simply-made sequel: It could’ve been Fincher’s artistic comeback story; creating an immensely compelling production; redeeming his troubled past involving the original film, while delivering another superb production based upon a very highly acclaimed and beloved source material; which in many ways and angles would not have ever come without using this very same plot! This loss should remain something for fans and people within the filmmaking industry alike, to discuss, debate and really feel upset at the amount of creativity lost forever.
