Following the success of the movie adaptation of The Last of Us, movie makers appear to be turning to video games for inspiration for their next big hit. Dead by Daylight is the latest video game title that will get a movie adaptation as reported by Variety. Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster will be in charge of bringing the game to cinema screens.
Dead by Daylight is a popular slasher horror video game developed by Behavior Interactive. Launched in 2016 across multiple platforms, the multiplayer game pairs one serial killer against four other players. While the players are tasked with fixing a generator to open an exit door from the entrapment, the role of the serial killer is to make sure that no one gets out alive.
A few weeks ago, Blumhouse announced the unveiling of its gaming division. In addition to that announcement, the horror genre maestro also disclosed that it was working on a movie adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s, another popular horror game.
A screenwriter and director are yet to be found for the Dead by Daylight project. However, James Wan and Jason Blum, the CEO of Blumhouse, praised the horror game for its horror element and pledged to deliver an adaptation that will match the game’s quality.
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“We know there are so many fans of Dead by Daylight out there and think it’s imperative we find someone who appreciates and loves the world as much as we do, to help us bring the game to the big screen,” said Blum. “We know our partners at Behavior and Atomic Monster will help us bring the best version of this game to life.”
Dead by Daylight developers have held on since its release
Most video games get a couple of patches, updates, or downloadable content (DLCs) and their chapter comes to a close while the developers move to other projects. In the case of Dead by Daylight, Behavior Interactive continues to update the game to this day.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with Jason Blum and James Wan, two giants of the horror film industry to further expand the Dead by Daylight universe,” said Stephen Mulrooney, executive vice president at Behavior Interactive. “Our motto is to create unique moments, together, forever. Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are the ideal partners to craft Dead by Daylight’s killer entrance onto the big screen.”
Dead by Daylight has been a huge success and has seen crossovers with several other big horror titles like Silent Hills, Resident Evil, and Stanger Things. The movie adaptation is bound to expand the fanbase of the already successful franchise.
“In Dead by Daylight, the Behavior team has created a love letter to the world of horror, building an incredible environment teeming with atmosphere and terrifying villains—perfect for a scary cinematic adaptation,” said Wan. “We are big fans of the game at Atomic Monster, and are thrilled to be teaming up with Blumhouse to bring this frighteningly visceral world to the big screen.”
Characters that will likely transition from the game to the movie adaptation
Dead by Daylight has several iconic horror characters and fans of the video game title have already begun to speculate on which of them will make it to the movie adaptation—and this is for a good reason.
Horror villains like Michael Myers of Halloween, Demogorgon of Stranger Things, and the Ghostface Killer have all appeared in Dead by Daylight. This was made possible through a collaboration with the franchise.
Featuring these characters in the Dead by Daylight movie adaptation will likely lead to some confusion. In a worst-case scenario, it can lower the movie adaptation to a cheap parody. This is something that Blumhouse and Atomic Monster will want to avoid.
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Therefore, it is likely that the movie adaptation will focus mainly on the game’s original cast of killers and survivors. The count of original Killer characters in Dead by Daylight is 20 including The Legion (a group of killers), the vengeful Spirit, and Trickster.
However, it is highly unlikely that all of them would feature in the upcoming movie adaptation. Blumhouse will likely use only the three killers that appeared in the game’s first release namely chainsaw-wielding Hillbilly, murderous mechanic Wraith, and the masked hunter Trapper.
Consequently, if the first adaptation becomes a hit, fans will likely see a follow-up with a new set of killers. However, Blumhouse can still go the route of featuring as many killers as possible from the game’s roster.
Regardless of the path they choose, all eyes will be on Blumhouse and Atomic Monster to tap from their years of experience in the horror genre to deliver a video game adaptation that will hit The Last of Us’ success level—or even better.
Fans’ funny reaction to Dead by Daylight movie adaptation
Fans of the game reacted in the most hilarious way after the announcement of the Dead by Daylight movie adaptation. Some of them took to Twitter to share hilarious, and sometimes scary videos, with the caption “Me auditioning for [a certain role] in Dead by Daylight”.
The majority of the comments showed anticipation for the upcoming movie adaptation. In the past, many gamers frowned at the idea of bringing video games to cinema screens. The argument was that the stories are rarely well-told during the transition. However, it appears that the era is gone.
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It is hard to tell for now if the current success enjoyed by video game movie adaptations is only a fluke that will fizzle out with time or an indication of how well movie producers have mastered the act of retelling video game stories for the big screen.
There are signs that there may be a flurry of video game adaptations as a replacement for superhero movies—which seemed to have reached a saturation point. One thing is certain, the success of every video game movie adaptation will always inspire another.
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