Paramount To Release WORLD WAR Z On DECEMBER 21, 2012

PRODUCTION IS UNDERWAY ON THE BRAD PITT STARRER,
WITH MARC FORSTER DIRECTING

London, England (August 2011) – Paramount Pictures announced that it has set a release date of December 21^st, 2012 for World War Z starring Academy Award-nominee Brad Pitt, with Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) directing. The geo-political thriller from Paramount and Skydance Productions, in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films, is a Plan B Entertainment/Apparatus Productions production that is shooting in England following initial photography completed in Malta last month. The film will also shoot in Scotland and Hungary.

Produced by Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Colin Wilson, the screenplay is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) from Max Brooks’ best-selling novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Starring Pitt (Moneyball), Mireille Enos (AMC’s “The Killing”), Daniella Kertesz in her feature film debut, James Badge Dale (The Departed) and Matthew Fox (“Lost”), the film’s Executive Producers are Forster, Brad Simpson, David Ellison, Paul Schwake, Dana Goldberg, Graham King and Tim Headington.

The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.  Enos plays Gerry’s wife Karen Lane; Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen.

Behind-the-scenes talent includes two-time Academy AwardÒ-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (The Aviator; JFK), production designer Nigel Phelps (Transformers: Dark of the Moon; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo (Avatar) and Academy AwardÒ-nominated editor Matt Chessè (Finding Neverland).

Pitt and Plan B are repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and CAA.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands.  The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.  PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

About Skydance Productions

Skydance Productions recently entered into a strategic partnership with Paramount Pictures which allows it to co-finance and produce several films per year with the studio.  The first film to be co-produced under the partnership was the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards© and has earned $250 million worldwide.  Upcoming Skydance productions include the Paramount features “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” starring Tom Cruise, set for release on December 16, 2011; “My Mother’s Curse,” starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen, slated for release on March 30, 2012; and the Untitled Jack Ryan project starring Chris Pine, to be directed by Jack Bender (“Lost”) and produced by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mace Neufeld.  Additionally, Skydance is producing “Without Remorse,” written by Shawn Ryan, with Kurtzman/Orci.

About GK Films
Academy Award® winning Producer Graham King launched the independent production company, GK Films, in May 2007 with business partner Tim Headington.  Most recently, GK Films produced the animated tale “Rango,” directed by Gore Verbinski and produced with his Blind Wink Productions for Paramount Pictures, “The Town,” written and directed by Ben Affleck for Warner Bros., and “The Tourist,” directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.

The company is currently in post-production on the 3D adventure film “Hugo,” directed by Martin Scorsese set for release through Paramount Pictures on November 23rd 2011, “In The Land of Blood and Honey”, written and directed by Angelina Jolie which is set to be released December 23rd in the US by FilmDistrict, a subsidiary of GK Films and “The Rum Diary” starring Johnny Depp and produced with Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil and will be released in the US on October 28th, 2011 by FilmDistrict.

GK Films has announced several projects in development including the screen adaptation of “Jersey Boys,” the untitled Freddie Mercury story starring Sacha Baron Cohen and written by Peter Morgan and a reboot of the successful action franchise, “Tomb Raider.”  Infinitum Nihil and Graham King are currently producing “Dark Shadows” for Warner Brothers with Johnny Depp starring and Tim Burton directing.

Previous GK Films releases include “Edge of Darkness,” and the three-time Academy Award® nominated “The Young Victoria.”

GK Films, in partnership with Peter Schlessel, formed FilmDistrict, a multi-faceted studio that encompasses acquisitions, distribution and financing on wide release commercial pictures.  The company will theatrically distribute several films per year.
GK Films and GK-tv can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.gk-films.com