The action blockbuster “World War Z” (new today on Netflix) is only not considered a megahit because the production budget was mercilessly overdrawn. That’s especially a shame because many are still hoping for “World War Z 2″…
The zombie blockbuster “World War Z” by “James Bond: Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster still has the reputation of being a flop. But on closer inspection this is total nonsense: “World War Z” is not only the highest-grossing zombie film of all time by a HUGE margin – if you leave aside its mini-appearance in “Deadpool”, it is also still the most financially successful film in the career of superstar and Oscar winner Brad Pitt (“Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood”).
The only problem is that the production in Malta obviously got completely out of hand at the time. The already impressive budget of 125 million dollars was far exceeded – in the end, “World War Z” is said to have cost between 190 and 270 million dollars. And with such enormous costs, even a worldwide box office result of around 540 million dollars, which is actually quite strong, is suddenly no longer enough to be in the black…
Therefore, all of you watching the film now on Netflix or otherwise in your home theatres should know: Yes, you will be treated to massive zombie action that spans the globe like a 007 adventure – but although the ending of “World War Z” clearly points to a second part, there will pretty much never be a “World War Z 2” by now, nine years after the release of the first film. So it’s best not to get your hopes up.
To understand how impressive at least the box office side of “World War Z” really is, it’s really enough to look at the top 10 highest-grossing films worldwide in Brad Pitt’s career:
There are quite a few films in the above list that are generally considered to be big hits, but which nevertheless end up behind “World War Z” in this list. This once again underlines the fact that those responsible simply spent far too much money on the film due to the production problems and delays. Otherwise we would already have “World War Z 2” and maybe even “World War Z 3″…