Day Of The Dead To Get A Remake, Again

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

day of the deadWith the box office success of World War Z, and the cult following the film Warm Bodies, it’s easy to see that Hollywood’s love affair with zombies continues to rise. These days you can find the undead in movies like these, and on TV with shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead, and A&E’s upcoming remake of The Returned. Even Broadcast networks are getting into the game with the likes of NBC’s Babylon Fields, ABC’s midseason replacement Resurrection, and the CW’s adaptation of iZombie. Zombies aren’t going anywhere, and they’re even rehashing old properties that have already been remade.

According to Deadline, Millennium Films is looking to remake George A. Romero’s 1985 horror film Day of the Dead. Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell, the pair behind Texas Chainsaw 3D, will produce the new zombie retread, with Mark Tonderai in the director’s chair. The British director broke out with his first film Hush in 2009. In 2012, he helmed House at the End of the Street starring Jennifer Lawrence. Before going Dead, he will also work on the movie Peste with Jason Blum.

Millennium and Campbell Grobman Films are looking to start production on the remake in summer 2014. This would be the second time Millennium Films has remade Day of the Dead. Their first, in 2008, had Steve Miner (Halloween H2O) in the director’s chair, and Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, and Ving Rhames in the leads. It’s unclear why they want to remake a film they already remade, but as long as they have the rights, why doesn’t really matter.

Day of the Dead is the third film in George A. Romero’s Dead series, following Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and preceding Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead. Day follows a group of scientists and military officers who are trapped underground as the world above them is overrun with the walking dead. The new version of the zombie film will feature the group of survivalists trying to find a cure.

When you consider that this is the second remake of Day of the Dead from the same movie studio, it’s going to be a hard sell to general audiences and fans Romero alike. While I’m in the business of giving all movies the benefit of the doubt, Day of the Dead faces an uphill battle to find success. Zack Snyder’s remake 2004 Dawn of the Dead was an exceptional zombie film. However, if your template for success is a Zack Snyder movie, then that’s a big problem.

Romero’s original Dead films have all been remade multiple times, sometimes with the director’s blessing, sometimes without. Check out the trailers for the original Day of the Dead, as well as the remake.