Bill Murray is back from the dead in the new red band trailer for Zombieland: Double Tap. Released in 2009, the original Zombieland took advantage of the then-hot zombie wave to deliver a sly satirical comedy set during a plague of the undead. Though the film was largely about zombie thrills and wacky comedy, it also hit home as a surprisingly affecting portrayal of a group of misfits coming together to form an unlikely family unit.
Those misfits of Zombieland have now been absent from movie screens for 10 years, but nevertheless, Sony is bringing them back for a long-awaited follow up adventure amusingly entitled Zombieland: Double Tap. Emma Stone of course heads up the cast as Wichita, with Woody Harrelson back on board as Tallahassee, Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus and Abigail Breslin as Little Rock. The original quartet is joined in the sequel by Zoey Deutch as Madison, Rosario Dawson as Nevada, Luke Wilson as Albuquerque and Thomas Middleditch as Flagstaff. And even though he died in the first movie, Murray is back for another go-around as himself, alongside his SNL/Ghostbusters co-star Dan Aykroyd (also playing himself).
Indeed, Murray makes an appearance in the new red band trailer for Double Tap from Sony Pictures Entertainment, and he's surprisingly joined by Al Roker, who also apparently survived the zombie apocalypse somehow. See the trailer in the space below:
In addition to the seemingly meta tomfoolery featuring Murray and Roker, the trailer also sets up some of the new characters, especially Deutch's Madison who is something of a "valley girl" type. There's also mention of the movie's new, evolved zombies, who offer a bigger threat than the originals (this being a sequel, of course the threat must somehow be bigger). The trailer also has some fun with the long span of time since the original Zombieland, with Wilson at one point chiding Harrelson for using the very "2009 sounding" phrase "nut up or shut up." For even older fans, there's also a Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton joke in a scene where the gang visits the White House and Harrelson finds an old cigar.
Clearly, Zombieland: Double Tap is not out to re-invent the formula this time around, but mostly wants to tap into the fans' love for the first movie (which only came out ten years ago, but already seems to inspire some amount of nostalgia) and the characters, who did legitimately capture people's hearts in the original movie. It remains to be seen if the Zombieland approach still works ten years on, but the trailer certainly makes the movie look like a fun ride packed with amusing characters with some surprises along the way. And if the movie hits, maybe it will even get another sequel in ten more years, as Stone herself has mentioned wanting.
Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment
