Zombieland: Double Tap took an entire decade to make it to the big screen after the release of Zombieland – so it might be a similar wait for major Zombieland 3 updates. The sequel reunited director Ruben Fleischer, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin for another ride through post-apocalyptic America, and left the ending open for the story to continue. The original Zombieland was a modest box office success, grossing $102 million worldwide with a $23 million production budget (via Box Office Mojo), and being warmly received by critics and zombie fans alike.
Ten years (and a failed Zombieland TV pilot) later, Zombieland: Double Tap made more than the first movie at $125 million, but with a higher $48 million production budget (via Box Office Mojo). So, while Sony didn’t fast-track another sequel, the numbers were good enough to warrant making Zombieland 3. A draft for Zombieland 2 was produced almost immediately after the first movie was released, but Fleischer told Entertainment Weekly that it “wasn’t the right kind of follow-up.” This led to the sequel being shelved for years. Could there be a similar decade-long wait for Zombieland 3, or could things start lurching forward a little faster this time around?
The Latest Zombieland 3 News
The latest Zombieland 3 news comes from a new member of the cast that joined in the sequel. Zoey Deutch played a new character named Madison in the sequel and was mostly known as the “dumb blonde (draped in pink)” in the movie. She spent much of the zombie apocalypse hiding in a store’s freezer. However, she joined the group and survived to fight another day by the time the movie ended. In a recent interview, Deutch said that she would love to return to the franchise in the Zombieland 3 cast, if that movie happens.
“I would love to put the ‘Von Deutch’ attire back on, for lack of a better pun. That experience was so fun, and I’ve been begging Ruben [Fleischer] to put me in a movie of his again. But yeah, I would love to play Madison again. She’s such a character.”
Zombieland 3 Release Date
Sony never announced any Zombieland 3 updates, so there isn’t anything in the works right now. However, there has been talk from the cast and director about when fans might be seeing the third movie in the series. It was Emma Stone who came up with the idea to have a new sequel every 10 years, and even the oldest member of the cast. Woody Harrelson, agreed. Director Ruben Fleischer revealed what Emma said, and he agreed that it might be cool to make a new Zombieland movie every ten years from here out.
“Emma said, she thought it would be fun if we did one of these every 10 years. Knowing that Woody’s just the healthiest guy there is, he’s going to outlive all of us, and so we can just keep doing them every 10 years, ‘til the end of time.'”
Zombieland 3 Cast
If there is a Zombieland 3 cast, the main characters from the first two movies would likely be back. Jesse Eisenberg plays Columbus, a former college student who set up a batch of rules to live by to survive the zombie apocalypse. One of these rules was the “Double Tap,” which gave the sequel its name – meaning to make sure to shoot any zombie a second time to make sure it is not getting back up. Also returning would be Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee, a rough-around-the-edges Twinkies lover who partnered with Columbus in the first movie.
Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin play sisters Wichita and Little Rock, two survivors that Tallahassee and Columbus met in the first movie. While they ran a scam that took all the guys’ supplies and left them to die, they all eventually reconnected and decided it was safer to stay and fight together than to remain apart. Finally, a fifth member of the main cast that could return for the Zombieland 3 cast is Rosario Dawson as Nevada. Zombieland: Double Tap ended with the five leaving Graceland in Elvis’s car, heading to whatever the future might hold.
Zombieland 3 Story Details
10 years of surviving in Zombieland have made Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock pretty adept at surviving, and after a massive final zombie fight, they all make it out alive – this time with Rosario Dawson’s Nevada as part of the group as well. Zombieland: Double Tap ends with them all driving off into the sunset in Elvis Presley’s car, leaving the future completely open for more wild, zombie-fuelled adventures. To make matters even more interesting, Double Tap introduced a new breed of super-zombies that have evolved to be stronger and smarter than the rest, so over time the zombies could continue to evolve in interesting ways.
Asked by MovieWeb if he had anything in mind for Zombieland 3 updates, Fleischer noted that the first two movies were structurally similar and that it would be “exciting” to explore some other parts of the world. He joked that rather than shooting another film in chilly Atlanta, Zombieland 3 could take place somewhere with slightly nicer weather:
“Let’s imagine the movie beginning with them all getting off a boat and landing someplace and seeing what that’s like. You know, just not shooting me in Atlanta again. Hawaii sounds nice this time of year… nights in February in Atlanta are really cold. I wouldn’t be made to see what’s going on in Turks and Caicos. What their zombie virus was.”
Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are also a fan of this idea. Speaking to TheWrap, Wernick noted that it was Woody Harrelson who, during the cold Atlanta shoot, first suggested making the next movie on an island. The writers joked that the cure for the zombie virus could be Fiji water so that they could have an excuse to go to Fiji and also build the movie around product placement. That could definitely make Zombieland 3 different from the two movies that came before.
