Director Juan Antonia Bayona leaves ‘World War Z’ sequel

The sequel to World War Z, the highest-grossing movie of Brad Pitt’s career, is now in serious trouble. “He is a wonderful director and we hope to work with him soon”, Skydance, which is co-financing WWZ2 with Paramount, told Deadline.

Juan Antonio Bayona first became known to wider audiences in 2007 with the thriller “The Orphanage”, produced by Guillermo del Toro. The script is being written by Denis Kelly of Utopia acclaim (if you haven’t watched that yet you really should, it’s simply ace).

The film is due out in the United States on June 9, 2017. The reshoot ballooned the cost of the film to around $200 million.

“World War Z”, which was directed by Marc Foster, earned $540 million at the box office in 2013.

The World War Z sequel is following in the footsteps of its predecessor – and we’re not talking the hordes of flesh-eaters bound to return.

Bayona, whose other credits include the acclaimed “The Impossible” (2012), had signed on to direct the film last month.

Rumour has it the Spanish filmmaker is wanted by Universal Pictures for “Jurassic World 2” – the follow up the 2015 blockbuster which starred Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. He’s now still in production/post-production on A Monster Calls and doesn’t expect to be wrapped up in time to give his full attention to the zombie flick.