World War Z (film)

[Wyldwraith]

Gotta agree with the folks here, The Battle of Yonkers is the single-most likely setpiece for this movie to gel around....and it simply cannot be done any justice at PG-13, anymore than Saving Private Ryan could be done at PG-13. Ie: Saving Private Ryan: MPAA Rating: R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war. This makes it not about any one particular feature we look for in quality zombie flicks....no "intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war" = No Movie. Do you REALLY want to watch an Interview With a Vampire-style WWZ...with invisible narration overseeing any action, and numerous scenes of an interviewer walking into a high-pathos environment to speak with a survivor for their story? Jeez, just imagine them putting the following on screen: Interviewer walks into a posh, upper-class-type hospice/medical facility, and is shown in to meet the dying Astronaut who chose to remain on the International Space Station to keep stuff running. Astronaut's body is wasted away by years of mineral-leeching collapse of his skeletal structure and comprehensive muscle atrophy from YEARS spent in micro-gravity. Different cause, but he'd look about as bad as Tom Hanks at the end of Philadelphia once you factor in the end-stage cancer the ex-astronaut is suffering from due to prolonged radiation exposure. The entire scene would be profoundly depressing, and when they cut away to showing him on the I.S.S years earlier, it'll basically look like not much more than news clips of video of astronauts on board a shuttle or the I.S.S....a lot of floating around and looking solemnly committed. Or...arguably one of the most emotionally compelling (and horrifying) accounts in the book. The South African Plan that involved gathering together a quarter-million civilians into a huge refugee camp, and then abandoning them to be devoured en masse, so as to distract the zombie horde(s) away from the people deemed "worthy" of being evacuated to safety. There's just NO WAY IN HELL they can put anything that does the slightest bit of justice to the terror, feelings of betrayal, and soul-crushing sense of despair experienced by those abandoned to a horrific fate as waves of zombies MILES DEEP close in on the now-undefended refugee camp from all sides. The situation would be perfect for a pan back and above to show the approaching tide of undead from altitude, and then zooming back in and jumping from side to side of the camp as the desperate survivors futilely struggle to hold back the undead tide, with as much success as someone with a ladle and 50-gallon drum trying to stem the actual tide. Such a scenario would be where you'd expect to see uncounted numbers of humans being pulled down and torn apart by a cresting wave of grasping hands and tearing gore-stained mouths. That's just one example beyond the epic Battle of Yonkers people tend to think of first. Or how about when humanity begins to turn the tide and starts their eastward push from the secured territories west of the Rockies? The re-trained soldiers with their huge mobile supply depots being positioned in a square formation as a massive horde is lured to them and they fire hundreds of thousands of headshots to the machine-like beat of the metronome used to retrain them to effectively gun down countless numbers of the undead in synchronization with their fellow soldiers. The result of that battle had a four-walled box of terminated zombie corpses so high and so deep they had to use tanks to push open holes in the walls of corpses surrounding the formation of soldiers on all sides to a height twice that of the soldiers themselves? How do you visually demonstrate humanity's having adapted its tactics and strategy to begin driving back the undead threat, and the resounding triumph of the military's first major engagement of the eastward push after the mass re-training of the soldiers if you can't show the human combatants winning out over the zombie horde by being just as methodical and relentlessly automaton-like as the zombies themselves, and as a result slaughtering the tens of thousands of zombies that tried to overwhelm them? That (for one scene) certainly isn't a matter of gore covering up for a story's weakness/deficiency. The gore inherent in that scene is an absolutely CRITICAL element to visually articulating just how in Hell an Infantry force stood their ground and triumphed over all undead comers. Oh sure, they could take the lame way out and show the soldiers assembling in formation, then pan away from the actual battle as the invisible narrator verbally explains the strategy and preparations undertaken for this first critical engagement where the tide finally began to turn and the living began building up the momentum they would so desperately need for mass-slaughter after mass-slaughter of hordes from the Rockies to the Atlantic.... But it would be a sterile, empty narration...devoid of ALL the nuance that demonstrates in such comprehensive detail just what made THIS pitched battle turn out so vastly different from Yonkers for example. I mean, if we wanted to hear about it, we'd go back to our copies of WWZ on tape. The whole draw of WWZ-as-movie is being able to SEE these epic events of a global zombie infestation, far beyond the scope of the most ambitious zombie movies to date. So yea, probably nothing all of you weren't already thinking, but that's my take on why WWZ as PG-13 would be a flop only exceeded by the likes of Waterworld, aka Fishtar.

