Films adapted from videogames don't exactly have the best track record. SUPER MARIO BROS.? Shit. STREET FIGHTER? Crap. Every RESIDENT EVIL sequel? Abysmal. And don't even get me started on Uwe Boll...
But it's no wonder that studios want to adapt films from videogames because lots of games are very cinematic as it is and nowadays a lot of videogames even outperform Hollywood movies.
Yesterday I was reading the news that a BIOSHOCK film will no longer be going forward and so I wondered to myself; "What other movies are still in the works?" After some research (which mainly involved a lot of Googling) I've compiled a list of 10 films which are still in the pipeline. For now.
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (????)
SHADOW is one of my favorite PS2 games ever and still stands as one of the best looking and original games I've played. The sprawling landscape and mountain-sized monsters are the very definition of the word epic and if the same sense of wonder and awe could be emulated in film form then this could be a winner. Of course it could also end up being a massively disappointing mountain of shit. Only time will tell.
The last I heard Seth Lochhead (writer of 2011's HANNA) has been attached to write while being overseen by director Josh Trank (CHRONICLE). An early draft was written in 2009 by Justin Marks who was responsible for STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI but happily that kitten has been drowned in the river and there will be a fresh screenplay. SHADOW would be an extremely easy film to fuck up but it they get it right it could be amazing. No release date has been set as of yet.
TOMB RAIDER (????)
Funnily enough I had been playing the new TOMB RAIDER reboot this last week (which kicks ass by the way) and I thought to myself "Hey, the film franchise sure could do with a reboot as well!" And after some searching lo and behold that is exactly what's happening. The game has been garnering very positive reviews so it's not really a surprise that a film adaptation is in the works.
Apparently Crystal Dynamics is working with GK Films (responsible for RANGO, THE DEPARTED and HUGO) to produce a brand new TOMB RAIDER flick with a brand new Lara Croft.
Obviously the big question is; "who will play Lara Croft?" and I almost vomited when I heard Kim Kardashian's name mentioned somewhere, but it's looking like Camilla Luddington might just be the one. Which makes sense seeing as she's British and she does voice Lara in the new game reboot. A script has reportedly been completed by scribes Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby but as for details that's about it for now.
ASSASSIN'S CREED (2013)
The popularity of the AC franchise makes this one pretty much a no-brainer. ACIII sold 7 million copies in a single month and that's not even taking into account the massive sales of the previous 4 games. Michael Fassbender (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, PROMETHEUS) is attached to play Desmond / Altaïr and now according to the Hollywood reporter Michael Lesslie is on board to produce the screenplay.
Ubisoft’s chief of sales and Marketing Geoffrey Sardin said in November that the movie was fast-tracked and gunning for a 2013 release date but personally I wouldn't bet on it. And perhaps it would be better if Ubisoft took their sweet time with it since their last film PRINCE OF PERSIA was... well it wasn't very good at all.
HALO (2014)
I never really was a big fan of the HALO franchise but its popularity is apparent and it seems ripe for a film adaptation. With an original screenplay written by Alex Garland (DREDD) the IMDb page currently has Ron Perlman, Greg Bryk and Nick Jones Jr listed to star. The estimated budget is $100 million and the film will follow Master Chief and his soldiers as they fight the Covenant on the ring-planet Halo.
UNCHARTED (????)
Everybody who's played an UNCHARTED game knows two things; firstly just how freakin awesome they are, and secondly how cinematic they are. They are basically the videogame equivalent of a Hollywood action blockbuster. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of solid info regarding the film adaptation and I've heard rumors that everybody from Mark Wahlberg to Bradley Cooper would be taking the role of Nathan Drake. The film has also gone through a couple of directors so far. The IMDB page lists Cormac and Marianne Wibberly as screenwriters with Avi Arad producing. It may take a while but I'm confident we'll see an UNCHARTED movie and if it's done right it really could be amazing.
SPLINTER CELL (2014)
The rather sizeable videogame franchise that is Tom Clancy’s SPLINTER CELL is getting the big screen treatment and could be seeing the light of day sometime next year. Ubisoft will be working closely with New Regency Productions. The ‘oh-so-hot-right-now’ Tom Hardy (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, LAWLESS, INCEPTION) is set to slide on the night vision goggles as the film’s protagonist Sam Fisher and Eric Warren Singer (AMERICAN BULLSHIT) will be in charge of the script. No director is attached at the moment.
ASTEROIDS (2014)
File this one under ‘wait... they’re really making that into a film?’ where it sits comfortably alongside MISSILE COMMAND and ANGRY BIRDS (yes there is an ANGRY BIRDS film in the works). And the answer is yes by the way, ASTEROIDS really is being adapted for the big screen. Forgive me but I really can’t see any good coming from this, and I can’t seem to get the idea of ‘BATTLESHIP in space’ out of my head.
