‘World War Z’ trailer hits, might disappoint fans of the novel

The first trailer for the mega budget zombie apocalypse movie "World War Z" hit the web Thursday night, and while most moviegoers probably liked what they saw (zombie war), fans of Max Brooks' original novel (on which the film is based) were likely a little let down.

Directed by Marc Forster ("Quantum of Solace") and starring Brad Pitt (who also produced the film), "World War Z" tells the story of Gerry Lane, a United Nations employee working to stop a zombie pandemic that threatens humanity with extinction. For fans of both the zombie and disaster movie genres, "World War Z" looks like it's the perfect storm: a $125 million-plus film that combines the two genres into a big budget Hollywood spectacle about the zombie apocalypse. Given the popularity of zombie properties like the AMC TV series "The Walking Dead" and innumerable video games featuring the undead, it's probably safe to say that "World War Z" will be a box office draw when it is released next summer.

See also: 'Skyfall' review: More than just a great Bond film

In a general sense, "World War Z" looks to be horrifyingly faithful to the source material. The fleeting shots of cities in ruins and military forces desperately fighting off undulating and seemingly unending waves of the undead should be enough to sell fans of the novel on the movie. However, the main storyline involving Pitt's character and his family may turn those die-hard Brooks fans off a bit.

The "Zombie Survival Guide" author's 2006 bestseller offered up a document of a fictional zombie pandemic that took place in the not-too-distant future. It was less of a straight narrative and more of a collection of individual accounts from survivors of the "zombie war" from around the world. The book painted a very sweeping, very realistic, and very frightening picture of what the end of the world would look like in the event of an outbreak of the undead.

When news that a "World War Z" movie was happening, many fans of the book probably expected a fairly straightforward adaptation told in the mockumentary style of a film like "District 9." Instead, it looks like Hollywood has decided to go the good ol' "one protagonist" route and focus on the trials and tribulations of Gerry Lane, a character created for the film. That's not to say that the final product won't be as sweeping in scope as the novel — the trailer alone offers glimpses of what appears to be New York City, Israel, India, and a flotilla of survivors at sea (filming of the movie was equally international, shooting on location in Malta, Scotland, Hungary, and elsewhere). As long as fans think about Lane's story as just another unheard of individual account of the zombie war, then they should be able to get over it.

See also: Budweiser, Stolichnaya upset with 'Flight' product placement

After a series of delays that included budget issues, police seizures, rewrites and alleged creative differences, the long-in-production "World War Z" has a lot to live up to. Will it live up to that hype? It's still very hard to tell. But it had better be the globetrotting, zom-pocalyptic extravaganza promised by the book and by this trailer, or else fans are never going to let Hollywood go near another beloved zombie property again.

"World War Z" stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox, and Bryan Cranston. It is scheduled for release on June 21, 2013.