Warner Bros has won the heated bidding war for the adaptation of Monsterpocalypse, the cult board game, with Fede Alvarez, helmer of the Evil Dead remake, attached to co-write and direct.
The package for the project hit the town last week and quickly generated interest and bids from studios, including DreamWorks and Sony on top of Warners. The bidding escalated quickly, hitting at least the mid-six figures against seven figures for just the rights and writing alone. Warners is now in negotiations for the package.
Monsterpocalypse is a board game from Privateer Press and created by Matt Wilson that pits humans in robot suits against monsters. An adaptation was previously attempted around 2010 with a package that included Tim Burton as director and John August as screenwriter. It stalled in development after Crimson Peak filmmaker Guillermo del Toro made a competing humans-in-robot-suits-against-monsters, 2013’s Pacific Rim.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the new package has a take that is substantially different from that of the previous iteration, as well as Rim‘s, although the core concept — humans versus monsters — remains.
Alvarez will write the screenplay with his writing partner Rodo Sayagues.
Alvarez demonstrated a passion for the material with his regular works in the horror and robot subgenres. He made his breakthrough debut with the popular short Panic Attack!, which featured giant robots attacking the South American city of Montevideo, which led to his directing 2013’s remake of Evil Dead. His latest, Don’t Breathe, is a horror movie that Screen Gems will release Aug. 26.
Alvarez is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Tyerman. Wilson is repped by Stone Genow and Heitmann Entertainment.
