Update: Paramount pulls World War Z 2 and Friday the 13th off their schedule

Update: Well, looks like Paramount has had second thoughts about FRIDAY THE 13TH after all. THR is reporting that the reboot has been shut down just six weeks from the start of principal photography. The poor box-office return of RINGS is said to be the reason, with executives believing that the reboot "would have chased the same audience, although others point out the project is on the opposite spectrum of the horror scale." Other sources said that "the production was not ready to go at this date."

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Studios typically set placeholder dates for their big franchise flicks, but sometimes, those movies don't exactly materialize in time. Paramount Pictures have announced that they have pulled two upcoming movies off their schedule, the sequel to Brad Pitt's WORLD WAR Z and the latest FRIDAY THE 13TH reboot.

WORLD WAR Z made a surprising bundle of cash at the box-office several years ago despite the mixed reviews and troubled production, and a sequel was quickly green-lit. However, there have been issues getting WORLD WAR Z 2 off the ground as they can't seem to hold a director. J.A. Bayona (A MONSTERS CALLS) was initially slated to direct the film, but he later dropped out due to scheduling issues. Bayona departed over a year ago and, despite some rumblings that Brad Pitt was hoping to get David Fincher to direct, there's been very little movement on the sequel which was set to be released on June 9, 2017.

Another sequel which Paramount has been trying to get off the ground is FRIDAY THE 13TH, but unlike WORLD WAR Z 2, it seemed that work on that particular film was moving along smoothly for once. Breck Eisner was set to direct from a script from Aaron Guzikowski (PRISONERS) and it was said that production was looking to kick off next month, but the studio has now bumped the sequel/reboot from its October 13, 2017 slot. That's not to say that the film won't still be moving forward, but Deadline suspects that the recent under-performance of RINGS has led to some second thoughts about another horror franchise reboot. Of course that couldn't have anything to do with RINGS being awful, would it?