David Fincher’s busy schedule is pushing back production on World War Z 2 yet again. Paramount found an unlikely success in 2013’s World War Z. Following production issues that saw massive reshoots redo a large portion of the Brad Pitt-led zombie apocalypse film, the tinkering worked wonders. The film ended up grossing over $500 million worldwide, enough for the studio to put a sequel in development. But, it hasn’t been easy getting the sequel off the ground.
World War Z 2 was originally slated to release in June 2017, but the movie has seen repeated delays due to the script, Pitt’s schedule, and a rotating door of directors. World War Z director Marc Forester opted not to return for the sequel, and then A Monster Calls‘ J.A. Bayona left to tackle Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. However, the project finally started to move forward when Paramount Pictures’ new CEO, Jim Gianopulos, got David Fincher to sign on the dotted line last year to helm the sequel. While it was previously reported that World War Z 2 would film this fall, Fincher’s busy schedule seems to be pushing the sequel out even more.
Related: Why David Fincher is the Best Choice for World War Z 2
The Playlist reports that World War Z 2 isn’t going to film this year after all as Fincher is gearing up for season 2 of Netflix’s Mindhunters instead. This news comes on the heels of the outlet revealing more directors for Mindhunters second season. With Mindhunters looking to start filming later this month and continue throughout the summer, Fincher’s schedule is full the rest of the year as he handles post-production as well.
This is the second time this year that World War Z 2‘s production has been pushed back. As previously mentioned, Paramount originally hoped it could come together to film this fall, but Pitt will be busy filming Quentin Tarantino’s new movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That project was the reason behind the first delay, and now Fincher’s schedule, too, won’t allow for production to begin this year. At this point, there’s no telling when the movie could eventually start filming, but it won’t be until next year at the earliest it appears.
While Fincher could always exit the project, production being delayed because of his schedule is a strong indicator he’s still looking to stay involved. Since he officially signed on last summer, Fincher has made a few comments about his vision for the sequel. He made it clear that he and screenwriter Dennis Kelly aren’t making World War Z 2 just to make a movie, they want it to be something special. Since he last said he was still working on figuring out World War Z‘s mythology, there’s no guarantee that the script would’ve even have been ready to begin filming this year. As long as Fincher and Pitt remain in high-demand, it could continue to be difficult to find time for World War Z 2. But with both interested in making it work, hopefully, it will.
