Lionsgate Heading To Dead Island

Still on the lookout for a horror franchise to replace the resting Saw, Lionsgate have picked up the rights to the recent zombie videogame hit Dead Island.

Released just this month, Dead Island sees a group of mysteriously-immune survivors holed up in a holiday resort as an undead plague ravages the outside world. Cue much in the way of gorily inventive survival horror, and stressful scrappy combat with extemporised melee weapons.

It's been generally well-received (apart from by Edge, who utterly demolished it) but Lionsgate's press-release is very much focused on the trailer that heralded the game's arrival back in February, and won various industry awards, including a Golden Lion at Cannes. That clip will serve as the film's "primary creative inspiration" according to the blurb, which also promises that "Dead Island will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling."

Lionsgate president Joe Drake calls it "a true elevation of a genre we know and love". The film is currently in the very early stages of development, with Sean Daniel (The Mummy), and FX man Stefan Sonnenfeld (Sucker Punch, Fright Night) producing.

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