Steve is over at the American Film Market where various studios are trying to sell the international rights to their upcoming films. One of the films being sold is Jonathan Levine's zombie love story Warm Bodies, and Steve snapped a photo of the promo image. The movie stars Nicholas Hoult as "R", a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) after he eats her boyfriend's brains and absorbs his memories. I got to visit the set last week and while I'm embargoed like crazy, I can say the movie looks like an interesting spin on the genre. Judging by this image, it looks like Summit Entertainment is going to play up the romance aspect (the movie also has horror and comedy) and making it look like zombie Twilight. That's a risky bet since I don't think those audiences are going to cross-over, but it's still early in the game and remember: this is trying to sell international studios, not the public.
Hit the jump to check out the promo image. The film also stars Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Analeigh Tipton, and Dave Franco. Warm Bodies opens August 10, 2012. [Update: We've updated the article with a full, comprehensive synopsis as well as a high resolution version of the image]
Here's the full synopsis for Warm Bodies:
Zombies love people, especially their brains. But R (Nicholas Hoult) is different. He’s alive inside, unlike the hundreds of other grunting, drooling undead—all victims of a recent plague that drove the remaining survivors into a heavily guarded city. Now the Zombies roam about an airport terminal, searching for human prey and living in fear of the vicious Boneys, the next undead incarnation.
One day, R and his best friend M lumber toward the city in search of food. There, R first sets his eyes on JULIE (Teresa Palmer), a beautiful human. Determined to save her—first from the other Zombies and then from the Boneys—R hides her in his home, a cluttered 747 aircraft. Julie is terrified, and R’s grunted assurances of “Not…eat” do little to calm her. But when R begins to act more human than Zombie, coming to her defense, refusing to eat human flesh, and even speaking in full sentences, Julie realizes that R is special.
After a few close calls with the Boneys, and with her father mounting an armed search for her, Julie realizes she can’t hide forever. So she sneaks back home, leaving R broken-hearted. Desperate to see her, R decides to comb his hair, stand a little straighter, and impersonate a human long enough to get past the city guards. If only he can prove to the humans that Zombies can change, maybe R and Julie’s love might stand a chance. But with the rampaging Boneys heading toward the city and Julie’s father intent on killing R and his Zombie friends, the stage is set for an all-out battle between the living and the undead.
A genre-bending tale of love and transformation, WARM BODIES is a story about a boy who loves a girl…for more than just her body.