Who needs a script when you have a kick-ass viral video to generate buzz.
That’s how to classify the hot movie project this week. Dead Island, a new video game from Techland, won’t be released for X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3 until November, but its announcement trailer, unveiled earlier this week, got people talking. From its unique approach at teasing the story, the three-minute trailer (see below) had a touching feel about it. Well, about as touchy-feely as a flesh-eating zombie game could possibly be. In the course of 24 hours, the video had garnered 1 million hits. And while we’re just now learning about its potential as a film property, don’t think the movie rights were acquired overnight.
Producers Sean Daniels (The Mummy franchise) and Jason Brown and Union Entertainment’s Dmitri Johnson and Richard Leibowitz obtained the feature rights last year. Now studios and agencies are coming after them like zombies craving human flesh, suggesting talent packages and story lines to try and make a screen deal. If the trailer is any indication, the zombie film will sort of play as a homage to Christopher Nolan’s breakout film, Memento, by having the story flow in reverse. (Note: the video game is not told this way.)