Get ready for your semi-annual update on the status ofZombieland 2. Though, admittedly, this update does sound realistic and encouraging. Plus, it is coming directly from two of the guys most involved in the project.Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the duo behindDeadpool, have revealed that the movie is stillin developmentand that the original cast is still on board to come back for the sequel.
The writers recently spoke withComicbook.comwhile promoting their latest movieLife. The pair were asked about the status ofZombieland 2and whether or not the movie was still in development. According to them, it is and they are actively trying to get the thing going, but there are some hurdles in the way. Here is what they had to say about it.
“It is [in active development]. We’re trying to get it going. All of our cast have read the script and love it. Ruben [Fleischer] is signed on. It’s just a matter of making our cast deals and making it for a budget number. All the cast have become superstars now so, we made Zombieland with 20 million, so it’s trying to fit that financial model into the sequel model so it makes sense for the studio and being able to pay the actors what they now get paid and deserve to paid.”
In the last year or so,Rhett ReeseandPaul Wernickhave become pretty big names, given the success ofDeadpool. It also doesn’t hurt thatLifeis being received well by critics and could wind up being another solid hit for them. That being the case, Sony might have reason to think that doingZombieland 2now would be a good idea. Everyone likes the script and everyone seems to be on board. It is just a matter of convincing the brass at Sony to pull the trigger. And they are already on top of that.
“We see [Sony Pictures chairman] Tom Rothman pretty frequently now and we’re pestering that dude. He’s like, ‘Please, enough with theZombielandtalk!’ We’re pestering him the way we pestered Fox on Deadpool. We’re not letting it go. We really want to see Zombieland 2.”
AsReeseandWernickpoint out,Jesse Eisenberg,Emma Stoneand evenWoody Harrelsonhave gone on to become much more in-demand in the years since the firstZombielandcame out in 2009. That has made things a bit tricky. Not only are they busy, but they are going to command a bigger paycheck for the sequel, which that will makeZombieland 2more expensive to make. Still, it seems like this is a movie people still want to see and with a lot of successful people on board, it seems likely the movie could at least match the $100 million box office take of the original, if not easily surpass it.
There has been a lot of talk aboutZombieland 2in the past and even attempts to get the franchise moving in different directions.Rhett ReeseandPaul Wernickwrote aZombielandpilot for Amazon that ultimately didn’t go to series. That is about as close as the sequel has come to a reality so far. But with the writers actively pushing to get the movie made, maybe we will finally seeColumbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rockback at it again.
