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The Dead by Daylight movie has taken a major, exciting step forward by landing a director. The hit survival horror multiplayer video game features five players, with four taking on the roles of Survivor, and one playing as the Killer, with various different character types now available (including the original trio of killers, The Trapper, The Wraith, and The Hillbilly). As Dead by Daylight celebrates its 10th anniversary, there’s also plenty to expect from the future of the franchise. While it has already spawned several spinoffs, its big screen adaptation is something that has been coming for quite a while.
It was originally optioned by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster back in 2023, but has made slow progress since then. That’s finally changing as it looks set to move full steam ahead following the confirmation that Thordur Palsson (The Damned) will direct the movie. That comes after the news earlier this year that the script will be written by Alexandre Aja (Crawl) and David Leslie Johnston-McGoldrick (The Conjuring 2). In a statement, Blum said:
“There is no better moment than the tenth anniversary to share this news. Thordur is the filmmaker we trust to carry Dead by Daylight from the screen you play on to the big screen you watch in theaters.”
Wan added: “One million people step into Dead by Daylight daily, and this adaptation brings them the world they love most, from Greenville to The MacMillan Estate. Thordur understands that the terror only lands if you care about who’s running, and The Damned proved he can make you feel the walls closing in. That is exactly the instinct this film needs on screen.”
Can The Dead By Daylight Movie Work?
Palsson may not be a household name, but his involvement should make fans more excited for the Dead by Daylight movie. His work on The Damned proved he can do atmospheric, moody horror movie that brilliantly builds the tension as it moves along (and it was a critical hit, with 90% on Rotten Tomatoes), which should be perfect for doing a survival type story like this one.
In terms of Blumhouse’s previous work, the blueprint has to be the Five Nights at Freddy’s movies. They are by no means critical darlings (33% and 17% on Rotten Tomatoes for the two movies, respectively), but they’re very much created for fans of the games and directly tap into what players love about them. They both ended up being hits that pulled in over $200m at the box office, backed by clearly being popular with audiences (the first movie has an 85% RT audience score, the second 82%).
With Palsson onboard, it’s even possible that Dead by Daylight could be the best of both worlds: something that has critical appeal has a tense, creative horror movie, while capturing the spirit of the games and delivering a new experience that still gives fans what they want. Video game movies have come a long way in recent years, and so while there might have been bigger concerns if this was happening at the end of the 2010s or early 2020s, there should be a lot more confidence in it now.
The Dead by Daylight movie does not yet have a release date or cast, but should now start taking shape, with filming potentially ready to begin in 2027.
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