Zombieland (2009): How a TV pilot became a blockbuster movie

MoviesZombiesComedyFlashback
Written By Chris Well

“Who’s Bill Murray?”

We lined up the 13 funniest zombie movies and obviously Zombieland was on the list. A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie, and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Zombieland starred Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, and Bill Murray. The original script for Zombieland from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick started as a spec script for a TV pilot. Fleischer helped them develop the teleplay into a screenplay for a movie. (Some scenes included improvisation from the actors.)

Zombieland hit screens in 2009 and was the highest-grossing zombie movie until the 2013 release of World War Z.

In the video playlist below, you can watch the original trailer, watch a couple of behind-the-scenes videos, and even see the reunited cast rewatch Zombieland’s best scenes 10 years later…

Buy or rent Zombieland here!

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Monster Complex playlist: Zombieland

Find more about ZOMBIELAND online

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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