As it turns out, there are more than a few rules left to learn if you want to survive a Zombie Apocalypse. And why not? When the first Zombieland came out way back in 2009, The Walking Dead was still simply a comic book, and the ghoulish undead were far less hip than all those sexy vampires running around. As pop culture has since been infested with the dreaded brain-eaters, Zombieland 2 has long seemed like a no-brainer. Sony would appear to agree.
Hence it was announced late Friday afternoon that Sony Pictures is moving ahead with Zombieland 2 and the four main actors from the original film: Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin, will be reprising their roles as Wichita, Tallahassee, Columbus, and Little Rock.
The news is sure to make comedy-zombie fans salivate (it’s a niche genre with only Shaun of the Dead and Warm Bodies as the only other participants, but it exists!). Especially since the same creative team is returning, including director Ruben Fleischer and screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
While Reese and Wernick have become fan culture royalty in recent years for co-writing both Deadpool and Deadpool 2, the latter alongside Ryan Reynolds, the fast-tracking of this and the return of Fleischer is hopefully a positive vote of confidence in Venom, another off-centre superhero adaptation that Fleischer is directing for Sony Pictures. Presumably they must be seeing something they like, right?
Admittedly, Zombieland 2 has been long speculated about but rarely seeming in danger of occurring. Rumours of a sequel started after the original film was a surprise hit in 2009, grossing $102.4 million on a $23.6 million budget (and back when international box office wasn’t such a boon). Additionally, since then, Eisenberg and Stone have grown into bonafide stars, with Stone particularly rising so high as to win an Oscar last year for La La Land. For that same reason, a sequel increasingly seemed remote, even after Sony was rumored to be looking to do one in 2014. Add on a failed attempt at a pilot for a Zombieland TV series in 2013… it just seemed like too much time had passed.
Zombieland 2 is now developing very quickly, with an aim to begin production in January of next year and to release in October 2019. The quick turnaround hopefully means a committed, down and dirty aesthetic for the film, like the first movie.
More as we get it…