Ruben Fleischer Says ‘Zombieland 3’ Talks Underway — and Reveals He Turned Down ‘Mission: Impossible 4’

Ruben Fleischer’s “Zombieland” was not really on the mainstream radar by the time it was released in the fall of 2009, but the horror-comedy road movie was a sleeper hit that year, grossing $102M worldwide off a scant $24M budget.

The film’s reputation was then significantly raised on home video, where it gained a cultish fanbase. This success also contributed to launching the careers of its two young leads (Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg) and paving the way for a very welcome renaissance of Woody Harrelson’s career.

“Zombieland 2: Double Tap” was released 10 years later with the same cast, writing team, and director (Ruben Fleischer). The sequel made more money ($125M) but earned inferior reviews — clearly not a red flag strong enough to prevent a third film.

Fleischer tells Deadline that talks are underway for another instalment, which he hopes to release in 2029:

I’m hoping that we’ll do a Zombieland 3 in 2029. We’re starting to talk about that because [the first] one was 2009, and then we did the second one in 2019, and we kind of left that one all saying, “We’ll see you in 10 years.” That’s coming up now, and so we’re starting to figure that out, so I’m hoping that’ll come together. Then, I’ve got a few things that are raring to go, so we’ll see which one comes first.

Quite honestly, the first “Zombieland” remains Fleischer’s best film, which isn’t necessarily a hard thing to achieve when the rest of your filmography is filled with titles such as “Gangster Squad,” “Venom,” “Uncharted,” and “Now You See Me Now You Don’t.”

It’s always a risky proposition making a sequel to a cult movie. The whole point of cult success is that it feels like a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. If the sequel doesn’t succeed, the result runs the risk of knocking down the integrity of the original movie. A good example: after years of desperately pining for a sequel to “Anchorman,” are we happy that “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” actually exists?

In that same interview, Fleischer also revealed a career crossroads that came right after the success of “Zombieland,” when Hollywood suddenly began courting him for major projects — including “Mission: Impossible.” He recalled being flown into meetings with Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams.

Ultimately, Fleischer walked away, deciding he wasn’t ready for a franchise of that scale, and instead directed “30 Minutes or Less.” The ‘Mission: Impossible’ installment he declined became Brad Bird’s ‘Ghost Protocol,’ the film that revitalized the series and launched its modern, stunt-driven era — a choice that, in retrospect, had the franchise dodging a bullet with Fleischer pulling out.