Behaviour Interactive’s hit survival-horror game Dead by Daylight is set to receive the Jason Blum treatment in an upcoming film adaptation from Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, but when can we actually expect to see it in theaters?
Dead by Daylight, affectionally known as DBD, is an asymmetrical multiplayer video game that pits four “Survivors” against one “Killer” in a quest to, well, not get impaled on sacrificial hooks and consumed by the “Entity.” The game was initially released for Windows in 2016 and has since been made available for Playstation, Xbox, Switch, Android, and iOS, on top of becoming Steam Deck Verified in 2023.
The sky is truly the limit in DBD, which is often referred to as the “Horror Hall of Fame,” having worked out licensing deals with iconic franchises such as Halloween, Child’s Play, Saw, and even … Nicolas Cage? Nonetheless, the game has garnered a fanbase of well over 50 million players, making it somewhat unsurprising that Blumhouse would leap at the opportunity to adapt it for the big screen.
Yes, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are still helming a Dead by Daylight adaptation
Variety first broke the news that a Dead by Daylight movie was in the works back in March 2023, with Stephen Mulrooney, executive vice president at Behaviour Interactive, telling the outlet, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with Jason Blum and James Wan, two giants of the horror film industry, to further expand the Dead by Daylight universe.”
At the time, a writer or director had yet to be attached to the project, and a year into development, that still appears to be the case. However, Blumhouse vice president Ryan Turek offered a hopeful update on its progress while speaking with Collider earlier this year, revealing that he’s “active” on the film and sees it “as the celebration of horror that the video game itself is.”
It also helps that Turek is a huge fan of the video game, adding, “I played, even though I steer to newer games like Alan Wake 2, and I’m like, ‘Let me play some Alan Wake 2 tonight … Eh, I’m gonna get into Dead by Daylight and play the Killer tonight.’ That one I’m super excited about, and we’re creatively mulling around what the way into it is.”
While Turek didn’t explicitly confirm the status of the Dead by Daylight movie, he did suggest that the horror flick is eyeing a start date sometime in 2024, meaning cameras could get rolling soon. Still, the project has no known screenwriter, director, or release date, implying that it’s not exactly a priority amid Blumhouse’s—admittedly, very loaded—lineup.
Given the $297 million success of October’s Five Nights at Freddy’s, which saw teen heartthrob-turned-scream queen Josh Hutcherson in the lead, it makes sense that Blumhouse would put all its eggs in one basket with horror video game adaptations. Plus, 2024 hasn’t exactly been kind to the production company so far, with Night Swim and the more recent Imaginary being early contenders for this year’s Razzies Awards. To put it lightly, Jason Blum and Co. need a big win—and soon.
If executed well, Dead by Daylight could be the perfect film to pull Blumhouse out of a months-long slump, though it will have to integrate a lot of lore to appease hardcore fans. But if Five Nights at Freddy’s can pull it off enough to generate a sequel, well, maybe DBD can, too.
Although there hasn’t been much of an update regarding the Dead by Daylight movie, fans can rest well knowing that Ryan Turek and Stephen Mulrooney, at the very least, seem dedicated to the production and making sure it captures the same magic as its video game counterpart.
There’s no denying that Dead by Daylight has some serious potential to be one of Blumhouse’s next big properties, given the game’s unique premise of pitting original characters against some more familiar ones. As for its release window, however, only time will tell when the next installment in the Blumhouse survival game cinematic universe (BSGCU?) hits the big screen.
(featured image: Behaviour Interactive)
