Walmart Purchased the Mall From Daybreak of the Lifeless, As a result of Subtext Is for Cowards

The Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania—simply exterior of Pittsburgh—has lengthy been a beacon of horror historical past, having served because the filming location for George A. Romero‘s 1978 zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. The mall served a twin function for the movie, offering not only a fairly safe place for human survivors to cover out, but in addition slamming dwelling Romero’s social commentary in regards to the risks of brain-dead consumerism. Now, the mall has a brand new proprietor, and it’s sort of good: Walmart.

The most important personal employer in America—to not point out essentially the most small-business-destroying big-box retailer of all of them—made the acquisition on February 4, which as Comics Beat factors out is Romero’s birthday (he died in 2017 on the age of 77). The outlet factors to Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 for the information merchandise, which notes that Cypress Equities will handle the property that Walmart now owns, through an announcement from Walmart itself: “Walmart did buy the Monroeville Mall and could be very concerned with being a part of any future redevelopment of this website. Walmart is working with Cypress on mall operations and potential redevelopment of the location. We’re unable to share any particular plans at the moment.”

No specifics got as to what the way forward for the location may maintain (Cypress informed the station the mall is “properly fitted to a significant redevelopment and repositioning into a mixture of makes use of together with retail and leisure, eating places, residential, hospitality, workplace and public areas,” which may imply absolutely anything), however WTAE does horror followers a strong by mentioning the mall’s Daybreak of the Lifeless connection—in addition to being dwelling to the Residing Lifeless Museum & Present Store, a Romero bust, and the annual Residing Lifeless Weekend horror conference (which proudly payments Pittsburgh as “the zombie capital of the world”).

Famously, Romero and his crew filmed the film throughout the in a single day hours in late 1977 and early 1978—with a short hiatus taken to keep away from continuity disruptions attributable to seasonal Christmas decorations—when the mall was closed for purchasing.

Romero’s widow, Suzanne, informed the station that she expects “redevelopment” will imply “change.” Nevertheless, she hopes Daybreak of the Lifeless will proceed to be an vital a part of the property shifting ahead: “Cities must hold historical past, and that is a part of their historical past.”

Need extra io9 information? Try when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and all the things you’ll want to learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.