Warner Bros. thinks Lollipop Chainsaw might make a good movie

Lollipop Chainsaw writer James Gunn has let slip that Warner Bros. has expressed potential interest in a film based on the game, should the title perform well at retail.

March 15, 2012 2:30 PM5

According to Lollipop Chainsaw‘s lead writer James Gunn, Grasshopper Manufacture’s upcoming game about a cheerleader ridding her high school of zombies with a chainsaw has some silver-screen potential. The quirky and violent concept doesn’t exactly seem like mainstream movie material, but Gunn asserts that publisher Warner Bros. approached him about just such a cross-over project during the game’s early development stages.

“It would be hard to make a Lollipop Chainsaw movie without people knowing the game,” Gunn told Edge in an interview at GDC. Gunn, whose screenwriting credits include films Super and Slither, understands that “these mixed genre movies have a hard time making money.”

“If Lollipop Chainsaw has a big enough audience, which we hope it does, then I think a movie would be a great thing,” Gunn noted. He also points out the rather ironic notion that though a successful game could pave the way for a Lollipop Chainsaw movie, it’d be much more difficult to get a stand-alone screenplay approved for production without the game coming first.

“Gamers are just way more open to different kinds of storytelling,” Gunn said. “Movie-goers just aren’t; they want just one of five genres.”

Gunn also has an idea for why this might be.

“Because games are first and foremost a form of fun, [gamers] are open to more crazy ideas,” he said.