Although it went on to be a worldwide hit raking in over half-a-billion dollars, World War Z saw a heavy dose of skepticism and internal creative strife during its production.  While the successful box office helped pave the way for a sequel, director Marc Forster will not be involved with the film.  Star Brad Pitt, who produced the film through his Plan B Entertainment company, is moving forward with production on the sequel, although it's still in early planning stages.  There was no explicit reason given for Forster's departure, but perhaps the director did not want a repeat of the behind-the-scenes tribulations he experienced during the first film.  Hit the jump for more.

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In THR's extensive look at the drama and uncertainty leading up to the release of World War Z and how that affected another of Pitt and Plan B's films, 12 Years a Slave, a few lines of text were dedicated to the news that Forster would not be returning to helm the sequel to the apocalyptic genre film.  As for the progress on the sequel, here's what Pitt had to say:

"We are talking about it ... We are going to investigate a script. We have a lot of ideas we will cull from. Nobody is writing just yet, but we are compiling our ideas."

The original film was loosely based on the Max Brooks novel by the same name.  During production, the picture suffered bad press from reports of an over-inflated budget, rewrites, reshoots and the general feeling that the film's producers didn't have a clue what they were doing.  Half-a-billion dollars later, World War Z is now another example of how a film should only be judged on its final version.  An old adage says that laws and sausage are two things you don't want to see being made; movies, especially blockbuster genre films, should be added to the list.