Given how thoroughly George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” movies have been aped by America’s most popular TV show, the AMC megablockbuster “The Walking Dead,” this would seem to fall into the category of “What took so long?”
No channel is yet involved, but Romero is writing a pilot script based on “Empire of the Dead,” his New York City-based Marvel comic book series set years after a zombie apocalypse. The 15-issue comic depicts survivors dealing with an emerging vampire threat as well as zombies.
Demarest Films, an entity behind “A Most Wanted Man” (one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last movies) and Kevin Smith’s thriller “Tusk,” announced the proposed “Empire of the Dead” adaptation Thursday at Cannes.
Coincidentally, Demarest is also working with AMC, which will air the company’s six-episode Hugh Laurie miniseries based on John le Carré’s novel “The Night Manager.”
Romero’s original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” spawned at least five movie sequels, three movie remakes and five “Return of the Living Dead” movie spin-offs.
Following the enormous success of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” two more zombie-apocalypse dramas were greenlighted: Syfy’s “Z Nation” launched last September; and AMC’s West Coast spinoff “Fear The Walking Dead” premieres in August.
Find all of Variety’s story on the matter here.
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