After pretty much everyone blasted a loaf all over the recent DEAD ISLAND videogame trailer, instant talks of adapting the clip into a feature film ensued. Three days ago our man Jared let you know what the status was, how in the next few weeks producers were being lined up to get the film version off the ground. Well now, according to the L.A. Times, the game has yet to be sold as a film project, but big name directors are certainly being courted for the project. Scope it…
When the Times asked Malte Wagener – head of global business development for Koch Media and Deep Silver Label (owner of the videogame rights), about where a DEAD ISLAND feature may be, he said:
“We’ve had a lot of inquiries, not only from Union but from other major players for film adaptation. The talks are very early and there’s no deal whatsoever. Right now I’d say it boils down to three or four opportunities. Some are studios, not just bonders [financiers] like Union. We’d rather go with a big studio that can bring the creative side.”
What about firm studio offers:
“We had a couple of big-name directors come to us. One of the top directors in Hollywood sent a studio his link to the trailer and said he was interested in this, and the studio contacted us. There are different opinions of course in how to do this. The first is that you find a producer and then he brings in a creative team. The other is to find a director first and he’ll bring people along. My feeling is we should find a director first.”
“If we got involved with a movie we’d take a very different approach. We’re really not going to make the game the foundation of the movie. We can’t just sit down and expand it. But one of the key reasons why I go to the theater is to be immersed in the atmosphere and the setting of a different world that’s still believable, and I think 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.”
Wagener concluded with:
“If someone is waving a couple million dollars at us it’s (a movie) an intriguing thing, but I think if we just took the next offer we’d lose value in the long term. We’re a private company and we’re not under the same pressure as other companies. We don’t have people saying accept the next offer. But we’re also aware the buzz won’t last forever.”
Wow, a whole lot of words, but not so many answers. Hopefully there is a DEAD ISLAND movie somewhere in the future. Will be sure to keep you posted!