George A. Romero explains why he didn't like "World War Z" (2013):
"Interviewer: Zombies have surged in popularity again: the 'Dawn of the De@d' remake and 'The Walking De@d'. How do you feel about where it is now?
Romero: Well, it’s just got terribly crowded, hasn’t it? Now you can’t sell a zombie film unless you promise to spend a lot of money. I think it belongs on a smaller, more intimate scale. I certainly don’t think you need 'World War Z' (2013) at all. I know Max Brooks, who wrote the book, didn’t like it at all. I didn’t like it when I first saw it.
Interviewer: Do you feel a degree of ownership? Do you care about how zombies are used in popular culture?
Romero: I don’t think so. I just used to be the only guy and it was my little private cache. I could bring the zombies out whenever I wanted to and do something with them that maybe had something to say. And then all of a sudden it just became another creature.
And basically it’s a first-person shooter now… I think the popularity came from video games, not from films because up until 'Zombieland' (2009) there was no film that grossed more than 100 million bucks. The remake of Dawn did $75 million. Hollywood isn’t going to be particularly interested at that level. And then all of a sudden, I think it was Brad Pitt who went after Z, and he somehow convinced the studio to spend an exorbitant amount – unnecessarily.
Interviewer: And the zombies aren’t loaded with the same sort of political meaning.
Romero: Nothing. I mean I don’t see anything. It’s a disaster movie. They were even carefully avoiding the word. You had to extrapolate it from Z. People who didn’t know the book might figure World War Z means the final world war. They’ve finally got to the letter Z! Even in the advertising, they never used the world zombies; they never showed a shot that looked like zombies. They look like army ants, you know?
Interviewer: Are you keen to keep up to date and watch a new zombie film if there is a big one out?
Romero: No… I sort of had to watch that one. They invited me to watch it. They wanted me to say something nice, I think [laughs]."
(George A. Romero's interview with James Blackford, Sight & Sound, 2014)