The Atari ‘pew, pew, pew!’ classic is moving ahead with FAIR GAME writer Jez Butterworth hired to do a rewrite of an existing script. End of the world obsessed Roland Emmerich was attached to direct at some point but doesn’t seem currently involved.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT (2015)
After Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD) dropped out of the WOW project, director Duncan Jones dropped in to replace him at the helm. Two positive points about Jones are that firstly he is David Bowie's son (which automatically gives him +100 coolness points) and secondly he has a couple of impressive films under his belt (Namely MOON and SOURCE CODE). He is also apparently a WOW fan which is probably one more positive thing for the film. Produced for Legendary Pictures by Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, the script from Charles Leavitt is being kept under wraps at the moment. Legendary is eyeing a 2015 release date with shooting to begin this year. Rumor has it that Johnny Depp might be involved but I'd take that with a grain of salt if I were you.
MASS EFFECT (????)
After being in pre-production limbo for years the MASS EFFECT adaptation was looking to move forward until the script handed in by THOR writer Mark Protosevich was binned. Writer Morgan Davis Foehl was then brought in to take over despite the fact that he doesn't have a single produced screenplay to his name. He did however win the 2009 'Black List' award for the best unproduced screenplay. Apparently he's also a fan of the MASS EFFECT games. That's good. Right?
Legendary Pictures' Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing the flick with Avi and Ari Arad through their Arad Productions shingle. BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Gred Zeschuk are said to be serving as executive producers along with MASS EFFECT exec Casey Hudson.
DEUS EX (????)
Not too long ago Square Enix filed for a trademark on DEUS EX: HUMAN DEFIANCE and everybody expected it to be the title of the next game in the franchise. However it turns out that a couple of recently registered domains (deusex-humandefiance.com & deusexhumandefiancefilm.com) point to it being the title of the upcoming movie from CBS Films. Scott Derrickson (SINISTER) is attached to direct and will also be penning the script with C. Robert Cargill (SINISTER) and he has said that "By combining amazing action and tension with big, philosophical ideas, Deus Ex is smart, ballsy, and will make one hell of a movie. Cargill and I can’t wait to bring it to the big screen"
DUES EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION will serve as the template for the film.
So can any of these upcoming movies break the curse of the videogame-to-film adaptation? Can we finally leave the days of Bob Hoskins the plumber and Kylie Minogue's Lieutenant Cammy behind us? Let's hope so. But as always only time will tell.
But it's no wonder that studios want to adapt films from videogames because lots of games are very cinematic as it is and nowadays a lot of videogames even outperform Hollywood movies.
Yesterday I was reading the news that a BIOSHOCK film will no longer be going forward and so I wondered to myself; "What other movies are still in the works?" After some research (which mainly involved a lot of Googling) I've compiled a list of 10 films which are still in the pipeline. For now.
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (????)
SHADOW is one of my favorite PS2 games ever and still stands as one of the best looking and original games I've played. The sprawling landscape and mountain-sized monsters are the very definition of the word epic and if the same sense of wonder and awe could be emulated in film form then this could be a winner. Of course it could also end up being a massively disappointing mountain of shit. Only time will tell.
The last I heard Seth Lochhead (writer of 2011's HANNA) has been attached to write while being overseen by director Josh Trank (CHRONICLE). An early draft was written in 2009 by Justin Marks who was responsible for STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI but happily that kitten has been drowned in the river and there will be a fresh screenplay. SHADOW would be an extremely easy film to fuck up but it they get it right it could be amazing. No release date has been set as of yet.
TOMB RAIDER (????)
Funnily enough I had been playing the new TOMB RAIDER reboot this last week (which kicks ass by the way) and I thought to myself "Hey, the film franchise sure could do with a reboot as well!" And after some searching lo and behold that is exactly what's happening. The game has been garnering very positive reviews so it's not really a surprise that a film adaptation is in the works.
Apparently Crystal Dynamics is working with GK Films (responsible for RANGO, THE DEPARTED and HUGO) to produce a brand new TOMB RAIDER flick with a brand new Lara Croft.
Obviously the big question is; "who will play Lara Croft?" and I almost vomited when I heard Kim Kardashian's name mentioned somewhere, but it's looking like Camilla Luddington might just be the one. Which makes sense seeing as she's British and she does voice Lara in the new game reboot. A script has reportedly been completed by scribes Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby but as for details that's about it for now.
ASSASSIN'S CREED (2013)
The popularity of the AC franchise makes this one pretty much a no-brainer. ACIII sold 7 million copies in a single month and that's not even taking into account the massive sales of the previous 4 games. Michael Fassbender (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, PROMETHEUS) is attached to play Desmond / Altaïr and now according to the Hollywood reporter Michael Lesslie is on board to produce the screenplay.
