George A. Romero heavily stamped his footprint in the horror world more than 50 years ago when he released Night of the Living Dead (1968), the first film in his eventual “Living Dead” series that would go on to inspire zombie films, shows, books and special effects worldwide still to this day. Night of the Living Dead was remade in 1990 by special effects artist Tom Savini, and it seems an animated adaptation is coming in September 2021, helmed by director Jason Axinn (To Your Last Death). The new remake is titled Night of the Animated Dead.
The leading role of Ben, originally played by Duane Jones, and played by Tony Todd in the 1990 remake, will be voiced by Dulé Hill (Psych, The West Wing) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) will voice Barbara. Other characters from the original story will be voiced by Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Safe Haven), James Roday Rodriguez (Psych), Katee Sackhoff (Occulus, Riddick), Will Sasso (Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Three Stooges), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Nancy Travis (So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Vanishing).
The original story follows a group of survivors taking shelter and trying to set their differences aside in order to last through the night during an invasion of the walking dead. Though Romero used the original film’s ending as an analogy to highlight the dangers of racism in America, it is unknown whether Night of the Animated Dead will follow this path, the less controversial path of the 1990 remake, or have a newly written ending.
The animation for Night of the Animated Dead is done by Demente Animation Studio (Discovery Kids, Boy and Dragon), and will be released on Digital platforms by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on September 21, 2021, and a DVD/Blu-ray Combo pack will be available on October 5th, 2021.
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