Oh boy oh boy. Ace zombie novel World War Z has been in development for a while now, with a previous version of its script written by Babylon 5 and Changeling's J. Michael Straczynski. But now Matthew Michael Carnahan has signed on to do a new draft of the script for the zombie apocalypse novel, signalling that someone, somewhere is very serious about making this film happen.
Carnahan, brother of director Joe, is so-hot-right-now, after writing Lions for Lambs (not a big hit, but not the script's fault), The Kingdom and State of Play. He's also got an adaptation of James Ellroy's White Jazz in development, giving him further adapting practice.
World War Z's an episodic tale about a zombie plague that spreads across the world, how people from various countries survive and how the fight back against the grey menace begins. Reportedly the first draft of the script included very little of the material from the book, crafting a more conventional story from the threads there. Who knows whether Carnahan will change that?
Quantum of Solace's Marc Forster is set to direct the film, but there's no word on a release date yet - don't expect this before 2011 at this rate. But as we've written before, we'll be at this one with bells on.