It’s been close to five years since “Zombieland” saw Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin’s zombie-hunters prowl across the Southern states trying to find a new home. Most people assumed that a long-touted sequel would never materialize, but now Sony Pictures have surprisingly announced several details that suggest they’re taking a potential follow-up very seriously.
Callaham has had a topsy-turvy couple of years. His script for “Barrow” turned into “The Expendables,” but only after he sued Sylvester Stallone for credit, and while he wrote the first draft for the “Godzilla” reboot, it eventually was extensively re-written by Max Borenstein.
“Zombieland 2” will hopefully give him a chance to truly inject his personality and talent into a script without it being extensively re-written.
Sony still hasn’t officially confirmed whether Fleischer will return to direct the “Zombieland” sequel, but as he was the man who oversaw the original’s relative success, it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ll ask him to step behind the camera again. Plus, Fleischer would also probably jump at the opportunity to return to a franchise that he knows intimately.
While it looks like there is a good chance Fleischer will come back, each of the four leading cast-members have seen their career’s soar since the film was released, and it would be rather amazing if they could convince just one of them to come-back – let alone the entire quartet.
Eisenberg is currently filming his scenes as Lex Luthor for “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” Woody Harrelson has re-defined his career thanks to his turn in “True Detective,” not to mention “The Hunger Games.”
Emma Stone is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actresses thanks to her exploits as Gwen Stacey in Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man series,” and Abigail Breslin has steadily built up her career thanks to a series of impressive bit-part roles in ensemble pieces like “New Year’s Eve,” “Ender’s Game,” and “August: Osage County.”
In conclusion, it’s going to take a stellar script from Callaham to convince them to return, so he better get scribing.