It's been a while since we've heard anything about the movie version of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but it looks like the project is alive and well. Based off of the 1993 game of the same name for SNES and Sega Genesis, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a humorous top-down zombie survival game. Developed by LucasArts, players take the role of Zeke or Julie, escaping from zombies in suburbia.
It has been rumored that the project has moved into the hands of Lucasfilm and Disney, after being associated with Lucasarts prior to the company's acquisition. When we reported on the project back in 2011, John Darko had written the screenplay and he's still on board as the writer/producer. Here's what we were told by him about the movie's story:
"Zombies Ate My Neighbors is set in modern day, and will be centered around two high school buddies on the verge of graduation. Here, you'll have the classic John Hughes-esue coming-of-age story. We tried to focus more on the aspirations of our characters, and what happens to them when adulthood sets in. You got to think about college, a career, the people that you'll probably never see again, first loves, all that. Then things get messy on the eve of this huge graduation block party. And these kids sort of get to live out their secret ambitions of becoming adventurers by becoming the unlikely heroes of the story. We kept the mayhem contained to a small neighborhood, but as for those questions regarding Zeke, Julie, gigantic babies, etc. Think about what happens when a small virus goes global. And how the rest of the world would react to that..."
This story pre-dates the events from the video game, so Zeke and Julie are not the main focus this time around, but they will appear in it:
"The question I get asked the most is: will Zeke and Julie be in the movie? and what about the giant baby? All I can say is... YES, well, kind of. Zeke and Julie will make an appearance, but the gigantic baby will have to wait for a sequel. You can't really throw the kitchen sink at audiences without a plausible origin story. The wackiness of the video game was something I loved, but turning all that into something watchable, and more importantly something we can understand and care about took some careful scripting. "
We'll let readers know as soon as we hear more on a Zombies Ate My Neighbors movie going forward. John Darko is currently in development on a new TV series, Nowheresville, which is said to be similar in tone to Zombies Ate My Neighbors. John R. Leonetti, who served as James Wan's director of photography on Insidious Chapter 2 and The Conjuring, is on board to direct and produce. Jeff Kalligheri is also serving as a producer for both Nowheresville and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Here's the official synopsis for the project:
"In the rural community of “Nowheresville” two brothers named Steve and Steve fight to protect themselves and their senile uncle from an apocalypse that never happened.
Keeping the farm operational and safe from the “infected populous” isn’t their only problem. Set on an ancient Indian burial ground, their war against super-natrual beings and other mythical creatures that haunt the plantation, proves to be as difficult as learning what a computer is and does.
From hundreds of VHS tapes left behind by their religiously insane father, this is their only database for knowledge, that… and the small amounts of underestimated help they get from their two childhood sweeties in a neighboring estate, and a very unsuspecting film crew on assignment to document their antics.
Amidst the chaotic evil spirits that terrorize these idiots, the boys struggle to defend what’s theirs, while their survival depends on the one thing they have no idea about. The world outside of nowhere."
We've been provided with an exclusive alternate poster for Nowheresville, along with a teaser poster for Zombies Ate My Neighbors and have included them both below. If you're interested in hearing the theme song for Nowheresville, check out this link.
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