Colin Firth has signed on to star in STXfilms and Tencent Pictures’ action comedy, tentatively titled New York Will Eat You Alive. The news was announced by Adam Fogelson, Chairman of the STXfilms Motion Picture Group, and Edward Cheng, Vice President of Tencent Group, CEO of China Literature and Tencent Pictures.
Todd Strauss-Schulson (Final Girls) will direct the film from a screenplay by Alex Rubens with current revisions by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. New York Will Eat You Alive will be co-produced by Tencent Pictures, STXfilms, and Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan’s Free Association.
New York Will Eat You Alive is inspired by and based on characters created by Jia Haibo in ‘Zombie Brothers’ one of the most popular titles on Tencent’s digital comics and animation platform. Since 2011, the digital comic book has garnered more than 28 billion views over 516 episodes, and its animated series has attracted more than 3.7 billion views across its first two seasons.
The franchise has also been adapted into a popular stage play, which had a record-breaking run of sold out shows across the region. STXfilms will distribute the film in the United States and UK, and through its international output partners, with Tencent handling distribution in China.