EA's dark comic Dead Space franchise headed to theaters

Game studio Electronic Arts is teaming up with movie studio Starz Media to create a new animated film that will be the prequel to EA's Dead Space video game, due for release this October 31.

Dead Space covers the gap between the six-part graphic novel series and where the video game picks up, with an added focus on the USG Ishimura mining spaceship's adventure after it collects an unknown artifact that ultimately causes an alien invasion. EA and Starz Media hope to have the film broadcast on TV prior to its release on DVD. International sales of the film will begin at the MIP-TV convention in Cannes, France.

The animation department of Starz Media, Film Roman, is best known for its work on Fox's The Simpsons and King of the Hill, and Nickelodeon's Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!. Suffice it to say that Dead Space is one very, very dark comic, and that no one seeing it will confuse any of the material with "Wubbzy."

Most EA-backed video games receive a lot of press, but its growing interest in films has gone by relatively unnoticed. EA and Starz will reportedly work on two other animated projects based on EA video games, but did not name their titles. The rumor mill went into overdrive after director Steven Spielberg announced he would work with EA to create three game titles, with onlookers wondering if EA planned to collaborate with Spielberg on a film based on an EA title.

The animated Dead Space will also launch around Halloween 2008.