Wednesday was a big day for sequels. (Then again, what day isnt?)
M. Night Shyamalan announced he will make a film that connects Split and Unbreakable, the fourth Chronicles of Narnia installment is moving forward with Jumanji and Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston, and World War Z will receive the follow-up that Paramount Pictures had recently shelved .
The Shyamalan news comes as no surprise, given the Split twist ending that reintroduces David Dunn, Bruce Willis character from Unbreakable. David appears as a diner patron who says the terrorist bearing similarities to James McAvoys murderous psychopath is Mr. Glass, whom Samuel L. Jackson played in the 2000 thriller.
Willis hinted that Shyamalan had a trilogy in mind back when Unbreakable first opened. The director denied it at the time, but the interviews he gave when Split came out in January made it clear he had a continuation in mind.
Shyamalan announced the news in a series of tweets on Wednesday, saying Willis and Jackson will reprise their Unbreakable roles and McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy will resurrect their Split parts. It was always my dream to have both films collide in this third film, he wrote .
The news about The Chronicles of Narnia and World War Z is more of a surprise.
With Narnia, rights to C.S. Lewis novels held by the franchises initial production company expired in 2010, leaving the authors estate to cut a deal with a new studio. With World War Z, Paramount pulled the planned sequel from its release schedule in February.
The next Chronicles of Narnia installment is The Silver Chair, in which Aslan sends two children to find King Caspians kidnapped son. Joe Johnston, who has experience with franchise sequels via Jurassic Park III, has agreed to direct the movie, according to Variety . While the other three Narnia installments have revolved around the Pevensie children, this one focuses on their cousin, Eustace Scrubb. Theres no word on casting yet.
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The World War Z sequel has faced a tougher road than Silver Chair and Glass. The 2013 original, a Brad Pitt zombie horror-fest based on Max Brooks novel of the same name, grossed an impressive $540 million worldwide , but the project was riddled with production woes . The budget ballooned to nearly $200 million, the production faced setbacks and release delays, and Pitt reportedly clashed with director Marc Forster .
When J.A. Bayona was attached to direct, the next World War Z flick was slated for June 2017. Then he dropped out to make next years Jurassic World follow-up instead, and Paramount went months without a replacement. In February, still lacking a new director, Paramount delayed the movie until 2018 or 2019 . Now, A-list auteur David Fincher has signed on, according to Variety . Itll be Finchers first movie since Gone Girl in 2014.
Variety reported last summer that Pitt was wooing other directors for the sequel. He specifically targeted Fincher, with whom he worked on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fight Club and Se7en. Apparently they are currently inking a deal, with production likely to begin in early 2018.
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HuffPost reached out to Paramount reps to confirm Finchers involvement but did not immediately hear back. World War Z 2 will mark the Oscar nominees first sequel since 1992s Alien 3, which Fincher has essentially disowned. No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me, he told The Guardian in 2009 .
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