Is Brad Pitt's $400m World War Z movie set to become the most expensive flop of all time?

The budget for the zombie movie ballooned from original $170 million

'Conflict' between director Marc Forster and Brad Pitt blamed for slowing down production

$200 million spent on a complete re-write and re-shoot of final act



Inexperienced creative team blamed for huge expansion of budget costs

Brad Pitt's zombie action flick has been mired by negative publicity concerning rewrites, re-shoots and an inexperienced creative team that has caused the film's budget to increase from $170million to a reported $400million.

Based upon Max Brooks's science fiction novel of the same name, the film now has the biggest budget ever recorded.

And with the film opening in cinemas next month, could World War Z be the most expensive flop in cinematic history?

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Re-shoots: Brad Pitt's production company had to pay $200 million to re-film the final act because no one liked the ending

Bad times: Brad Pitt's World War Z has reached a $400 million budget, making it the most expensive film in cinematic history

Commentators have cited a number of the reasons for the poor predictions of the film's box office success.



Help: Lost and Star Trek writer Damon Lindelof was brought in to help steer World War Z in the right direction

Vanity Fair contributor Laura M. Holson blamed poor communication between director Marc Forster and 42-year-old star Pitt whose production company Plan B is bankrolling the project.

She said their differences led to an unclear ending to the story that caused serious delays in filming.

Forster's limited experience of big budget films - previous credits include Quantum Of Solace which earned box office success but was considered a critical failure - was also pointed out as a possible reason for the overrunning of the shoot.

A day of filming was reportedly lost after caterers didn't have enough food to feed 750 extras and 'undocumented bills from a Malta shoot' were found unpaid, also adding to the escalating budget costs.

Scenes for the movie were shot on location in three continents in the cities of Glasgow, Budapest, Malta, New York, and Russia Budapest which will have increased the budget further. The screen rights were secured in 2007, and Changeling writer JM Straczynski's drafted an initial script, reportedly praised by many in the way it redefined the genre. But in the six years since then, the film went through a complete rewrite b y Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom) to make it fit into the action genre more readily.

Vanity Fair say Pitt 's production company Plan B then spent an extra $200 million to re-shoot the film's 40-minute long third act, because 'executives weren't happy with the ending.'

That's when Lost and Star Trek writer Damon Lindelof was brought into help.

Pitt reportedly told Lindelof: ' The thing we really need right now is someone who is not burdened by all the history that this thing is inheriting, who can see what we've got and tell us how to get to where we need to get.'

Inexperience: A creative team unused to working on blockbuster films also contributed to the problems on set and rising budget

Speaking to Vanity Fair Lindelof admitted: 'I didn't think anyone was going to say, 'Let's throw it out and try something else."'

That is precisely what happened, with the producers both at Plan B and Paramount - who bought the option with Pitt for $1 million - agreeing to dump previously shot footage and make way for a complete rewrite of the final act.

Commentators claim the $400million film will struggle at the box office because it is not part of a movie franchise.

Drumming up interest: Brad Pitt speaks to the audience at a special viewing for his film World War Z held at the Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday night in New York City

While Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness benefited from their global fanbase returning to the cinema, World War Z is the first adaption of Max Brooks's zombie novel.

The original book is presented as a series of anecdotal histories detailed by various survivors of the zombie apocalypse from across the world .

The highest grossing zombie movie of all time is Hotel Transylvania securing approximately $148 millon followed by Zombieland with $76 million according to Boxofficemojo.com .

Is it any good? Brad also surprised an audience at a special screening of the flick in New Jersey to check reactions from fans, who filmed him doing so



Film Analyst Phil Contrino of BoxOffice.com, told Business Insider : I think $120 million to $150 million here is a very possible [box office] goal for World War Z.

'It's a kind of movie that people really respond to. I think people are missing the comparison to I Am Legend, another zombie movie that was extremely successful.'

However, if Contrino's estimate about World War Z's box office success proves accurate that would mean a loss of almost $250 million.