By: Russ Burlingame on July 18, 2012
Hot on the heels of the sold-out Walking Dead Escape zombie run and obstacle course at PetCo Park across the street from San Diego Comic-Con International, Universal Studios has announced that AMC’s The Walking Dead will invade their theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando during October’s Halloween Horror Nights.
The annual event generally features the classic Universal monsters as well as newer menaces culled from horror movies somewhat more contemporary. The Walking Dead‘s haunted house-style event will join Silent Hill for 2012.
“For fans of the series, we’re going to put you in the footsteps of the characters of the show,” said John Murdy of Universal Studios Hollywood. “Now, you’re not in your living room watching it–you’re living it.”
In fact, the attraction sounds an awful lot like The Walking Dead Escape, with organizers promising that fans will be living the zombie apocalypse and get a sense of what it’s like to try and navigate the walker-infested world of The Walking Dead. The San Diego event, though, was spearheaded by Robert Kirkman’s Skybound, publishers of the comic book series, and while effects guru Greg Nicotero helped oversee the zombie makeup, Kirkman told ComicBook.com back in May that AMC had no real hand in the event.
“This is the first official one and it’s gonna be the best one,” Kirkman said in an interview that centered on the comics but veered off into the Escape. “We’ve got a lot of cool stuff planned for it; it’s really just crazy. It’s like an amusement park ride when you get in there.”
AMC’s name is plastered all over the Universal event, suggesting that the two may have been developed on a parallel track, with the Walking Dead Escape appealing to the readers at Comic-Con while the movie and TV buffs at Universal Studios get AMC’s take.
