Amazon to tackle original programming with Zombieland series

22 Jan 2013

The 2009 hit movie that dictated the rules of surviving the zombie apocalypse is about to become a TV series by Amazon as the internet behemoth makes moves into original programming in a bid to compete with video-on-demand rival Netflix.

The premiere for the next Netflix original series, House of Cards, took place this past weekend ahead of its debut on 1 February. With this, a new series of cult favourite Arrested Development, a murder-mystery series from Eli Roth, and a second season of Lilyhammer in the works, Amazon will need to dig deep to compete with Netflix on original content.

And the online retail giant has pulled it out of the bag with reports saying it has taken on the Zombieland TV series. The horror comedy was a box office success, beating Dawn of the Dead as the top-grossing zombie film in the US.

A series of 30-minute episodes for Amazon Instant Video is now under way, and the original band of misfits, Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock (originally played by Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin), will be joined by some new faces.

Gavin Polone, producer of Zombieland, is apparently on board with developing the series but it is not yet known if the film’s writers, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, are involved. If they are, they’ll be fulfilling their original plans for Zombieland, as rumour has it they set out to write a comedy series, not a film.

Image via the Zombieland Facebook page

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com