WARNING: This video has animated graphic violence.
The Cannes award winning and official announcement trailer for Deep Silver’s hit new zombie game Dead Island began such a successful buzz for the game. Watching the drama unfold in slow motion with this perfectly suited acoustic piano soundtrack placed an odd sense of beauty to the horror that unfolds. It seemed inevitable that something beyond just the game would ensue and finally it has.
Thanks to our friends at Joystiq.com the movie rights to the game have been picked up by movie studio Lionsgate.
Here is a quote from the press release speaking towards the initial reception of the game’s trailer:
Dead Island is a global brand first introduced through a teaser trailer that told the story of a family on vacation at a tropical resort who is besieged by zombies. Told in a stark, non-linear fashion, the wrenching trailer captured worldwide fan attention and unanimous critical praise upon its debut, receiving over one million hits in its first 24 hours online, and nearly 10 million views by two days after its debut. Wired Magazine, College Humor and G4TV all called it the best video game trailer of all time, with G4TV adding “The Dead Island trailer is the best trailer I have ever seen in my life. The best video game trailer. The best movie trailer. The best anything trailer.” The trailer went on to win the Golden Lion in Cannes at the International Festival of Creativity, the advertising industry’s highest honor, and it was featured by Adweek on their annual list of the World’s Best Commercials.
Announced by Lionsgate’s co-COO and Motion Picture Group President Joe Drake, the following was stated in the press release as well about the upcoming film:
Like the trailer that will serve as its primary creative inspiration, 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. Said Drake of the property’s acquisition, “Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck.” He continued, “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.”
It will be quite interesting to see how many ties to the actual game content this movie will have. Not many video game movies have done very well or been received very well (with the exception of maybe Silent Hill and the Resident Evil franchise). Still, this is very good news for Deep Silver and Techland.
I’m quite certain they will continue adding to the game with DLC as well as continuing their plan to follow up with novels, comic books, and other media to hopefully build this game into a franchise.
Now let’s just hope if they decide to cast Sam B. that they get someone that is actually a decent emcee or can at least act (preferrably the latter)!
