Lionsgate today announced it has optioned the film rights from publisher Deep Silver. The announcement played up the significance of the trailer, talking about how it managed to get 10 million views in two days and how it was featured by Adweek as one of the world's best commercials. The reason for being so trailer-centric is because it will "serve as the primary creative inspiration" for the movie, not the game itself. Lionsgate claims that, like the trailer, the movie "will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling."

"Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck," said Lionsgate's co-COO Joe Drake. "This is exactly the type of property we're looking to adapt at Lionsgate -- it's sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brand recognition around the world, and franchise potential."

Sean Daniel and his production company, Sean Daniel Company, will lead production. Daniel was a producer on The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Tombstone, Dazed and Confused, and a number of other movies in the past.

No writer or director was announced, but as the project is only in the "early development stage" there will be time for those pieces to fall into place.

Daniel's company was identified as one of the parties involved with bringing the game to the big screen when talk of a movie emerged back in February, shortly after the trailer first hit. Deep Silver denied any deal had been made at the time, though it said it had "received a massive amount of interest in the film adaptation rights to the Dead Island IP."

"We are looking for quality above all else for a movie based on Dead Island. We want to do it the right way as film realizations of games (or vice versa) usually fail to deliver what the fans were looking for. We will not go down this route with Dead Island. Deep Silver profoundly believes in the quality and value of its Dead Island IP," said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Deep Silver parent company Koch Media. "We would therefore be honored to work with someone who already has a proven track record with blockbuster movies."

Today's press release also mentioned plans to expand Dead Island into other mediums including novels and graphic novels.