Just like the macabre monsters they showcase, living dead films don't die easily in film purgatory. In the wake of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' recent reanimation, the long-dormant sequel to Zombieland has awakened, risen, and is now lumbering through the early stages of development, as Sony Pictures has hired a writer to pen the sequel, and a familiar face is set to return to the director's chair.

Currently referred to as Zombieland 2, the follow-up to 2009's endearing zom-com is reported by Deadline to be heating up after a long stint on the back burner. Sony recently brought in Dave Callaham to pen the picture and Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer is set to oversee the script's creation and return at the helm, though an official deal for the director's chair has yet to be made. Callaham received a story credit for this year's Godzilla film and also co-wrote 2010's The Expendables. More recently, Callaham did re-writing duties for Marvel's Ant-Man and penned the script for a dark comedy called Jackpot that reportedly set him up to be a perfect candidate to craft the script for Zombieland 2.

News on the Zombieland front has been relatively quiet since Amazon passed on the pilot for Zombieland: The Series last May. The original movie raked in $100 million worldwide when it hit theaters in 2009. There's no word if any of the first film's core cast—Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin—will return for the sequel. Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick penned the script for the upcoming Deadpool movie, but they have not been officially attached to Zombieland 2. We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further announcements.

Source: Deadline
  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.