Anmol Ahuja
There seems to be good news accompanied with a word of caution for fans of the first, and in essence, the second Zombieland too, since this is now officially a franchise. Not just the two films, but the accompanying video game, phone game, and a scare zone at Universal Studios, Florida dictate that. However, does that mean that we would be getting to see a sequel in the years to come? That is solely to be determined by the box office performance of the second film.
Reviews for the second film are already in, and it seems to be in somewhat the same ballpark as the first one, with the good news being that the audiences too are favourably comparing it to the first one. Coupled with that, even conservative estimates put the film at a weekend opening figure of about $25 to $30 Million. I predict slow growth for the sequel given the tough competition it would be facing from a major Disney release, ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’, but nothing that wouldn’t allow the film to break even.
With that out-of-the-way, we can begin discussing the actual prospects of a sequel apart from the commercial angle, and the key to delving into that would be looking at how ‘Double Tap’ came to be in the first place. A sequel to the film, though almost always on the charts, and especially for the cast who seemed to be on board even before the release of the first one, lay in development hell for close to seven to eight years before Sony gauged significant interest in the project and officially greenlit it. In fact, back then, Woody Harrelson even stated that of all the films he had done in the past, this was the one he wanted to do the sequel to, most, congratulating the script writers.
In the years that passed between the release of the two films, all of the stars attached, as acknowledged by the director of the two films Ruben Fleischer and the writers, have acquired the status of superstars, and earned at least an Academy Award nod each. While there may be reason to believe that if a third ‘Zombieland’ film is to happen, it may not after all take as long as this one to come to fruition, getting the same cast together in the same capacity is only going to be an ever uphill task from here. The cast however remains universally appreciative and supportive of the idea of a sequel, with Emma Stone stating that she would love to continue doing a ‘Zombieland’ film every ten years. (!)
The next avenue that we are going to examine for the possibilities of a sequel are the mid and post credits scenes for the film, which so to say, is quite lengthy. You can read my detailed explanation of them here, but despite the lengthiness, none of the two scenes actually imply that there might be a sequel after all, since contrary to franchise films or the long-established norm by the MCU, the mid credits scene usually teases what next is to come in a future instalment, while the post credits scene is usually a gag, played out for laughs.
In the case of ‘Zombieland Double Tap’, both the scenes serve that purpose and are terrifically funny, marking the return of Bill Murray to Zombieland in quite an innovative sense, kicking some Zombie ass. Other than how cool the scene is over all, it still doesn’t necessarily tease where the franchise would be going from here on. The ending too doesn’t point to any such direction, ending on roughly the same note as the first part, with the unlikely group of misfits finding family in each other. But then again, a second one did happen, even if ten years later.
All said and done, there may not be any clear indication as to whether a sequel will happen or not, despite considering that mostly everybody, including the writers, director and the stars, are all in for a number of sequels. It then is up to Sony, and indirectly on commercial returns, who will ultimately decide the fate of this franchise.
Read More: Zombieland Double Tap, Explained
