It cought us by surprise. But the first trailer for Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) is finally here. The original movie came out practically 10 years before this sequel is scheduled to see the light next October, and told the story of a shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie, and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America. The movie was big hit, loved both for the zombie freaks, horror goers and general public waiting for something original, funny and fresh.
It was quite obvious that a sequel would eventually come out. But the filmmakers decided to do it epic. A decade after, we are soon to know what happened to the unvoluntary heroes. In the new movie, Columbus, Tallahasse, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
Having an experience in short films, TV shows and short films, Zombieland (2009) was the debut feature of Ruben Fleischer. After the sucess of the movie, he kept working on TV while he was expanding his cinematographic resume with entertaining but lower impact titles like 30 Minutes or Less (2011) or Gangster Squad (2013), until the big chance landed on his hands with Marvel horror thriller Venom (2018). Action movies writer Dave Callaham joined original screenwriters combo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to pen the sequel.
Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin reprise their roles from the first film. Even Bill Murray reprises his cameo as Bill Murray, with the addition of his pal Dan Aykroyd being Dan Aykroyd. With them, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, and Thomas Middleditch also star.
The filmmakers stated that “Woody Harrelson came up to us after the final cut of the last scene and gave us a hug and said, ‘I’ve never wanted to do a sequel in the previous movies I’ve done until this one’“. Paul Wernick said he planned to have Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin star again with Ruben Fleischer returning as the director and that the writers have “tons of new ideas swimming in their heads“. On July 13, 2018, Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) was officially greenlit by Sony Pictures. Filming took place betwen January 14, 2019, and March 15, 2019. Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures, declared: “This is one of those projects that fans have wanted to see happen for a long time—and no one wanted to see it happen more than Emma [Stone], Woody [Harrelson], Jesse [Eisenberg] and Abigail [Breslin]. These are some of the most in-demand actors, and I think they are making this movie because they love these characters. We are thrilled Ruben [Fleischer] was willing to come back to direct the sequel, as his work on Venom has been truly amazing”.
You can watch the first trailer for Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) here:
