Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic video game ‘The Last of Us’ coming to the big screen

Screen Gems has opted to wade once more into the murky waters of putting a video game property on the big screen, signing a deal to distribute a live action film version of the very popular PlayStation 3 title, “The Last of Us.” The film will be written by Neil Druckmann, the creative director of the game, and produced by Sam Raimi and Ghost House Pictures amongst others.

As a game, “The Last of Us” takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where a fungus has destroyed more than half of the world”s population and turned many into something akin to, but not quite, zombies. Best termed a “survival horror” game which places it in the same category as early “Resident Evil” titles, “The Last of Us” was developed by Naughty Dog and has won a number of awards including one from the WGA. It should be noted that Screen Gems is also responsible for putting “Resident Evil” on the big screen.

This movie is clearly still in the early stages of development and it remains to be seen how the plot is translated to the big screen (many filmic adaptations of video games have strayed greatly from the source material). The press release announcing the project offered up a statement from Screen Gems” President Clint Culpepper, where he said, in part, “When I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay.”

No dates or other details about the adaptation were given in the press release, but it will be interesting to see how the film develops and how Druckmann and the producers opt to distinguish their vision from other zombie (or zombie-esque) movies and television shows.

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