World War Z is a 2013 American action horror film directed by Marc Forster based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks. It stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who travels the world seeking a solution for a sudden zombie apocalypse, along with an ensemble supporting cast including Mireille Enos and James Badge Dale.
Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment secured the film rights to Brooks’ World War Z novel in 2007, and Michael Straczynski was approached to write and Forster was approached to direct. In 2009, Matthew Carnahan was hired to rewrite the script. With a planned December 2012 release and a projected budget of $125 million, filming began in July 2011 in Malta, before moving to Glasgow in August and Budapest in October. The production of World War Z suffered some setbacks, and, in June 2012, the release date was pushed back, and the crew returned to Budapest for seven weeks of additional shooting. Damon Lindelof was hired to rewrite the third act but did not have time to finish the script, and Drew Goddard was hired to finish the rewrite. World War Z reshoots took place between September and October 2012, ballooning the budget to a reported $190 million, although some publications have listed it as high as $269 million.
World War Z premiered in London on June 2, 2013, and was chosen to open the 35th Moscow International Film Festival. It premiered in New York and Los Angeles in June and was theatrically released elsewhere in the United States on June 21. Reviews were mostly positive, praising Pitt’s performance and the film as a revival of the zombie genre, but criticism of what some felt was an anti-climax and a lack of faithfulness to the source material.
World War Z was a commercial success, grossing over $540 million against a production budget of $190 million, making it the highest-grossing zombie film of all time. A sequel was announced shortly after the film’s release but was cancelled in February 2019, reportedly due to budget issues.
