Due to a mistake registering the copyright for George A. Romero’s classic Night Of The Living Dead, the film has been in the public domain for years, which means anyone can do anything with it they want. It’s for this reason that all sorts of different DVD editions have been brought out by different companies, and also why in 2006 there was an abysmal 3D remake, where they didn’t even have to ask Romero’s permission.
Now it looks like someone else wants to take on this classic, with THR’s Heat Vision blog reporting that first-time director Zebediah de Soto is planning on making a 3D CGI version of the movie, again with Romero’s involvement, called Night Of The Living Dead: Origins, which he’s describing as an “American-style anime”. The plan is to focus on the character’s backstories.
It’s a showcase for De Soto and his partner’s new real-time effects system, which they claim allow directors to deal with CG characters in the same way they do actors, rather than having to wait ages to be able to tell whether it’s actually working. If it works, this could be a great low budget solution for those working with effects, which is good news whatever Origins turns out to be like.
Let’s just hope that the results are better than previous attempts to remake the Romero movie.