Remember earlier this year when the trailer for the videogame “Dead Island” dropped and every nerd with a controller creamed their pants? And then there was all kinds of premature news about a movie adaptation before the game had even arrived, leading publishers Deep Silver to put the kibosh on the rumors, saying back in February, “We are looking for quality above all else for a movie based on ‘Dead Island.’ We want to do it the right way as film realizations of games (or vice versa) usually fail to deliver what the fans were looking for. We will not go down this route with ‘Dead Island.’ Deep Silver profoundly believes in the quality and value of its Dead Island IP.”
So how are they going to do it the right way and protect that precious intellectual property? By getting Sean Daniel, the guy behind “The Mummy, “The Wolfman” and “The Scorpion King” to produce the big screen version for Lionsgate, who now officially have the rights. Of course, the bigger question is whether or not anybody really cares about this anymore, gamers or not. “Dead Island” finally bowed on consoles last month to decent, though hardly ecstatic reviews, as at the end of the day it’s basically yet another shooter that doesn’t bring much to the already well versed zombie genre. But just ask the makers of “Resident Evil” — whether or not the game is any good or even interesting hardly matters.
And that’s likely the franchise Lionsgate is hoping to emulate. With movie number five now shooting, Screen Gems keeps churning those vampire zombie whatever movies out on a dime, and they make insanely big bucks. While Daniel is used to having studio sized tentpole budgets, we’d be surprised if this movie goes down that route. We’re guessing it’ll be something lower key in scale, not unlike the studio’s other gestating undead movie “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” It’s clear that Hollywood thinks the walking dead are the new vampires or something, as there are about a kajillion movies in development (and oh yeah, Jonathan Levine‘s zombie love story “Warm Bodies” just started shooting in Montreal this week as well). Gird your loins, because a lot more brainless antagonists will be hitting your multiplex soon.
So there you have it. A videogame-turned-movie based on the latest trend to sweep Hollywood. The perfect trifecta. [Deadline]
