August 1979
The debut issue of Fangoria magazine features prominent coverage of Tom Savini’s make-up effects for Dawn of the Dead.
Fangoria Issue #1
August 25, 1979
U.S. ad for ‘Zombi 2’, released as ‘Zombie’ in North America. Laurel would
eventually prevent the film’s domestic distributors from making any further
references to ‘Dawn of the Dead’ in their advertising campaigns.
Exploiting Dawn of the Dead’s massive European box office success, Italian production company Variety Film domestically releases Zombi 2, a very gory horror-action adventure thriller directed by veteran spaghetti western and giallo filmmaker, Lucio Fulci.
Despite its misleading original title suggesting it to be some sort of sequel to Dawn, both Laurel and Dario Argento surprisingly desist from taking any legal steps against the film’s producers.
Zombi 2 ultimately establishes a veritable zombie movie craze in Europe (particularly Germany) that will lead to the release of numerous cheap – and usually very bad – rip offs through to the early 1980s, most of them also originating from Italy.
September 15, 1979
George Romero and Richard Rubinstein attend a screening of Dawn of the Dead at the Toronto International Film Festival.
October 1979
A second attempt to get Dawn of the Dead rated for an Australian theatrical release is made; this time in the form of an already shortened 123-minute version of George Romero’s theatrical cut. The CB once more refuses classification.
October 24, 1979
Daily Variety magazine reports the film’s total worldwide gross to this point as $24 million.
November 16, 1979
November 16, 1979 First public U.K. screening of Dawn of the Dead (in censored form, cut by a BBFC in-house editor) at the London Film Festival, under the altered title of Zombies – Dawn of the Dead (or just Zombies, according to the original opening credits insert seen in British prints). Again, both George Romero and Richard Rubinstein are present.
December 1979
Famed horror author and longtime Romero admirer Stephen King puts Dawn of the Dead on top of his personal list of 1979’s best movies in a column written for the year-end double issue of Rolling Stone magazine.