[bassman]

While it's certainly possible, I doubt they would be aiming for a pg13 release. My reason for doubting the rumor is the recent success of R rated zombie films. They've all been very successful, so I think the studio would see it as profitable regardless of the R rating. Not to mention The Walking Dead being a huge property right now. When you break it down, the show was the tv equivalent of an R rating.

[AcesandEights]

Stuff...lots of GOOD stuff. Jeez, Wyld...make a couple great points, why don't you. I think you pretty much crystallize the best arguments of how a PG-13 approach is likely to undercut the story. Well said!

[DEAD BEAT]

last i recall, they did purchase the rights...surely if mr. pitt believes in the project enough, he'd be more willing to invest a bit more of his fortune to see it take off.... oh wait, breaking news: angelina holie wants to adopt yet another foreign baby and lavish it with ridiculous amounts of designer clothing and gifts....nevermind.... Lmao!

[Neil]

Finance talk - http://www.deadline.com/2011/03/worl...c-infestation/

[shootemindehead]

Ha ha ha .....FFS PG 13? A zombie film without gore is like a dog with a dry nose. If they aren't going to stick in any eating, then please...don't bother.

[MinionZombie]

As I said earlier in this thread, if they absolutely must pursue this goddamn PG-13 nonsense, then they must also shoot R-rated alternative versions of scenes to put out the proper version of the movie ... indeed it should be a dual-release (kind of like they did with Bruno, where there was a 15 version and an 18 version here in the UK). I mean, just the basics of dealing with zombies, how on earth can you do it properly at PG-13?! You Americans need a 15 certificate like us Brits have - Shaun of the Dead was a 15, and that had a dude torn to shreds in it ... nevermind this PG-13 bullshit (meanwhile we've got 12A).

[shootemindehead]

15's is even shite. 18's or feck off. There Paramount. It's on the table! And you're correct MZ, it's a genre that deals with rotting dead corpses eating paople. The basic concept screams gore. At least the Italians got that bit right. PG f*cking 13....jesus christ!

[Neil]

pg f*cking 13....jesus christ! lol!!!

[Tom Price]

Too much screenplay playing around,new re-write in AUG 2010 if it does come to fruition will bear no resemblance to what you know.

[zomtom]

With the popularity of The Walking Dead, it doesn't make any sense this movie should be having any problems. And what's this crap about a PG rating? Look at all of the gore they're showing on AMC!!!! If I were the "powers that be", I would strike while the griddle is hot, and it's because of the Walking Dead. Give them all of the money they want and don't be afraid to show some damned blood.

[Ghost Of War]

With the popularity of The Walking Dead, it doesn't make any sense this movie should be having any problems. And what's this crap about a PG rating? Look at all of the gore they're showing on AMC!!!! If I were the "powers that be", I would strike while the griddle is hot, and it's because of the Walking Dead. Give them all of the money they want and don't be afraid to show some damned blood. My thoughts exactly. I would have thought they'd be itching to get WWZ made properly

[Sammich]

Well after the announcement that Straczynski's screenplay was being dumped, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the movie was going to be turned into something dumbed down barely resembling the book. I would guess that Justin Bieber (after finishing Tron 3 as Ed Dillinger III) will be cast as the main character who leads a group of teenagers to fight against a horde of running and jumping brain eating zombies. Supported by a cast of young and upcoming stars this will be touted as the Breakfast Club of this generation.

[Neil]

Well after the announcement that Straczynski's screenplay was being dumped, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the movie was going to be turned into something dumbed down barely resembling the book. I would guess that Justin Bieber (after finishing Tron 3 as Ed Dillinger III) will be cast as the main character who leads a group of teenagers to fight against a horde of running and jumping brain eating zombies. Supported by a cast of young and upcoming stars this will be touted as the Breakfast Club of this generation. ...all in tight white t-shirts!

[blind2d]

No way. Electric blue t-shirts are the future.