Dead Island film announced

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 27 September, 2011

THAT trailer "primary creative inspiration".

Movie company Lionsgate has optioned film rights from Deep Silver to make a Dead Island film.

The game's haunting debut trailer, which went viral upon its release, will serve as the primary creative inspiration for the film, Lionsgate said.

"The film Dead Island will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling," the company continued.

It's currently in the early development stage with producers signed. Sean Daniel (The Mummy, Tombstone, Dazed and Confused) is heading up the project.

"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 boss Joe Drake said.

"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."

No release date, directors or actors were mentioned.

The trailer that caught Lionsgate's attention launched in February. It shows a reverse-time account of a young girl on a tropical holiday island being torn away from her parents, become a zombie and eventually be flung out of a window.

"If we got involved with a movie we'd take a very different approach," Malte Wagner, business boss at publisher Koch Media/Deep Silver, said at the time. "We're really not going to make the game the foundation of the movie. We can't just sit down and expand it.

"One of the key reasons why I go to the cinema is to be immersed in the atmosphere and the setting of a different world that's still believable, and that's what we have with the game. You have an emotional attachment. Dead Island has that kind of story and that kind of presentation and I think viewers would want to bond with that world and enter it.

"This can be a good movie if it's done right, but you do have to see it as separate from the game. We're not going to go out and write a movie script based on the game," he reiterated. "You have too many limitations in the game you don't have with a movie.

"We all know that movies are not always what gamers want. Good games aren't good movies and good movies aren't good games. Look at Avatar."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 8 months ago

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  • SilverInfinity #1 8 months ago

    I love Zombie films and love Dead Island so hope they can pull this off :) Get Romero on board lol

    Edit:

    @StolenGlory - yes in hindsight I was a bit premature with bringing Romero on board
    Edited by SilverInfinity at 27/09/11 @ 16:15

  • A_Nonny #2 8 months ago

    "We all know that movies are not always what gamers want. Good games aren't good movies and good movies aren't good games. Look at Avatar."

    Oooh, burn.

  • Phoenisis #3 8 months ago

    Oh look, a movie based on a video game!

    ...

    ...

    :-(

  • StolenGlory #4 8 months ago

    "Get Romero on board lol"

    Oh I hope not - Romero hasn't been on form in years. Bring on someone else younger with some decent ideas, instead of the same tired social commentary retread.

  • Vampyre_Warrior #5 8 months ago

    as a Zombie-MOVIE fan I don't mind this so much. However would be nice is it didn't have a love story...or stupid people(zombies not necessarily included).

  • Smoped #6 8 months ago

    Now hire Uwe Boll to write & direct and enjoy the fireworks...

  • Timotei #7 8 months ago

    Wow, that trailer's really good, I'd never seen it before.

  • DJDog #8 8 months ago

    I'll bet money that within a years time this project will be canned, most likely due to "creative differences".

  • lordofthedunce #9 8 months ago

    This can't fail

  • Lou_Chou #10 8 months ago

    They've seen The Walking Dead, right? Just saying.

  • Eraysor #11 8 months ago

    Non-linear storytelling in a film? Are they going to make Primer with zombies?!

  • wizlon #12 8 months ago

    Edgar Wright should do this, he's known for comedy's but I bet he could nail a proper film based off this license. Or just do it as a comedy, it was going to be pretty laughable regardless.

  • Jacksie66 #13 8 months ago

    Oh god hollywood will ye just fuck off and let us play our games in peace....

  • PixelPirate #14 8 months ago

    The whole film will play backwards then right?

    //sarcasm
    Edited by PixelPirate at 27/09/11 @ 16:23

  • Derblington #15 8 months ago

    "This can be a good movie if it's done right, but you do have to see it as separate from the game."

    So it's just going to be a zombie film then, why do they need the DI licence? Seriously, there are plenty of stories that can be told in a zombie apocalypse with a focus on humanity, emotion and family ties - did it really take that trailer to spark the creativity in a movie studio?

  • CloisterBlack #16 8 months ago

    ..that reminds me of this: 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Made Into Feature Film .
    Oh the irony?..

  • Ultrasoundwave #17 8 months ago

    Movie is probably a bad idea. Dead Island 2 on the other.........

    Get on it Techland!

  • Gearskin #18 8 months ago

    Would be interesting to see a zombie movie as sombre as that trailer. Last one I saw was a French flick called The Horde.

    Sombre... It was not.

  • geeza2020 #19 8 months ago

    Hollywood: "We've got literally no idea's left"
    Games Industry: "Our stories and writing are barely passable as toilet books, help yourself!"
    Hollywood: "Ta very much, ducky"
    Rest of the World: "W.T.F?"

