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When Zombies Becomes Weapons of ‘Mass Destruction’

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With Comic Con taking off this week, don’t be surprised if you see a lot of announcements for brand new comic adaptations acquired. Things kicked off last week with CHOPPER ZOMBIES, now Benderspink has picked up the film rights to Red 5 Comics’ recently released horror/action comic ZMDs: Zombies of Mass Destruction by “Underworld” writer-producer Kevin Grevioux. Read on for the details.
“ZMD” is the story of a new government weapons program that drops zombies, designed to be photosensitive and dissolve by a set time, into war zones at night to destroy the enemy population. But after one fails to self-destruct in the Middle East, a team of elite soldiers must enter hostile territory to stop a growing zombie army.

The project was brought to the company by production coordinator Josh Feldman and will be produced by Benderspink.

Red 5 Comics was created by Paul Ens, former director of Lucasfilm’s StarWars.com and Lucas Online, and Scott Chitwood, co-founder of TheForce.net and contributor to ComingSoon.net and SuperHeroHype.com. The company, based in Calgary, Alberta, began publishing its first books in the fall. Its “Afterburn” recently was set up at Relativity with Tobey Maguire and Neal Moritz producing.

Benderspink has carved a niche in comic book adaptations, setting up such projects as “Y: The Last Man” and “Drafted” at New Line, “Pencilneck” at Lionsgate and “Pet Robots” at Disney.

Grevioux, repped by WMA, is a stuntman and actor-turned-film and comic writer. He launched two comic book imprints and has been tapped to write “New Warriors” for Marvel Comics.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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Gas Up Your Vespa: Producer Officially Announces ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Sequel

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Pope's Exorcist 2

It may not seem like it but The Pope’s Exorcist was a hit at the box office last year, scaring up $76.9 million on a production budget of just $18 million. Academy Award winner Russell Crowe plays real-life exorcist Gabriele Amorth in the horror film, and it didn’t take long for Screen Gems to start thinking about a sequel. It seems it’s now actually happening.

The Pope’s Exorcist producer Jeff Katz took to Twitter last night to officially announce The Pope’s Exorcist 2, tweeting: “Amorth Nation — I just got the call. It’s officially happening!”

Katz added in last night’s tweet, “Thank you to the amazing #ThePopesExorcist fans. You made this happen. Gas up your Lambretta – and get ready to ride.”

According to a recent interview with Russell Crowe, a trilogy had originally been planned at Screen Gems, which could end up happening if the sequel performs as well as the first film.

Stay tuned for more as we learn it.

“We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances,” Crowe recently said. “And remember that the man that’s based on, Gabriele Amorth, he wrote twelve books. So we have more than enough source material to do one or two more of those films. But that probably won’t be until next year.”

There’s nothing remarkable about The Pope’s Exorcist, either good or bad, but a fun performance from Russell Crowe makes it worth a watch. He’s able to elevate the material from forgettable to enjoyable, which would explain why even Fangoria is demanding a sequel.

Julius Avery (Overlord) directed The Pope’s Exorcist.

From Sony’s Screen Gems, The Pope’s Exorcist is based on real-life exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, “the legendary Italian priest who performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Vatican.”

Pope's Exorcist sequel

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