Gears of War... the movie

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Gears of War... the movie

New Line has won feature rights to Microsoft and Epic Games' hugely popular vidgame "Gears of War," with Stuart Beattie penning the adaptation and Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey producing via their Temple Hill banner.CAA conducted the auction, which featured a 21-page treatment by Beattie, who wrote "Collateral" and the upcoming "3:10 to Yuma" and "30 Days of Night."
Studio's deal is with Epic, the game's developer, which held onto all ancillary rights to the property when Microsoft signed on to publish the game. Though not announced yet, a sequel vidgame is assured. If development of both projects goes smoothly, New Line and Epic would surely love to see the film and a game sequel come out around the same time.
"Gears" has sold more than 3 million units and is the most popular game on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which allows players to compete against each other online. Though released in November and available only for the Xbox 360 console, it quickly became the fourth-bestselling game of 2006 in the U.S. It won game of the year kudos at the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Interactive Achievement Awards.
Story, which is only modestly developed in the game, concerns a world reeling from an invasion by aliens known as the Locust. A small group of elite soldiers, including main character Marcus Fennix, who is rescued from prison at the beginning of the game, fight to retake the planet Sera for its surviving humans.
Epic developed an extensive backstory in hopes of utilizing it for a film as well as potential novels..... "Gears" lead designer Cliff Bleszinski (known in gamer circles as CliffyB) will exec produce the film and consult on its development for Epic....more

 

[Capeta]

Go Cliffy B!!!

So who's the playing the lead, The Rock?

 

[Mariner]

Let's face it, the final film will be like every movie based on a computer game ever produced:

• Lots of money spent on effects
• Not much money spent on salaries for decent actors
• Practically no money spent on the script/screenplay
  

As a SF afficionado it's highly frustrating what tosh they usually come up with!

 

[jandar]

Typical setup for these types of movies:

1 Semi Famous action hero type to play the lead

Completely stupid overpriced budget forcing cuts in scenes or bad editing.

This forces a halfassed movie that is slightly better on DVD release.

 

[NERO]

Suggestions

This is great news for fans of films based on games. I suggest:

(1) Get Arnold "Da Govenatah" to leave politics and star.
(2) Get Uwe Boll to direct
(3) Infuse a little bit of Brokeback Mountain
------------------

With the above three fulfilled we will have another Super Mario Brothers (which deserves a thread by itself).

 

[Capeta]

If Arnold wasn't so old he'd be a good candidate for the lead. I enjoyed many of his action films such as Predator, Commando, Total Recall, etc.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Wow, Cliffy B executive producer, movin on up!

I feel absolutely no need to see a cheesy Bmovie version of Gears however...

 

[Mariner]

Though I've not seen the film, I understand that they employed proper actors in 300 and compelled them to work out/bulk up as part of the role. This certainly seems the way to progress as opposed to selecting former US wrestlers etc. just because they are already 'big'. A decent actor will usually put the effort in to change their physique (eg. Christian Bale) so it's just a pity that the actioners just usually go for the bulky blokes who can't act!

 

[Todd33]

Wow, Cliffy B executive producer, movin on up!

I feel absolutely no need to see a cheesy Bmovie version of Gears however...

How did Square do with it's FF movie, lose $100 million?

It seems the only way this movie can turn out is like Aliens 2, so I wonder how original it can be. Still sounds more interesting than 95% of the movies made (300 not included!).

 

[infinity4]

18 rated movie, no thanks

 

[DJ12]

We should start a poll now on whether it will suck as much, more or less than Doom.

I am going to say more.

 

[dobwal]

Let Frank Miller write and illustrated the story and based the movie off of that then maybe it might have a chance.

 

[Tap In]

Let Frank Miller write and illustrated the story and based the movie off of that then maybe it might have a chance.

agreed... stylized is the only way to go with this genre.

Lest we end up with a Resident Evil movie type of vibe.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

18 rated movie, no thanks

What do you mean?

 

[inefficient]

Studio's deal is with Epic, the game's developer, which held onto all ancillary rights to the property when Microsoft signed on to publish the game.

Does this confirm PS3 GoW is possible?

Usually ancillary rights entitle you to redistribute a property using a different publisher should you choose to.

 

[Tap In]

Does this confirm PS3 GoW is possible?

Usually ancillary rights entitle you to redistribute a property using a different publisher should you choose to.

I'm thinking they only have the rights to publish in a different format ie film, print or toys but not as a game.

good question though

 

[infinity4]

What do you mean?

i am not 18 yet, and i wouldn't download things illegally

 

[AlNom]

You won't be 18 by the time the movie comes out? You can't have a Gears of War movie without a scene with the chainsaw ripping a Locust to shreds.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

i am not 18 yet, and i wouldn't download things illegally

Well the movie is coming out in 2009 and are you honestly not watching movies that are rated higher than your age? That's.... umm... well... your choice I quess.

 

[AlNom]

Well the movie is coming out in 2009 and are you honestly not watching movies that are rated higher than your age? That's.... umm... well... your choice I quess.

Someone with morals!

As for the movie, I'd almost just want a CG rendition instead of live action. The only person who seems right for any of the Gears of War roles is Terry Tate, who pretty much played as himself, AND he has the build/look to pull off the giant space marine design. Then again, with the master of dialogue that the characters are in the game, they could just as well hire pro-wrestlers.

A CG series made ala the Mad World commercial seems quite appropriate IMHO; it needn't be theatrical quality CG. They've got all these higher quality assets made and they could use the engine to render everything at a fixed framerate at decent speeds.