Tonawanda News — Local film producer Aleksandar Ivicic is beginning work on a new military-themed movie this weekend. 

The film, Call of Duty Undead, is Ivicic’s eighteenth film. This project is unique for Ivicic, though, as nearly all of the proceeds and a portion of the budget are being donated to a veterans’ charity, Wounded Warriors. 

“You don’t see it happen too much,” Ivicic, a Tonawanda native, said. “All of all of the things being funded, you don’t see veterans fundraising. I wanted to do something unique, something no one has done before.” 

Shooting will begin Sunday at Kronies Bar and Grill in Kenmore, and there is an open call at 6 p.m. for extras — who will be listed in the movie’s credits. The scene at the bar will feature five of the protagonists, who are members of a team called an Alphasquad.

“They play ghosts in a sense,” Ivicic, Tonawanda City High School 2010 graduate, said. “They act in many missions that other people can’t know are going on.” 

The Alphasquad members will face a character named Nicholas Bergman, who creates a drug that cures all illness and prevents aging. But Bergman’s biochemical experiment turns into a virus and spreads quickly. That’s where the Alphasquad members come in. 

Ivicic’s inspiration from the film came from many different sources, like playing Resident Evil video games, as well as zombie movies — which Ivicic wanted to take a step further by developing zombie characters.

“Shawn of the Dead was a big inspiration for me, because it’s actually a lot more character driven,” Ivicic said. 

Ivicic was encouraged to use the film’s profits for charity purposes through his involvement in the Tonawanda City High School Film Festival when Ivicic was a student there. The festival donated proceeds to the Uganda Water Trail one year, and the act stuck with him. 

Ivicic’s goal is to donate no less than 80 percent of the film’s profits and $8,000 of the $30,0000 budget to Wounded Warriors, an organization which offers counseling and medical services to soldiers who have been through a traumatic experience, have been injured, or are taking a leave of absence. 

“They help soldiers get back on their feet and get back into the world,” Ivicic said.

Ivicic is also planning a fundraiser for the charity, which will feature veteran speakers and actors in the film. The lead actor in the film, Kevin Tanski, had a role in The Dark Knight Rises. He’s also taking donations for the budget through www.indiegogo.com/callofdutyundead in an effort to give more of the movie’s budget to Wounded Warriors. 

The film  will be mainly be shot in Buffalo as well as Tonawanda, Rochester, and Springville, and will likely be released in early 2013. 

“There is just so much beautiful architecture,” Ivicic said. “And entertainment can spark any city you go to. When entertainment blooms, the city does with it. I just don’t think enough people take advantage of the area.”