Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #2 with $66,411,834
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $177,087,000
Gross Revenue: $423,087,000
Production Budget: $190 million
In terms of preparedness for a global disaster, I
may not have a fully-stocked earthquake kit or flood insurance, but you can bet
your ass that I have formulated a plan-of-action for the dawn of a zombie
apocalypse…so naturally, I loved Max Brooks’ 2006 horror novel that effectively
reinvented the zombie genre. Anyone who
had read the book understood how the unique narrative structure would be undeniably
difficult to translate into a film adaptation, so a few eyebrows were
understandably raised when Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment
secured the screen rights back in 2007.
Still, given my fondness for both the zombie genre and Brad Pitt’s
onscreen charisma, I was pleasantly optimistic when World War Z was announced for a Summer 2013 release…that is until I
caught the teaser trailers online. I can
look past the rumored rewrites and reshooting of nearly 40 minutes of film, and
there was a chance that this cinematic gamble could overcome both a crowded
release schedule and the lukewarm financial performance of past genre entries
(aside from rare exceptions like I Am
Legend)…but with lame, CGI-saturated hordes and an adamant refusal to
define the titular “Z” as standing for “zombie,” I was afraid that Paramount’s
marketing efforts had failed to drive
awareness among the genre’s formidable fan-base. Early reviews were decent, and I was
definitely going to see World War Z
regardless of my blogging obligation; I was just praying that I would be proven
wrong in my predictions that this big-budget June release, despite potential,
would still represent a significant financial disappointment for the 2013
Summer Movie Season.
Featuring the early stages of an extinction-level
pandemic, World War Z follows former
UN investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) as his world is turned upside down by
the sudden and violent appearance of zombies across the globe. After witnessing the rabies-like virus
spreading throughout Philadelphia and narrowly escaping infection, Gerry and
his family are extracted by the Deputy Secretary-General and reach a safe and
secure U.S. Navy vessel off the coast of New York City. As virologists and military personnel
estimate casualties of the worldwide outbreak in the billions, Gerry is tasked
with helping investigate the source of the virus so that a vaccine may be
developed…though he is initially hesitant, Gerry quickly agrees when it is
threatened that his family will otherwise be labeled as “non-essential” and
ejected from the safe-haven. Leaving his
wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and their children in the care of his former
colleagues, Gerry departs with a small team of doctors and soldiers to early
areas of outbreak for answers; traveling everywhere from South Korea to
Jerusalem and Wales, Gerry interviews those who were the first to recognize the
threat of the “undead.” Facing immense
danger from the locust-like hordes of zombies, Gerry dodges danger multiple
times but notices a select few civilians outright ignored by the flesh-eaters,
and unless he is quickly successful in finding a cure, humanity is in very real
danger of becoming a distant memory.
Despite bearing little resemblance to the original
novel, World War Z still stands as a
remarkably adept and entertaining adaptation, one which provides many thrills
and scares, adds weight to the zombie genre as a whole, and reinforces Brad
Pitt’s tremendous skill as a crowd-pleaser.
Thanks to excellent pacing and direction, both of which are perfectly
enhanced by a mesmerizing score, the story unfolds with considerable energy and
cleverly injects a pulse-pounding zombie attack or nerve-wracking plane crash
whenever a viewer is tempted to think that the havoc is starting to
calm…audience members were jumping in their seats and screaming in surprise
quite often. And as I hinted at in the
“Short and Sweet” review, World War Z
adds an impressive element of realism and weight to an enjoyed but altogether
dismissed element of horror fiction; whether it involves the details of the
zombie virus incubation time or the bimolecular “cure” revealed in the third
act, the fear and subsequent reaction to such an event is detailed so
competently that the notion of a rampaging wave of undead is genuinely
unnerving. The final and pivotal piece
of the equation is Brad Pitt, whose performance is effortlessly competent and
charming, so much so that it is hard to imagine anyone else in Hollywood being
able to single-handedly carry this blockbuster as effectively. Putting it all into perspective, just
consider that, prior to its release, World
War Z had been written-off by many (including myself) as a forthcoming
disaster, and the surprising defiance of those expectations both critically and
commercially is what makes this blockbuster well-worth seeing.
As much as I would have loved to declare World War Z flawless given how much I
enjoyed the film and how many of my previous reservations proved unwarranted,
there is one particular element that is just shaky enough that it easily could
have demolished the entire project. When
I first saw the trailer, I was mortified by the CGI-heavy depictions of
locust-behaving zombies, but now having seen the films, the character designs
behind our relentless antagonists do implement make-up and are just fine…and
let’s not forget that they represent a huge step above what we saw in I Am Legend. No, as it turns out the biggest problem lies
in just how heavily the success of World
War Z relies on the charm and screen presence of Brad Pitt; granted, he is
the central hero and rightfully the main focus, but that doesn’t justify the
presence of a useless and largely forgettable supporting cast…I defy anyone to
name one character besides Pitt after the end credits start to roll. I can forgive the one poor soul who suffers
what is undoubtedly the most undignified death in the history of cinema, but it
is a little hard not to notice just how much the quality of this movie would
have tanked had Pitt not decided to carry the entire cast on his
shoulders. Not that World War Z would’ve been terrible without an A-lister like Pitt
(remember, The American was awful
despite the star power of George Clooney), but no way would this thriller have
been as memorable and enjoyable, and that obvious discrepancy is a weakness
that has to be acknowledged.
Make no mistake, by all normal expectations, World War Z should have been absolutely
crushed in going head-to-head with a family gargantuan like Monster’s University AND being forced to
weather Man of Steel’s second weekend
after a record-breaking debut, but no one could have predicted the abnormally
strong numbers of this late June weekend.
The top three box office earners each broke $40 million and combined for
a total in excess of $190 million, and that kind of shared revenue spread is
largely unprecedented, so no one will scoff at a second place debut when it
stems from over $66 million in ticket sales.
So, I humbly submit that I was wrong in my financial assumption
regarding what has come to represent both the highest start ever for a Brad
Pitt movie (well beyond Mr. and Mrs.
Smith) and definitive proof that audiences don’t give a damn about hiccups
in production development. With positive
word of mouth and receipts easily approaching $400 million in revenue against a
sizable budget of $190 million, there is little surprise that Paramount has
already announced that it will be moving ahead with a sequel…talk about a risky
gamble paying-off in a BIG way. Given
its recent successes on both the small screen and in cinemas across the land,
the zombie genre is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, so whether you
are a hardcore fan of The Walking Dead
or just curious and looking for an entertaining thriller at the theater, you
cannot go wrong with World War Z.
