Now this was a remake I didn't see coming. THR's Heat Vision blog is reporting that George Romero's zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead, is going to be remade into a 3D CGI film by first-time director Zebediah de Soto. The project, titled Night of the Living Dead: Origins, will have no involvement from Romero (though that may not be a bad thing these days). De Soto mentioned that he wants to focus on the character's backstories, and aim for it to look like an "American-styled anime". Origins is being produced by Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider)—which probably isn't the most heartening bit of news.
Origins will join the company of a multitude of revisions/reimaginings/remakes of Night of the Living Dead. The original film has been in the public domain for some time now, making it a really cheap target for these sorts of projects. Most recently there was the horrendous Night of the Living Dead 3D, and there's also an upcoming collaborative remake, Night of the Living Dead Reanimated.
De Soto and his partner Gus Malliarodaki founded New Golden Digital, a digital effects company. Origins will be developed using an intriguing bit of tech they created:
The duo created and designed a real-time effects system, known as 'The Beast', which allows filmmakers the ability to direct CG performances the same way they would direct real live actors. The aim of the process is to make tennis balls on a stick representing real people or monsters a thing of the past by allowing actors interact with CG elements as if they are tangible.
I'm honestly more interested in how their technology holds up than in this remake. It could end up being a good low-budget solution that ends up giving results similar to what James Cameron is attempting to do with Avatar. If anything, the Night of the Living Dead property is a cheap way for De Soto to test his technology without losing too much if the project ends up being a dud.
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