On Thursday, the beloved and surprisingly lucrative undead action comedy Zombieland turns five years old. Released October 2, 2009, the unlikely Woody Harrelson/Jesse Eisenberg buddy film eventually earned $102 million at the box office, so naturally there was plenty of talk about bringing Harrelson, Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin back for a sequel. But by 2011, Eisenberg sounded hesitant about his involvement, questioning the sequel’s “relevance,” while Harrelson told Total Film that he didn’t “feel like a sequels guy.” Then there was last year’s attempt at Zombieland: The TV Series on Amazon Instant Video and, well, we obviously haven’t heard about it since the pilot.
All of a sudden, though, Sony Pictures is hellbent on raising Zombieland 2 from the dead. According to Deadline’s exclusive – that includes one of the worst puns I’ve ever barely noticed – Sony Pictures has hired Dave Callaham (Doom, The Expendables franchise) to write the sequel, while Zombieland’s director, Ruben Fleischer, will return and supervise the writing. It’s unclear why writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick aren’t involved anymore, but it can’t be a good omen for the return of Harrelson and Eisenberg. And, you know, this guy…