Bat Boy Tabloid Weekly World News Launches Entertainment Division; Sets Tonya Pinkins Pic ‘The Zombie Wedding’ As First Project

EXCLUSIVE: Weekly World News—the supermarket tabloid behind such wacky characters as Bat Boy, Manigator, P’lod the Alien, Ph.D. Ape and SpyCat—is launching an entertainment division.

Weekly World News Studios will focus on developing film, TV and podcast projects, based on the company’s library of over 110,000 articles and 300+ original characters.

WWN’s Editor-in-Chief Greg D’Alessandro will oversee the entertainment division as CEO; veteran theater producer Joe Corcoran will serve as its Director of Development.

“There has been an enormous amount of interest in the WWN IP over the last few years. We have a vast library of colorful characters and highly creative stories we are developing with our talented in-house writers and with various production partners, ” said D’Alessandro. “We are excited for what lies ahead and thrilled to finally be able to bring Weekly World News to the world of TV, film, and digital media.”

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The first film to emerge from Weekly World News Studios will be an adaptation of The Zombie Wedding, the interactive play penned by D’Alessandro and produced by Corcoran. The project is billed as a horror-comedy with music, falling somewhere between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Shaun of the Dead.

In it, a young South Carolina couple decides to go through with their long-awaited wedding – during the Zombie Apocalypse. Unfortunately, he’s a zombie and she’s not. Their families are nervous, but the humans prove to be overly judgmental. When the Zombies begin feeling brain deprived, the ceremony takes a turn for the weird. WWN reporters are there to cover this wild wedding, while trying to get out alive.

Tony-award winning actress, writer, and producer Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last Jam, Red Pill) is attached to direct the project, which D’Alessandro and Corcoran will produce. Acclaimed jazz fusion/funk guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly is also on board, to craft its score.

“Our goal is to bring a sense of joy, amazement and surrealist fun to all our projects. Zombie Wedding is the perfect project to launch our studios,” said D’Alessandro. “It’s done extremely well as an interactive theatrical event with audiences of all ages. We know film audiences will have a blast watching the film adaptation.”

“I am ecstatic to bring my two great loves – musicals and zombies – together!”, added Pinkins.

Weekly World News was founded in 1979. In the 40+ years since, it has grown into a global brand followed by millions of fans.

WWN reached a peak circulation of 1.2 million per issue in 2003 and continues to have a strong presence online and on social media, under the leadership of D’Alessandro and President David Collins. The tabloid returned to print with WWN’s Greatest Covers in April of this year.

View this article at Deadline.