Dead Island movie in development

Dead Island was released earlier this month on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC to generally positive critical reception despite claims of sexism and corrupted PC files. The game--which has sold 2 million units to date--also spawned a novel offshoot. Now, Deep Silver's zombie universe will tell another story, but this one will be on the big screen.

Lionsgate today announced that it had optioned the rights from Deep Silver to create a film based on the Dead Island video game. The movie is in the very early stages of development, with no plot details yet revealed.

However, Lionsgate did note that interest in the IP was sparked by the CGI trailer for the game that released in February. According to Lionsgate, the film will focus on "human emotion, family ties, and nonlinear storytelling."

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.

Set on a secluded resort, the game Dead Island tells the brutal story of everyday civilians caught up in a zombie apocalypse. Gamers can choose among four character classes, which break down into the leader, tank, jack-of-all-trades, and assassin archetypes. Every single character starts out the same way; characters are suddenly attacked by zombies at the island's hotel, knocked out, and dragged to a nearby pool house converted to a shelter.