Lionsgate Developing Film Based On Dead Island Trailer

Major film studio Lionsgate has optioned the rights to develop a movie based on Deep Silver's recent zombie survival game Dead Island, though the game itself will not be the primary source for the adaptation. Lionsgate said the film will instead take its "primary creative inspiration" from the game's emotional trailer, which quickly became a viral sensation that garnered millions of views after its February release. The computer-animated trailer, rendered largely backwards and in slow-motion, does not feature any gameplay footage, but focuses on the efforts of a vacationing family struggling to survive after their resort is overrun with the undead. That trailer went on to win a coveted Golden Lion Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and was named to Adweek's annual list of the World's Best Commercials. Dead Island was released on September 6 to middling reviews, and has since gone on to sell over 2 million copies, including 1 million North American shipments in its first week. The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and The Amityville Horror producer Stefan Sonnenfeld have been attached to produce the film, which is in the early development stages, Lionsgate said. "Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck," Lionsgate's co-COO and Motion Picture Group president Joe Drake said in a statement. "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."