Discussion
Let me preface with an apology for this post if it feels like beating a dead horse.
I recently set up my very first surround sound system in my living room. I finally have my dream setup thanks to LG and Sonos (not trying to sell anything).
When deciding on movies to really test out the new setup I chose “Ready Player One” and “World War Z”. Just started the latter and wow, the mixing for the movie is top notch, especially through said surrounds.
The point of this post is to discuss why the hell WWZ has not gotten a sequel, spinoff, or ANYTHING. This hit me at the beginning of the movie, they could have filled the rest of the movie with what happened the rest of the time in local cities.
I know Max Brooks didn’t like the adaptation but I still really enjoy this film. Someone fill my cup up with Hopium that something will be done with this source material in the future.
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"I know Max Brooks didn’t like the adaptation..."
He's not the only one. There are hordes of the book's fans who also hated the film.
Tbh it would probably be better regarded if it had been called something else. If you look at it as a standalone, original zombie film it's better than average. But as an adaptation of World War Z it's a colossal failure because it's unrecognizable compared to the source material.
If you've not read it(or listened to the acclaimed audio book version), do yourself a favor and check it out. It'll become apparent that this really should have been a documentary-style, anthology TV series rather than a movie.
I’ve read it upwards of ten times. My post may not have been clear enough. I wish they would have gone further into the stories of each of the people in the book. Almost a documentary style where they are sitting down and they show flashback of what happened during each’s story. Just my thought of how they could have done it.
The source material is so good, and still not completely written. Hopefully it gets done properly.
They went about incorporating the stories from the book pretty decently I thought. South Korea and Israel. The original third act went into Russia and refugee camp stuff.
I think a sequel they would have gotten into more of the war stuff, showing the Battle of Yonkers, etc…
And then a third movie you could show the aftermath / reconstruction.
But adaptations don’t have to be rigid . Look at Kubrick’s The Shining. One can look at it purely in context of a movie
Purely in context of the movie, WWZ was just okay. The Shining is great.
So tell me me how the movie captures the spirit of the book? The shining is a poor comparison.
A better comparison would be me eating a snail off the side walk and saying it’s escargot.
Yeah, adaptations are often flexible with the source material. But there's being flexible with the source material, and there's completely chucking the source material in the garbage can, then setting the garbage can on fire. The absolute travesty that the World War Z movie did was the latter.
The only thing they really have in common is they are both named World War Z. I would say that they have zombies in common, but since the zombies in the movie and the book are vastly different, I'd argue that even that isn't the same.
At least Kubrick's Shining adapted the book. World War Z took the zombies, one location, and..... that's about it.
It'd only be a fair comparison if Kubrick's Shining took place in sunny California and the main character was a 15 year old named Britney that was trying to save her dad's fledgling carpet business.
I personally did not like the film. I found myself rolling my eyes through many scenes. I just found it all a bit silly. And I do like a good zombie movie.
On the upside, the World War Z game (which I believe came out around the same time) was very fun indeed.
After reading the book, I couldn't enjoy the movie even though the movie is competent.
I watched the movie before reading the book, so the movie was really enjoyable. Then I read the book, then listened to the audiobook 10+ times in the last 2-3 years. Book is WAY better. Just enjoy visual media a lot. Hope something happens, I think a 10-12 episode series would be perfect for the story.
According to Wikipedia there were plans for one but they cancelled it in 2019 over budgetary issues.
Usually that means they didn't feel like there was enough interest to merit spending the money they were gonna have to spend.
There was a bidding war for the adaptation rights and it came down to Brad Pitt’s production company and Leonardo DiCaprio’s. The bidding went so high and obviously Brad Pitt won. That being said, it didn’t make the profit they wanted for the price they paid plus the actual production.
Without regard to the book, I thought the movie was very good . Sometimes adaptations are not as faithful just like The Shining . I hope Fincher can eventually get back on board for a sequel.
I'd rather see a prestige TV show treatment. it would give all of the stories time to breathe.
haha people are so angry in this subreddit!! why would you downvote someone for saying "personally, i thought it was fun"
anyways i thought it was a pretty generic zombie movie. the book is a difficult thing to adapt, but i thought they did an okay job. there was just nothing particularly interesting or thoughtful or beautiful about it
I really enjoyed WWZ. I loved that opening scene.
I remember they tried to do a sequel a few years ago. I seem to remember a bigname director being interested. I think it was Fincher. I was really hoping to see that movie.
I loved it: the hallway scene is pretty tense and well done. I read the book after and can see why lovers of the book hated the film. It’s simply not the same story nor the same tone of the book at app. As a zombie movie, it’s good.
I’m in the same boat as you. Read the book after watching the movie. I really enjoy both, but would love a real adaptation of the book.
Anything produced from the source material would be awesome.
I never read the books but damn I loved this movie.
Personally, I liked the movie and thought the book was awful. But I know I'm an extremely small minority on this one, I'm not surprised they never made a sequel, I really doubt it will happen.
I'm with you on that one. The book really didn't appeal to me but the movie was a lot of fun.
Basically China. They have this law about supernatural stories in films, that a WWZ wouldn’t be able to be shown.
They even had David Fincher lined up for it.