Dead Island shambling to a cinema near you

So Dead Island was released to an earlier this month on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC  and while the reception was generally critically frosty it ended up positive. The game has sold over 2 million units worldwide to date and even spawned a novel.

Well hold on to your hats as the Deep Silver’s zombie universe is back to tell another side of the story and this on the big screen.

Earlier today Lionsgate announced that it had optioned the rights from Deep Silver to create a film based on the Dead Island video game franchise. While the movie is in the very, very. very early stages of development, Lionsgate did note in the announcement that interest in the franchise was sparked by the that amazing CGI trailer for the game, which was released in February.

What we do know is that the upcoming film the film will focus on “human emotion, family ties, and nonlinear storytelling.”

According to various online sources, development of the Dead Island film;

“will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and his Sean Daniel Company. Accompanying Daniel on the project will be post production leader Stefan Sonnenfeld (Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men: The Last Stand). Today’s announcement did not mention a director or cast for the Dead Island film.”

For those of you, who haven’t played the game Dead Island tells the exciting story of a group of civilians caught up in a zombie apocalypse. In the beginning you must choose 1 of 4 character classes, which break down into the leader, tank, jack-of-all-trades, and assassin archetypes. But no matter what class you choose, it all begins the same as your protagonist is suddenly attacked by zombies at the island’s hotel, knocked out, and dragged to a nearby pool house converted to a shelter.

This may be one to watch, but we will let you know as details emerge.