Not too long ago, Capcom tried to get a declaratory judgment from a Los Angeles court to prevent the owners of the Dawn of the Dead property from suing them after the studio received a letter that argued the similarities between the film and their hit game, Dead Rising. Well, looks like that didn’t work, because Capcom is now being sued by the MKR Group over the dispute. Their complaint outlined a few other similarities besides the premise of “zombies in a mall”:
“Both works are dark comedies,” the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Monday reads. “In both, the recreational activities of the zombies and absurdly grotesque ‘kill scenes’ provide unexpected comedic relief.”
“Both works provided thoughtful social commentary on the ‘mall culture’ zeitgeist, in addition to serving up a sizable portion of sensationalistic violence,” it said.
No word on what MKR is demanding exactly. It’s not like they can halt production of the game, since Capcom stopped producing it awhile back anyways.
So basically though, if MKR wins this lawsuit, no other game developer can make a game involving zombies and humor. Sure, you can have them jump out and scare the crap out of people; but once they start dying in comical ways, that’s just crossing the line. You know, I’ve only seen the more recent remake of Dawn of the Dead, but I’m pretty sure the original movie didn’t have some photographer dropping into the middle of a mall to put cartoonish masks on zombies and kick them down with soccer balls. I could be mistaken.
Via Reuters
13 Comments to Capcom Sued Over Similarities Between "Dead Rising" and "Dawn of the Dead"
by: DeathDream
On February 26, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I use to hate it when people outside the U.S. would say we are a sue happy country. But hell, after reading this, you realize they were right all along. WE ARE SUE HAPPY!!!!
~Death Dream~
by: talondesigns
On February 26, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I would call Dead Rising “Inspired” by Dawn of the dead…
I would most certainly NOT call it: Dawn of The Dead: The Game…
And as we all know, if Dead Rising had failed completely, This “MKR” Group wouldn’t even bother to sue them in the first place (because they wouldn’t get enough money out of it)…
by: Rollett
On February 26, 2008 at 2:45 pm
This doesnt even seem right.. game has been out well over a year.. and they now deside its time to sue ?
by: Iku Tri
On February 26, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Thats what I was thinking….why now?
by: havoc of smeg
On February 26, 2008 at 3:48 pm
whats next? coca cola suing pepsi because they taste similar? ferrari suing lamborghini because they make 200mph supercars?
this is the MKR group being a bunch of over zelous egotists.
by: William
On February 26, 2008 at 3:51 pm
it’s retarded considering Dawn Of The Dead has very few original ideas itself. And even Night Of The Living Dead was a ripoff of earlier ideas.
by: Chris
On February 26, 2008 at 4:13 pm
@talondesigns – How was Dead Rising a failure? It sold fairly well.
by: Handshakes
On February 26, 2008 at 4:25 pm
@Chris – talondesigns is saying that HAD Dead Rising been a financial failure MKR wouldn’t even bother with a lawsuit. But DR was a success and so they are bothering.
At any rate, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody.
by: Bryce
On February 26, 2008 at 4:29 pm
god i love the word Zeitgeist
it’s not said nearly enough
by: Jancz
On February 26, 2008 at 5:23 pm
If there is money to be had people will frivolously try to get at it.
by: BearDogg-X
On February 27, 2008 at 7:46 am
It’s obvious that nobody involved with MKR even played the game, since the game had nothing to do with the movie other than a similiar setting, which is where the similiarities end.
The differences of the Dawn of the Dead movies and Dead Rising are:
DotD: Focus on group of survivors in mall and their daily lives in coping with the world.
DR: Focus on a reporter Frank West and his uncovering the plot on how zombies came to be.
DotD: (remake) Saving one person in another building with no one alive in mall.
DR: Saving numerous people inside the mall and outside the mall. Saving people from killers and cultists.
DotD: (original)Biker gang in mall at beginning mall scene that all die.
DR: Cultists, terrorists, government agents, all out to kill Frank West.
DotD: No idea for zombie plague.
DR: Frank West founds out plot of where the zombie plague comes from.
^Found this on Kotaku
Dead Rising is both a homage to and a parody of the movie, basically.
Also, Capcom could countersue MKR since the argument can be made that Romero’s new Diary of the Dead is a rip-off of Dead Rising.
by: george senda
On March 14, 2008 at 6:49 pm
First, how would I put the little smilies on my blog before my comments ?
Second, before I saw promos for the movie above, I would have thought such a photo was that of shoppers at a mall the morning after Thanksgiving. I have seen people lined up at midnight outside stores which open up as early as 5 am.
Sadly, I never got to go as I worked graveyard for years and always missed out on
stuff like get a tv for a dollar for the first 50 shoppers, but this year,
I am not working and can finally go to an after Thanksgiving sale.
The craziest one I ever saw was at Macy’s in New York. Talk about a cattle call !
” Rollin, rollin’ rollin, keep them shoppers movin’ ….big sale “
by: xbox live fan
On July 6, 2008 at 2:19 am
The people that made dawn of the dead are just mad cause the game I bet made more money than the movie