What is Brad Pitt’s most successful film?
Brad Pitt has risen to the top of the film industry not only because of his acting abilities but also because of his commercial appeal. Time and time again, Pitt has participated in unconventional projects, but they have managed to garner widespread critical acclaim as well as unprecedented success at the box office.
Be it in innovative cinematic gems such as Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds or critically panned projects like Troy, producers often view Pitt’s involvement as guaranteed commercial success. However, Pitt’s most successful outing at the box office is not one that is particularly appreciated by fans or critics.
The 2013 zombie horror film World War Z remains the highest-grossing film of Brad Pitt’s career, earning a worldwide gross of $540.5 million. It narrowly edges out other successful ventures, such as Ocean’s Eleven and Mr. And Mrs. Smith, emerging as the biggest splash Pitt has ever made at the box office.
During a conversation with USA Today, Pitt referred to World War Z as “the biggest film I’ve done, period.” While talking about the negative coverage of the production in the press, the actor responded: “It’s pretty damn good, isn’t it? No one knows what they’re talking about.”
According to Pitt, the first cut of World War Z was depressing: “It was just atrocious. You see some first cuts, and you go, ‘Oh, it’s everything you want it to be and more.’ It’s working on certain levels that you didn’t even understand when you were shooting it. Like, I had this feeling seeing Moneyball. And here was the exact opposite.”
Pitt plays the role of Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator who takes on the responsibility of finding a cure for a zombie pandemic. Like always, Pitt received critical acclaim for his dedicated performance, but World War Z was widely disliked due to its terrible CGI and significant deviations from the novel it was based on.
Despite all the criticisms, Pitt remained positive about the final product: “We’re dealing with a genre that’s been pretty well mined and done really well. We’re not the gore of The Walking Dead. Ours operates more of as a thriller. Ours is really intense.”
