Ok here is more clarafication on the alleged 'Fourth Living Dead' flick and George Romero's involvement. This comes from an anonymous (to yall) agent that scurries about in an old neighborhood in Pittsburgh, hungering for human flesh.. The report details Russo's project, the goings on of George Romero's RESIDENT EVIL and his own plans for what will be Romero's 4th Living Dead film, which won't be Russo's according to this fella. So this comes in from Martin...
CHILDREN OF THE DEAD is ABSOLUTELY NOT the 4th film in Romero's series. It is an independent project of Russo's, based on an idea he had for a Chaos Comics series (which resulted from a new NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD comic series by Chaos being canned after another member of Image 10 objected to the deal, which Russo had not bothered to tell the other trustees of NIGHT about).
Russo, Hinzman and (according to Hinzman) producer Joe Wolf are also in the process of butchering the original NIGHT by re-editing the film to include footage from Hinzman's FLESHEATER. According to Hinzman, NIGHT's copyright has expired (which, Romero says, is not true; NIGHT was never properly copyrighted, which is why everyone thinks it's in the public domain), so the plan is to shorten the film and include a prologue and epilogue constructed of newly shot footage and footage from FLESHEATER.
In the meantime, George is actually working on the REAL 4th film...
George has stated at the VSDA Expo in Las Vegas that he will be commencing production on the next "Living Dead" film after he finishes the RESIDENT EVIL movie. It will NOT be titled TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD; George hates that title, feeling that it rides the NIGHT-DAWN-DAY progression into the ground. Also, It's very likely that it won't be titled anything "of the Dead," since the copyright owners of DAWN and DAY would have to be included in any such deal. George owns the NIGHT title outright, so the 4th film's title may be based upon that, but, in truth, he hasn't mentioned any possible title as yet.
No screenplay has been written as yet, either, but there has been considerable press regarding George's idea for the next film: the living dead are now so decayed that they are hardly a threat any more. They lie in the gutters, feebly reaching towards their living prey, who step over them and continue on their way. Some people have criticized this idea as being rather tame for a Romero "Living Dead" film, but remember that people who die in the course of the story will still return as "fresh" zombies, so the potential for action is not completely lost. Also, George may scrap this idea completely...only he really knows what he wants to do.
Plans have been made for a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD television series, also; this is a legitimate Romero project, which has been pitched to several TV production companies around the world, including Grenada TV in Great Britain. The series would be a weekly peek into the world of the Living Dead, and would not necessarily follow the same characters from week to week.
George is currently at work on the new screenplay for RESIDENT EVIL, which he has contractually agreed to make through its licensee, Constantin Films (a German production company which released DAWN OF THE DEAD in that country). The original screenplay, by SPAWN writer Alan McElroy, has been canned due to terrible story structure. There is no word yet on where it is to be shot, or whether Tom Savini will be involved with either RE or DEAD 4 (although Romero has been in contact with Tom regarding another project, RED EYE, which will be re-titled due to the use of this title by another company for an upcoming Bruce Campbell vampire flick).
With regards to fans' hopes that Romero will eventually work with Dimension Films, he HAS been in contact with them, although for which of the several projects he is currently working on is not known as yet...
Such is the state of affairs on the George Romero scene.
