2009’s Zombieland was a bit of a sleeper hit, making over $100 million on a budget of just under $25 million, and that kind of profit usually equals a fast-tracked sequel. Well, next year is the tenth anniversary of the film, and a sequel has yet to arrive. But that might be about to change.
Writers of the film, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, gained notoriety a few years ago when one of their long-in-development script, Deadpool, finally got made and went on to make massive amounts of money. They returned to write this year’s Deadpool 2, and while speaking with Vulture, Wernick revealed that Zombieland 2 might finally hit cinemas next year, with the original cast intact:
“We’re going on the tenth anniversary of Zombieland. Zombieland came out October of 2009. We don’t know what you get someone for their tenth anniversary, but it may be a Zombieland 2. The hope is that we’re shooting that thing early 2019 for an October of ’19 release, with the original cast, by the way”.
The original film starred Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as a ragtag group of survivors making their way through a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland. At the time, Stone and Eisenberg were at the beginning of their careers, but have now turned into major stars, so getting the original cast back for the sequel would be a massive coup.
A sequel has been in development since the original film’s release, and got close to being made a couple of times, but was not able to get off the ground. As recently as 2016, Sony was looking for a new writer, when original director Ruben Fleischer was still attached to helm the project.
He’s now finishing up on the upcoming Venom film for Sony, making him available to return and make Zombieland 2 in early 2019, just the time period Reeese and Wernick are aiming to make the film. The duo also wrote the script for the TV adaptation of the film for Amazon, but the show was dropped after the pilot didn’t make much of a mark.
There’s been enough teases of a Zombieland sequel over the years that fans will be forgiven for taking this news with a grain of salt. But with Reese, Wernick and Fleischer all having success on various projects, it means they’re in as good of a position to finally make the sequel as they ever will be. We’ll wait and see.
#Peace.Love.Zombieland2
1 comment