Pitt's production company, Plan B, beat out DiCaprio's Appian Way label in a bidding war for the film rights to Max Brooks' zombie-powered World War Z, the Hollywood Reporter said Thursday.
The financial tug-of-war, fronted by Paramount Pictures (repping Plan B) and Warner Bros. (sparring for Appian), lasted until late Tuesday night and carried over into Wednesday, with the story rights eventually going to Pitt's side for a six-figure amount. The deal will be upped to seven figures if cameras actually end up rolling.
Brooks' World War Z, set to hit shelves this fall, is set 10 years after our planet has been apocalyptically ravaged by zombies and the story of our zombie-tainted future is told from the perspective of different people living all over the globe. In Brooks' world, not enough people apparently read his 2003 book, Zombie Survival Guide, which explained what to do to survive a zombie takeover.
There are reportedly no hard feelings between Plan B and Appian Way over World War Z, which is fortunate considering DiCaprio is doing Pitt's camp a good turn by starring in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong gangster thriller Infernal Affairs. Plan B is sharing producing duties with Scorsese and Paramount honcho Brad Grey.
DiCaprio, whose $25 million standard asking price helped him land on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 Power List at number 67, plays an undercover Boston cop whose longtime infiltration of the organized crime scene is starting to mess with his head. Matt Damon also stars, as a mobster who joins the police force to gain an unlawful edge on the coppers.
Pitt dropped from 11th to 20th on the Forbes list, which ranks celebs based on their buzz factor and the salaries they earn, despite the fact that he still commands top dollar and pretty much spent the past year defining the word "buzz-worthy," along with paramour Angelina Jolie.
The proud parents recently touched down in Los Angeles after spending almost two months hunkered down in Namibia awaiting the birth of their first biological child together. Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt greeted the world May 27.
Pitt will film Ocean's Thirteen this summer with Damon, George Clooney and most of the rest of the original Ocean's Eleven gang.
DiCaprio has been in South Africa and Mozambique filming the action-adventure thriller The Blood Diamond. Despite suffering a minor leg injury in the line of duty (running during an action sequence), DiCaprio was back on the set the next day and the Edward Zwick-directed project stayed on schedule.