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Ten years after the first installment and it's finally time to go back to 'Zombieland.' This week, Heat Vision Breakdown looks at the sequel, its new characters and what's next.
Transcript
00:00Hello, friends!
00:0110 years after the first installment,
00:02it's finally time to go back to Zombieland.
00:04Zombieland Double Tap has the potential to launch not only
00:06a sequel, but a possible spin off.
00:08So let's shamble into the possibilities.
00:10Oh, also, there are spoilers ahead,
00:12which should be obvious to anyone using their brain.
00:22All right, first, we need to start with the Bill Murray cameo.
00:24That is how you do a post-credits scene.
00:27Take notes, Woody and Jessie.
00:29Shouldn't we have a league of our own?
00:32After Murray famously died in the first Zombieland, fans wondered how he could reprise his role
00:36in the sequel.
00:37Well, the answer is a flashback to the day the zombie outbreak occurred, where apparently
00:41Murray was promoting Garfield 3 at a press junket that featured real-life journalists
00:45like Josh Horowitz and Grace Randolph.
00:46But not me.
00:47It said real-life journalists.
00:49How dare you!
00:50But did you know that wasn't the original Murray ending?
00:54I did.
00:55You only know that because I told you about my interview with screenwriters Rhett Reese
00:58and Paul Wernick.
00:59Why?
01:00Why?
01:00Every time.
01:01Go away.
01:01Anyway, as I was saying, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were actually hired to write Zombieland
01:052 ten years ago, the week after the first one opened to big success.
01:09The original idea for the follow-up was to have it take place immediately after the first
01:12film concluded and pick up at the amusement park.
01:14However, this is Hollywood, where delays are more common than seeing a cloud or ordering
01:18anything that doesn't have cilantro on it.
01:20It's everywhere.
01:21And the script underwent numerous rewrites over the years.
01:23Aside from Abigail Breslin becoming an adult, the time lapse between the initial writing
01:27of the Zombieland 2 script and the movie finally going into production necessitated one other
01:32big change, Bill Murray's cameo.
01:34Originally, the cameo would have taken place on the first day of the zombie apocalypse at
01:37a golf course.
01:38In it, Murray is being courted by his Ghostbusters co-stars Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie
01:43Hudson, beseeching him to do a third Ghostbusters.
01:45And things would proceed from there, with Murray needing to dispatch everyone in sight as they
01:49become infected.
01:50Sadly, that scene would not work today.
01:52Ramis died in 2014 and Ghostbusters has indeed had a third film, the 2016 reboot, with yet
01:57another installment, Ghostbusters 2020, coming out next year.
02:00The post-credits scene aside, Double Tap also sets the stage for almost anything else
02:04to happen in this world.
02:05The film ends with Emma Stone's Wichita and Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus happily married
02:09after helping save the hippie enclave of Babylon from a zombie apocalypse.
02:13The entire family is there as they speed off in Elvis' Pink Caddy, along with Woody Harrelson's
02:17Tallahassee, Rosario Dawson's Nevada, and Abago Breslin's Little Rock.
02:21Could the next installment see them travel abroad?
02:23To Canada, perhaps?
02:24What's going on in the rest of the world?
02:26Is it possible the gang could take a trip to Europe somehow?
02:28Another intriguing possibility, Zoe Deutsch's Madison has become something of a fan favorite
02:32already, and director Ruben Fleischer has said he'd like to make a spin-off focused on her.
02:36Perhaps she and Berkley could team up and meet a group of zany characters.
02:40Zombieland was never intended to be a franchise, but ended up launching multiple careers.
02:43The writers went on to Penn Deadpool and basically every other movie Ryan Reynolds has coming
02:47up, Fleischer went on to direct Venom, Woody Harrelson was part of the McConaissance, Jesse
02:51Eisenberg became Mark Zuckerberg, Emma Stone won an Oscar...not really sure that has anything
02:57to do with Zombieland.
02:58Point is, small films with tight scripts and strong performances can lead to big things,
03:02and after ten years, Zombieland still endures.
03:04Why not take advantage of that and branch the franchise out into more projects?
03:07So what do you think Bill Murray's cameo should be like in the third film?
03:10If there is one, let us know in the comments right down there, and don't forget to subscribe
03:14for more Heat Vision Breakdown.
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