World War Z surprised everyone by overtaking Man of Steel at the box office this weekend, and now a sequel is being discussed by Paramount and Brad Pitt.

World War Z opened to a very unexpected $111 million worldwide this weekend. The film was reportedly a passion project for Brad Pitt, and World War Z’s studio, Paramount, reported to THR that they will “actively turn to developing a sequel.”

The big budget zombie flick earned a strong $66 million domestically, and pulled in over $50 million in foreign markets despite mixed reviews and reports that the film’s ending had been rewritten fairly recently.

World War Z was originally planned to be a trilogy, but there were reservations after the film ran into problems.

This was mainly due to the fact that the film had major production trouble near the end of the film, which required the last act, and more specifically the ending, to be reworked.

The film was supposed to hit theaters in December 2012, but it was surprisingly pushed back to a mid-June release date, which made the industry expect the film to bomb at theaters.

World War Z had a hefty budget of $190 million, so it’s still quite a long ways off from making a solid profit, but with word of mouth, and Brad Pitt still pulling in a major audience, it’ll be interesting to see if Pitt and Paramount can get a franchise started with World War Z.

Zombies seem to be a key element in entertainment right now, as the AMC TV series The Walking Dead is making huge waves, with 12.4 million viewers tuning in for the season 3 finale. Insiders are curious as to whether this may have something to do with the popularity of World War Z.

Paramount could have probably had an even larger opening weekend if it was able to release the film in April, when The Walking Dead season 3 finale aired.

Brad Pitt not only starred in the film, but his production company, Plan B, produced the film. Marc Forster directed the film, and we imagine he’ll be helming the sequel, which would be released in theaters in late 2014.

It’s been reported that Brad Pitt has been incredibly proud of this film, and when he attended the film’s Moscow premiere, he even hinted at a sequel and revealed that there was loads of material that they could delve into from Max Brooks’ novel, which World War Z is based upon.

For those of you who have seen World War Z, would you be interested in seeing a sequel?