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Tim Briody: I've been doing a Mugatu impression with my repeated "zombies, they're so hot right now!" comment. Look at the ratings for The Walking Dead; look at the buzz recently released video game The Last of Us is getting. Even a couple months ago Warm Bodies performed above expectations. World War Z opened on the high end of expectations, but I'm not all that surprised. It's still a summer tentpole. True, the marketing wasn't that great until recently, but I know plenty of people interested in World War Z and very few of them had any idea it was a book. And they all watch The Walking Dead.

Max Braden: I think you have to look at World War Z as something beyond just a "normal" zombie movie like Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later or even Resident Evil. The international scope of the story puts it more in the realm of disaster movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon or The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. I think the closest comparison is actually I Am Legend, which some would try to argue is a vampire movie, not a zombie movie, but really if you've seen one infectious undead horde, you've seen them all. I Am Legend opened at $77 million over a three-day weekend ten days before Christmas in 2007 and earned $255 million domestically. Holiday movies have their own special legs, but I could see World War Z matching that total number. I think the major draw is the zombies, but seeing Brad Pitt in more of an action role again (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Troy) rather than quiet talking (Moneyball and most of his filmography) is probably a big draw for audiences as well. Plus the buzz. I was not really impressed by the turbo gazelle zombies in the trailer, but the movie is harrowing without being gruesome. That may not be what Dawn of the Dead fans want from a zombie movie, but the PG-13 rating opens the movie up to a wider audience. We're also getting World War Z soon after the surprising success of The Purge, so that "coming-to-get-me" genre seems to be hot right now.

David Mumpower: I think Tim touches upon an aspect of World War Z that I consider relevant. He mentioned the strong performance of Warm Bodies, a movie that had quietly become the second biggest zombie movie of all time. That title earned $66.4 million. The reigning champion had been Zombieland, which grossed $75.6 million. After five days in release (!), World War Z has already become the most popular zombie movie ever made with $82.1 million (unless you agree with Max that I Am Legend is a zombie flick as well). While I understand Matthew's point about the expectations for World War Z being too low, the fact that the zombie genre has never seen such a performance puts the results in the proper light. World War Z has managed something that exceeds any reasonable expectation for the genre.

I absolutely agree that the insider stuff became too much of a focus. There were also some gloomy social media comments after the Super Bowl trailer failed to inspire. What happened in recent days is that mainstream movie goers were enticed by a movie with a phenomenal money shot. The heaping mass of zombies trying to climb over an Israeli wall is breathtaking. There has been so much wasted time with the 3D and IMAX aspects of movie-making that I feel like the key elements of the process are sometimes ignored. What matters is whether an idea works. That particular CGI sequence is exhilarating. And the following shot of the plane being ripped apart is almost as good. The fact that World War Z promised two scenes that spectacular in the trailer was more than enough to overcome the previous negative buzz.

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