Corona | Coming Attractions

The first major scoop just came out of Comic-Con 2010: Brad Pitt has officially attached himself to play the lead role in World War Z, the zombie movie perculating at Paramount Pictures that's based on the novel by Max Brooks. What World War Z does for the zombie genre, The Dark Knight did for the superhero movie genre, and getting one of Hollywood's A-list actors to star as the lead is going to give this film a weight that it didn't have before.

"I can't believe how cool Paramount has been to me and these projects, and how cool Plan B has been," said Brooks to MTV while the author was at the Avatar booth stationed inside San Diego's convention center. Pitt's Plan B production company has been developing the World War Z film since 2007. A draft by J. Michael Straczynski was commissioned which got the attention of Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. Last year the studio hired Matthew Michael Carnahan to do a rewrite and that's been all the news to hear until the news of Pitt's attachment to star in the picture arrived today to Brooks.

"I'm glad they took their time, and are trying to make the best zombie movie they can," added Brooks. "I'm so glad they stayed with the project and so glad they found the right team."

In telling the news about Brad Pitt to Brooks, Paramount also told the writer that they optioned the film rights to his other zombie novels, The Zombie Survival Guide and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.