Colin Firth is set to star in the tentatively titled action comedy, New York Will Eat You Alive. STXfilms and Tencent Pictures’ jointly announced the project this week with Todd Strauss-Schulson (Final Girls) attached direct from a screenplay by Alex Rubens with current revisions by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand.
The film is based on Jia Haibo’s Tencent digital comic hit, Zombie Brothers, which accrued more than 28 billion views over 516 episodes, and more than 3.7 billion views across its first two seasons since 2011. The franchise has also been adapted into a popular stage play, which had a record-breaking run of sold out shows across the region.
Tencent Pictures is co-producing with STXfilms alongside Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Michael Parets and Peter Kiernan at Free Association. Edward Cheng is attached as executive producer, along with Conor Zorn and Wenxin She producing and overseeing for Tencent. Strauss-Schulson will also serve as executive producer. Ged Doherty is producing through his production company Above The Line Productions. Drew Simon is overseeing the production for STXfilms along with Patricia Braga and Katie Zhao.
“We always wanted to cast this in a way that would give life to the source material and elevate the action and you can’t achieve that goal any better than hiring Colin Firth,” said Fogelson. “From The King’s Speech to Kingsman, Colin always gives an Oscar-caliber performance. We’re thrilled to be reuniting with him on New York Will Eat You Alive in a role that will allow him to have fun while showcasing his deadpan humor and comic timing.”
STXfilms will distribute the film in the United States and UK. Tencent will release the pic in China.
Firth was honored with the Oscar, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA for his work in The King’s Speech. He received a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for his performance in A Single Man, and most recently starred for STXfilms in the studio’s new adaptation of The Secret Garden for Premium Video on Demand. Firth will next join Stanley Tucci in Supernova, and will be seen in John Madden’s Operation Mincemeat and Eva Husson’s Mothering Sunday. He is represented by Independent Talent, CAA and Prosper PR.