They said it couldn't be done. Folks thought that World War Z could never be adapted into a Hollywood motion picture that captured the thrills and scares of Max Brooks' best selling novel of post-apocalyptic remembrance. Depending on who you are, that claim could be debated; however what can't be debated is the fact that the 2013 film was an absolute hit! So, naturally, a sequel was put into development, and World War Z 2 went from pipe dream to ongoing concern in that moment.

With a release date that's looming in the summer 2017 season, it seems like a good time to sift through the facts that we know, as well as speculate on the facts we don't have just yet. Throughout the next couple of pages, we'll take a look at everything on the table, and piece together what we feel to be the future of World War Z 2. Keep in mind, this feature is based off of the knowledge we have at the current moment, and will be refreshed as major developments occur. So bookmark this page for future reference, as this is our guide to What We Know So Far about World War Z 2.

More than likely, Paramount is going to want to keep the rating to World War Z 2 in the same ballpark as World War Z. This means we're expecting a solid PG-13 rating to be bestowed upon this second round of zombie carnage, with the possibility for an "unrated cut" heading to Blu-ray after the film hits home video. With the previous film grossing $590 million worldwide, during the summer of 2013, the PG-13 rating didn't hurt the film's chances at the box office, despite the controversy among horror fans. However, considering the controversy that the previous PG-13 outing had raised with fans of the source material, as well as fans of zombie flicks altogether, Paramount could revise their plans and bump the film up to an R rating.

For a while now, World War Z 2 has been penciled in for a June 9, 2017 release date. Should this date hold, it'll put the film in direct competition with Universal's reboot of The Mummy, with Tom Cruise in the starring role. Looking at the weeks flanking this release date, Wonder Woman opens the week before and both Cars 3 and Kingsman: The Golden Circle will be opening the week after that slot. Between the intense competition, as well as the fact that production has yet to begin and there has been no director hired to shepherd the film into production, we wouldn't be surprised if the release date was bumped up to a 2018 - 2019 release date. In the meantime, June 9, 2017 is the official date set for World War Z 2's release.

With World War Z director Marc Forster deciding not to direct the sequel to his summer hit, the search was on for a directing candidate who could step in. The first, and up until recently only, candidate was The Orphanage director J.A. Bayona, who entered the ring a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, after around 2 years or so of development, Bayona dropped out of the project earlier this year, as not only did his duties on A Monster Calls demand his attention, but he also picked up another gig in the meantime. Then again, if we were given the opportunity to direct Jurassic World 2, we'd have to jump at that chance as well.

The last we'd heard about the possible replacement for J.A. Bayona's now vacant director's chair was that David Fincher, out of all people, was possibly circling the post himself. While things are still only in the "early talks" phases, and Fincher didn't sound overly enthusiastic about the possibility, there still has been no official denial or rejection of World War Z 2's directing duties by David Fincher, or anyone in his camp.