Amazon Studios has hired horror and fantasy cult hero Clive Barker to rewrite "Zombies vs. Gladiators," an action horror project.
Barker, a British filmmaker, artist and author, is known in Hollywood for films like "Hellraiser," which he directed, and "Gods and Monsters," which he executive produced.
With "Zombies," Barker will get to revisit his horror roots only with a slightly different take. The story follows a gladiator who must stop a zombie infestiation in ancient Rome.
"I'm excited by the opportunity to interweave two very rich narrative threads," Barker said in a statement. "One of them concerns itself with the reality of the decadence of Rome and its rise and fall. The other is a fantastical narrative element — the living dead. My brief to myself on this project is to give the audience not only zombies they have never seen before but also a Rome they have never seen before."
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Launched in November of 2010, Amazon Studios has accepted more than 9,000 movie scripts and 1,000 series pilot scripts. Sixteen film projects are currently in development.
"'Zombies vs. Gladiators' is now in the hands of someone who has written genre-defining material throughout his career," Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. "We are excited to see how Clive will add his unique narrative to capture the essence of this story and propel the project into something unique and original that could one day be enjoyed by all audiences."