The zombies in Marc Forster‘s “World War Z,” adapted from the clever Max Brooks book and said to have a budget of as much as $250 million, move fast.

Maybe the same will be said about moviegoers, who bought $3.6 million worth of tickets for the Thursday evening showings of the film. That despite the relatively bad buzz on the movie, which was originally slated for release last December but was pushed back for rewrites and additional shooting. Paramount has fingers crossed — hard — for a $50 million opening weekend. It’s entirely possible given the Thursday numbers, according to Forbes writer Scott Mendelson.

Forster’s film, while not in the same league as the likes of “28 Days Later” and “Shaun of the Dead,” functions as sort of a mix of horror flick, scientific-discovery mystery and international thriller. Brad Pitt and the supporting players are watchable, and several sequences are genuinely suspenseful. There’s a good deal of fast-moving action, but the PG-13 flick offers little gore and even less emotional resonance. My review is here.

For anyone interested in the back story on “World War Z” and its, uh, complicated, production history, check out the Vanity Fair piece by Laura M. Holson.

Also opening:

“The Bling Ring,” Sofia Coppola‘s based-on-a-true-story look at the lifestyles of the rich and famous, er, the lifestyles of a group of teens preying on the rich and famous. These girls and one guy enjoy nothing so much as a little B&E and long visits to the clothes closets of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Stars Emma Watson. Rated R.

“The East,” in which a gang of pretty young hippie-ish eco-terrorists, including Alexander Skarsgard and Ellen Page, is infiltrated by a young woman (Brit Marling) working for corporations seeking to head off environmental protests. Marling co-wrote the film with with director Zal Batmanglij. Which side occupies the moral high ground, or the not-so-low ground? Rated PG-13.

“Much Ado About Nothing,” “Avengers” director Joss Whedon‘s contemporary remix of the Shakespeare comic romance, set at the director’s own luxe California mansion.  The language’s the thing — the dialogue is straight from the Bard’s original. Stars Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond, and Fran Kranz. Rated PG-13.

“Monsters University,” a sequel to the seriously funny 2001 animated comedy “Monsters, Inc.,” is an origins story, with pal Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) enjoying their college days, long before they began their career scaring little kids. Also stars the voice of the reliable Helen Mirren as a college dean. Good stuff. Rated G.