Isabela Merced to Star in "The House Of The Dead" Movie Adaptation

Isabela Merced has been set to lead the movie adaptation of the hit Sega video game franchise "The House of the Dead" from Craig Mazin and Paul W.S. Anderson.

First released in 1997, The House of the Dead was 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’s Dawn of the Dead remake to the Marc Forster-directed World War Z. It was The House of the Dead that 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.

Rocket Science will launch international sales at next week’s European Film Market, where the project will be a hot prospect given Merced’s upward curve and the buzzy genre material. The partners very much see it as a franchise starter. CAA Media Finance is repping domestic.

Anderson will produce alongside his Resident Evil partner Jeremy Bolt, Sega’s Toru Nakahara (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson (Tomb Raider TV series), Michael Lawrence Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson. Merced will be executive producing.

The movie is described to us as “a top Sega priority” after the success of Sonic 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 “fresh take” on the franchise.

Merced recently starred as Hawkgirl in "Superman" from director James Gunn and will reprise the role in the upcoming Man of Tomorrow. She starred in Season 2 of "The Last of Us" and is set to return for Season 3, and is also known for 20th Century Studios’ hit "Alien: Romulus". She will next be seen in the features "Psyche" and "Ibelin".

A 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.