ROTTEN TOMATOES: Romero's Diary of the Dead Gets a Distributor -- and a Sequel?

Romero's Diary of the Dead Gets a Distributor -- and a Sequel?

We ARE being punished for our sins! The dead are rising, and Judgment Day is upon us!

by Jeff Giles | September 13, 2007

Our own Alex Vo didn't think much of it, but that hasn't stopped The Weinstein Company from purchasing the domestic rights to George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead.

In a post at The Hollywood Reporter yesterday, it was announced that the Weinsteins have paid between $2 and $2.5 million for the North American and Mexican rights to Diary, the fourth sequel to Romero's 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead. The deal includes a theatrical commitment, so moviegoers can expect to see the director's latest zombie-fest on the big screen before long.

What's next for Romero? According to Bloody-Disgusting, he's been told that if Diary of the Dead is a success, the Weinsteins will -- surprise, surprise -- commission a sequel. Given that the studio has invested a relatively small amount of money in the film, it probably won't have to gross a whole lot to be considered a success; odds are, we'll see a sixth Dead out of Romero in the next few years. Diary's synopsis, according to the article, is as follows:

With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Source: Bloody-Disgusting

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(1-20 of 25 posts) | Reply

eastern2western writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:22 AM

IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOW BUDGET MOVIE TO ME. A LOT OF INDEPENDENT OR LOW BUDGET MOVIES USE
MAKING MOVIES AS A PLOT DEVELOPMENT. ROMERO HAS NOT HAD A MAJOR HIT FOR YEARS AND I THINK HE IS KIND OF DESPERATE BY TRYING TO REHASH THAT OLD DEAD FORMULA AGAIN.

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:23 AM

This is amazing news.

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:35 AM

Sadly, you'd be wrong.

(Reply to this)

Scarborough Fair writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:54 AM

I'd like to see him use mechanical puppets for the zombies, instead of people with zombie makeup on.

(Reply to this)

CodeClearanceBlue writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:59 AM

In reply to this comment (#1120242)
If George A. Romero were interested in making hit movies, I'd be inclined to agree with you. But he has repeatedly stayed away from big budget projects in order to do things his way. The exception to this was Land of the Dead, which, according to him, was not the way he wanted it to be, and subsequently reinforced his dislike of studio involvement. He probably agreed to sell the rights to Diary of the Dead only after having it written in blood that no one would mess with it. And that's probably why the price tag was so low. I'm personally looking forward to it, even if the other reviewer disliked it.

And by the way RT, can you guys start displaying the comment# for each post again, so when a comment is in reply to a previous post, we'll be able to go back and look for it?

(Reply to this)

nathanpoitras writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:19 AM

Isn't Romero sick of making zombie movies yet? Come on George, you've been directing for over 40 years now, time to change it up a little.

(Reply to this)

Film Fanatic writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:53 AM

I've enjoyed all of Romero's Dead films, despite the production problems on Day and Land. I especially enjoy his use of zombies as metaphors for something relevant to our time. And although he continues to work within the same sub-genre, at least he's still producing original stories and not remaking something we've already seen. I'll see Diary opening night.

(Reply to this)

lostharvestmovie writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:26 AM

bob clark's and alan ormsby's "children shouldn't play with dead things" is a pretty old (30 years old) movie about people making a movie on an island who find reanimated corpses running around the place.... it's an ok enough movie...

www.lostharvest.com == free weird multimedia fiction

(Reply to this)

BrianInSD writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:26 AM

In reply to this comment (#1120408)
"He probably agreed to sell the rights to Diary of the Dead only after having it written in blood that no one would mess with it."

The fact that he sold it to the Weinsteins does not bode well for this as they are fairly notorious for re-cutting their acquired movies prior to distribution. At the bare minimum, we can look forward to an R-rated theatrical version followed by the obligatory Unrated DVD.

(Reply to this)

CodeClearanceBlue writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:30 AM

In reply to this comment (#1120550)
You're probably right, after all, BrianInSD.

(Reply to this)

danterandal19 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:50 AM

It was picked up by the Weinsteins? You know what that means, it'll change release dates for about a year, get finally dumped in about 700 theaters, and gets released on DVD about 3 months later.

(Reply to this)

Shatter24 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:57 AM

I enjoyed Land of the Dead, thought it was the best thing he'd done since Dawn of the Dead. Anything by Romero is worth a viewing, let's not count the old guy out yet.

(Reply to this)

zsmiller79 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:17 PM

I cant wait to see this one! The original Dawn of the Dead is one of my favorite movies! Last year I got a chance to meet Ken Foree and Tom Savini which was a really cool experience. I love how Romero uses his Horror movies as social commentary. They make a point w/o being preachy. Everytime im at a mall I always think of the last scene of DOD, all the zombies stumbling aimlessly around the mall.

(Reply to this)

Canuck666 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:43 PM

I'm waiting for the Day of the Dead remake with the zombies who CAN WALK ON ******* CEILINGS!! I can see zombies like in the Dawn of the Dead remake who would still be able to move fast for awhile after they just died but giving them superpowers is retarded.

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:45 PM

Or the weinsteins would just chopp it to pieces, put some hip hop music it in and dub it with english actors

(Reply to this)

tiganofamily writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:13 PM

gay

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:55 PM

In reply to this comment (#1120436)
Hello?

Bruiser, Martin, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, The Crazies, Knightriders?

He made alot of non-zombie movie. But no one saw those.

He has the right to make any movie he wants. They are always great.

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:56 PM

In reply to this comment (#1121141)
Yup.

I'm really happy with this news.

(Reply to this)

damvbat writes:
on Sep 13 2007 04:07 PM

Maybe it will hit the same time 28 Months later hits

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Sep 13 2007 05:46 PM

In reply to this comment (#1121276)
Bruiser = Never Saw it
Martin = Okay at best
Creepshow = Fun, but not great
Monkey Sines = Horrible
The Crazies = Bad
Knightriders = Too damn long

There's a reason Romero sticks to making zombie movies.

(Reply to this)

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