  • kinky_mong #20 8 months ago

    non-linear storytelling

    Which is a sugar coated way of saying the script will be all over the place.

  • Psynic #21 8 months ago

    Actually a movie based on a trailer for a game. What next ... a movie based on a till receipt for a game?

  • benfresh76 #22 8 months ago

    "We all know that movies are not always what gamers want. Good games aren't good movies and good movies aren't good games. Look at Avatar."

    And sometimes box office record breakers are not good movies either. Look at Avatar.

    Fucking depressing.There are well over 6 billion people on this planet, and yet Hollywood has reached such a drought of inspiration that it has driven them to video games for story ideas... Well, fuck that; I don't look to video games for stories, and I would certainly hope that our mainstream story tellers wouldn't do so either; as if comic book movies weren't bad enough.

    Doesn't anybody have anything to say that's worth saying or listening to any more?

  • Goodfella #23 8 months ago

    I predict this film will never see the light of day, though I'm always hopeful of seeing another great Zombie film, the last good one was Dawn of the Dead remake, I expected bad things but thought it was a real corker.

    PS, as said Romero hasn't made a good film in a long long time, he should retire.

  • peppergomez #24 8 months ago

    it'll suck

  • Miths #25 8 months ago

    Will they need to repair all their weapons after every five zombies killed? :)

    (That was a good spirited stab at the game by the way - it's among my favourites of 2011 so far.)

  • orangpelupa #26 8 months ago

    "The film Dead Island will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling,"

    errr....


    non linear in movie theatre?

    Buy ticket A to see first half then the movie give the viewer choice A and B.

    then Buy ticket B to go to theatre room B if you choose to save alan,
    or buy ticket C to go to theatreroom C if you choose to kick alan goodbye.

  • GAmbrose #27 8 months ago

    Kudos to them for potentially making a lot of money from a CGI trailer though.

  • Kikizosan #28 8 months ago

    "Oh look, a movie based on a video game!"

    No, no. This is a first! A movie based on a videogame TRAILER!

  • captainCandy #29 8 months ago

    Uh. Avatar's not a good movie, and there's no good game made of it.

  • UncleLou #30 8 months ago

    You'd think people have never seen Citizen Kane, films by Robert Altman, or Pulp Fiction.

  • kangarootoo #31 8 months ago

    "Land of the Dead was up there with his older stuff"

    By older, I guess you don't mean oldest.



    Non-linear films include Momentum and Pulp Fiction. Non-linear doesn't mean episoidic.



    That trailer really is a brilliant bit of film making. I think it is the final scenes that make it for me, where the family have just begun their holiday. Probably a standard technique, but it really works here.

  • whome #32 8 months ago

    movie wont be as good as the stunning trailer & great game & it's kind of predictable but still looking forward to it :)

  • mornegroth #33 8 months ago

    And why the fuck do they need a movie to convey these types of emotions? Why didn't they build a decent mature game in the first place? MEH

  • stryker1121 #34 8 months ago

    I'm still waiting on the game based on the trailer...yeah it's an old gripe and DI is a ton of fun, but it also falls into the endless ranks of shit action-y video game stories. Would love for a dev to do a Walking Dead-style game,the comics moreso than the show. Mature, poignant story tellling, please. People still like that stuff, ya know.
    Edited by stryker1121 at 27/09/11 @ 18:54

  • woodnotes #35 8 months ago

    This was announced back in February.

  • Acrid #36 8 months ago

    "Good games aren't good movies and good movies aren't good games. Look at Avatar."

    Which one of those is the good Avatar?

  • funkateer #37 8 months ago

    The trailer was an awesome piece of film making, as far as trailers go.
    But if you *really* look at it, what material is really in that trailer? Nothing that Romero has already done better.

  • Lamb #38 8 months ago

    They already made a Dead Island film, just check House of the Dead. :D

    And if they must, they can throw in those girls from Pirahana. :p
    Edited by Lamb at 27/09/11 @ 22:52

  • Architect_z #39 8 months ago

    Yeh its true, House of the Dead was Dead Island the movie.

    I've been dieing to find a film that beats the Dawn of the Dead remake for years.
    (Before I get negged, I'm a Romero fan, I love the original dawn of the dead, but the new ones just better i'm afraid.)

  • kangarootoo #40 8 months ago

    @vamos

    If you compare "Night of the Living Dead" and "Day of the Dead", they are really quite different. Land of the Dead may compare to Day (I'm going to abbreviate), and Diary less so, but compared to Night it is really quite a different film. Not seen Survival.

    I enjoyed the later ones I must admit, but I don't consider them in the same league. Tbh, I don't really consider Dawn of the Dead in the same leagure as Night (good a film as it is).


    My comment was flippant though, I'm not saying you are wrong. I was being a little sarcastic (for a change ;) ).