Ubisoft’s chief of sales and Marketing Geoffrey Sardin said in November that the movie was fast-tracked and gunning for a 2013 release date but personally I wouldn't bet on it. And perhaps it would be better if Ubisoft took their sweet time with it since their last film PRINCE OF PERSIA was... well it wasn't very good at all.
HALO (2014)
I never really was a big fan of the HALO franchise but its popularity is apparent and it seems ripe for a film adaptation. With an original screenplay written by Alex Garland (DREDD) the IMDb page currently has Ron Perlman, Greg Bryk and Nick Jones Jr listed to star. The estimated budget is $100 million and the film will follow Master Chief and his soldiers as they fight the Covenant on the ring-planet Halo.
UNCHARTED (????)
Everybody who's played an UNCHARTED game knows two things; firstly just how freakin awesome they are, and secondly how cinematic they are. They are basically the videogame equivalent of a Hollywood action blockbuster. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of solid info regarding the film adaptation and I've heard rumors that everybody from Mark Wahlberg to Bradley Cooper would be taking the role of Nathan Drake. The film has also gone through a couple of directors so far. The IMDB page lists Cormac and Marianne Wibberly as screenwriters with Avi Arad producing. It may take a while but I'm confident we'll see an UNCHARTED movie and if it's done right it really could be amazing.
SPLINTER CELL (2014)
The rather sizeable videogame franchise that is Tom Clancy’s SPLINTER CELL is getting the big screen treatment and could be seeing the light of day sometime next year. Ubisoft will be working closely with New Regency Productions. The ‘oh-so-hot-right-now’ Tom Hardy (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, LAWLESS, INCEPTION) is set to slide on the night vision goggles as the film’s protagonist Sam Fisher and Eric Warren Singer (AMERICAN BULLSHIT) will be in charge of the script. No director is attached at the moment.
ASTEROIDS (2014)
File this one under ‘wait... they’re really making that into a film?’ where it sits comfortably alongside MISSILE COMMAND and ANGRY BIRDS (yes there is an ANGRY BIRDS film in the works). And the answer is yes by the way, ASTEROIDS really is being adapted for the big screen. Forgive me but I really can’t see any good coming from this, and I can’t seem to get the idea of ‘BATTLESHIP in space’ out of my head.
The Atari ‘pew, pew, pew!’ classic is moving ahead with FAIR GAME writer Jez Butterworth hired to do a rewrite of an existing script. End of the world obsessed Roland Emmerich was attached to direct at some point but doesn’t seem currently involved.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT (2015)
After Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD) dropped out of the WOW project, director Duncan Jones dropped in to replace him at the helm. Two positive points about Jones are that firstly he is David Bowie's son (which automatically gives him +100 coolness points) and secondly he has a couple of impressive films under his belt (Namely MOON and SOURCE CODE). He is also apparently a WOW fan which is probably one more positive thing for the film. Produced for Legendary Pictures by Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, the script from Charles Leavitt is being kept under wraps at the moment. Legendary is eyeing a 2015 release date with shooting to begin this year. Rumor has it that Johnny Depp might be involved but I'd take that with a grain of salt if I were you.
MASS EFFECT (????)
After being in pre-production limbo for years the MASS EFFECT adaptation was looking to move forward until the script handed in by THOR writer Mark Protosevich was binned. Writer Morgan Davis Foehl was then brought in to take over despite the fact that he doesn't have a single produced screenplay to his name. He did however win the 2009 'Black List' award for the best unproduced screenplay. Apparently he's also a fan of the MASS EFFECT games. That's good. Right?
Legendary Pictures' Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing the flick with Avi and Ari Arad through their Arad Productions shingle. BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Gred Zeschuk are said to be serving as executive producers along with MASS EFFECT exec Casey Hudson.
DEUS EX (????)
Not too long ago Square Enix filed for a trademark on DEUS EX: HUMAN DEFIANCE and everybody expected it to be the title of the next game in the franchise. However it turns out that a couple of recently registered domains (deusex-humandefiance.com & deusexhumandefiancefilm.com) point to it being the title of the upcoming movie from CBS Films. Scott Derrickson (SINISTER) is attached to direct and will also be penning the script with C. Robert Cargill (SINISTER) and he has said that "By combining amazing action and tension with big, philosophical ideas, Deus Ex is smart, ballsy, and will make one hell of a movie. Cargill and I can’t wait to bring it to the big screen"
DUES EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION will serve as the template for the film.
So can any of these upcoming movies break the curse of the videogame-to-film adaptation? Can we finally leave the days of Bob Hoskins the plumber and Kylie Minogue's Lieutenant Cammy behind us? Let's hope so. But as always only time will tell.
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