Lionsgate has won the war to acquire the movie rights of the game about vacationers who are shut off from the outside world to fight zombies.
- Sep 27, 2011
AceShowbiz - Zombie and horror game fans can rejoice because Lionsgate has announced that it's picking up the movie rights to Deep Silver video game, "Dead Island". A survival game about vacationers attacked by the undeads on an island paradise, the game became a viral sensation when its trailer was released in February this year.
Back then, the movie rights were shopped around by "The Mummy" producer Sean Daniel and his partner Jason Brown as well as Union Entertainment's Richard Leibowitz and Dmitri Johnson. But there was a rights chase but it was unclear who eventually grabbed it. Turns out Lionsgate won and Daniel gets Stefan Sonnenfeld as co-producer.
"Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck," said Lionsgate's Joe Drake. "This is exactly the type of property we're looking to adapt at Lionsgate, it's sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brand recognition around the world, and franchise potential."
"Dead Island" intellectual property will also be simultaneously developed by Deep Silver into forthcoming graphic novels, novels and other extensions.
The game's trailer:
