Brad Pitt and David Fincher unite for zombie sequel

Gone Girl director David Fincher is joining actor and producer Brad Pitt in a sequel to the zombie thriller World War Z.

The duo have worked together before in three of the director's movies, including the noir-thriller Seven which brought Fincher to the spotlight.

Now, Variety is reporting Fincher has accepted Pitt's dare to direct a sequel to the 2013 zombie action movie World War Z.

Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have yet to confirm the news, but Variety quotes "knowledgeable sources" confirming Pitt will star and Fincher will direct.

This will be the filmmaker's second try in the sci-fi sequel business, after his Alien 3 was poorly received by critics.

Pitt had reportedly been courting Fincher to direct the project for a while, and the director was intrigued by the idea.

Fincher has not directed a film since Gone Girl, having had his attention turned onto Netflix with the premiere of House of Cards and Mind Hunters.

World War Z, the Marc Foster directed adaptation of a Drew Goddard script, was received with a mixed bag of criticism, but ended up scoring $550m worldwide.

It followed a former United Nations employee who is called back to service after his country is attacked by zombies.

It is yet unclear how the story will progress or if a script has yet been written.

According to The Film Review, around the release of his latest film, Fincher was asked why he would want to adapt a pulpy best-seller like Gone Girl instead of something more auterish.

He responded he would like people to actually see his work.

Production for a World War Z sequel will reportedly begin in the first quarter of 2018.