{"id":323767,"date":"2026-02-06T17:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/323767\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:32:10","slug":"isabela-merced-to-star-in-house-of-the-dead-movie-adaptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/323767\/","title":{"rendered":"Isabela Merced To Star In ‘House Of The Dead’ Movie Adaptation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE<\/strong>: Yesterday we brought you news<\/a> of a hot game-to-TV adaptation from Craig Mazin. Today, we can break news that The Last Of Us, Superman and Alien: Romulus star Isabela Merced<\/a> has been set to lead the movie adaptation of hit Sega videogame franchise, The House Of The Dead<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs we first told you a little while back, this one should be in good hands with writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson, who did big things on screen for fellow zombie franchise classic Resident Evil.<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst released in 1997,\u00a0The House of the Dead\u00a0was a fast-paced, horror shooter with a groundbreaking zombie\/creature premise. That included the innovation of giving its undead villains the ability to run, something that inspired films from Zack Snyder\u2019s\u00a0Dawn of the Dead\u00a0remake to Marc Forster-directed\u00a0World War Z. It was\u00a0The House of the Dead\u00a0that first evolved the flesh-eaters from the lumbering stumblers that George Romero brought to life in his movies. In the arcade game, players take on the role of AMS agents, a government agency tasked with thwarting the conspiracies of organizations that threaten the world. The title comes from the bureau they work for, because their life expectancies are brief.<\/p>\n

\n\tRocket Science will launch international sales at next week\u2019s European Film Market where the project will be a hot prospect given Merced\u2019s upward curve and the buzzy genre material. The partners very much see it as a franchise starter. CAA Media Finance is repping domestic.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson will produce alongside his Resident Evil partner\u00a0Jeremy Bolt,\u00a0Sega\u2019s\u00a0Toru Nakahara\u00a0(Sonic the Hedgehog)\u00a0and Story Kitchen\u2019s\u00a0Dmitri M. Johnson (Tomb Raider TV series),\u00a0Michael Lawrence Goldberg\u00a0and\u00a0Timothy I. Stevenson.\u00a0Isabela Merced\u00a0will be executive-producing.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe movie is described to us as \u201ca top Sega priority\u201d after the success of\u00a0Sonic the Hedgehog, with the idea to make it as immersive as possible and with a story that plays out in real-time but with a \u201cfresh take\u201d on the franchise.<\/p>\n

\n\tMerced recently starred as Hawkgirl in\u00a0Superman\u00a0from director James Gunn and will reprise the role in the upcoming\u00a0Man of Tomorrow. She starred in season two of\u00a0The Last of Us\u00a0and is set to return for season three, and is also known for 20th Century Studios\u2019 hit\u00a0Alien: Romulus. She will next be seen in features\u00a0Psyche\u00a0and\u00a0Ibelin.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cThe House of the Dead is a game I have loved for many years, and I\u2019m beyond thrilled to be bringing this to the big screen with such an exciting talent as Isabela at its heart.\u00a0We envisage this as the start of a tentpole franchise which can explore the rich world and lore that Sega has created over a whole series of films.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNakahara\u00a0added:\u00a0\u201cWorking with Isabela is a thrilling opportunity as she embodies the heroine character perfectly, bringing dynamic energy to the production. We\u2019re dedicated to crafting a visually striking and immersive experience by introducing compelling actors and terrifying creatures that will bring the House of the Dead universe to life on the big screen. With our deep understanding of video game adaptations, we\u2019re eager to deliver an electrifying cinematic journey for the franchise\u2019s fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStory Kitchen\u00a0commented:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to bring together Isabela, Paul, Jeremy and Sega, alongside our partners at Rocket Science and CAA Media Finance. It\u2019s a powerhouse group coming together for a truly iconic property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA 2003 movie version of the video game from Uwe Boll was largely derided and failed to ignite at the box office. Auspices are much better this go around.<\/p>\n

\n\tMerced\u00a0is represented by CAA and Peikoff Mahan;\u00a0Anderson\u00a0by CAA, Ken Kamins at Key Creatives & Alexander Lea at Wiggin;\u00a0Bolt\u00a0by Alexander Lea at Wiggin;\u00a0Story Kitchen\u00a0by WME and Pryor Cashman; Toru Nakahara\u00a0negotiated on behalf of Sega.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Yesterday we brought you news of a hot game-to-TV adaptation from Craig Mazin. Today, we can break…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[151126,18,117,19,17,155907,327,155908],"class_list":["post-323767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-efm","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-isabela-merced","tag-movies","tag-the-house-of-the-dead"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116024884804804928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}