God hears us and Paramount cancels Fincher's WWZ sequel

Variety first reported last summer that Pitt had been courting Fincher to direct the pic and that the director was intrigued by the idea. The plans had to be put on hold while Pitt dealt with his divorce from Angelina Jolie, and were put into question once the studio, then headed by Brad Grey, took the film off the calendar to consider whether or not to move forward with the tentpole.

Gianopulos has since taken over the studio reins and over the past month, has been weighing which projects to pursue and let go from the previous regime’s slate.

If the deal is finalized as expected, it would mark a big milestone in the long development process that started last summer. Pitt met with a handful of directors but nothing materialized until he decided to reach out to Fincher to try and woo him for another collaboration.


Sources say that Fincher, who is weary of sequels, having aired his displeasure during his time on “Alien 3,” has always been open to listening to Pitt when the actor reaches out. The duo nearly collaborated on a reboot of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” for Disney a few years ago, but that project never move forward.