Game to movies

**Game to movies -** 10-23-2008, 01:51 AM

Alice

American McGee's Alice, the gamemaker's twisted take on Alice in Wonderland, has been on and off for over a decade. The latest iteration had Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar set to star, but as of June the whole thing seemed to be on the skids.

Producer Scott Faye wrote on his blog: "Alice is presently in 'turnaround' from Universal Studios. Jon and Erich Hoeber have written a very compelling feature film screenplay adaptation of the Alice game. Their screenplay will certainly serve as a jumping off point as we find a new studio home for the project. In terms of the realistic chances of seeing the Alice project being produced, all I can say is that I have invested (along with Julie Yorn and Karen Lauder, my producing partners on the project) a lot of time and effort in this project. We will get it made."

Director Marcus Nispel (Pathfinder) had been attached, but both he and Gellar are no longer linked. It sounds like it could still happen. It took eight years for them to make Max Payne, after all.

10-23-2008, 01:51 AM

BioShock

Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski has been hired by Universal Pictures to helm and produce a movie version of 2k Games/Irrational Games first-person shooter BioShock.

The script will probably be written by John Logan (Sweeney Todd, The Aviator).

For the uninitiated, BioShock is a unique game that mixes a spine-chilling setting illustrated with art deco art and architecture, sci-fi themes of bio-genetic mutation and self-modification. After your plane crashes into icy uncharted waters, the player discovers a rusted bathysphere and descend into Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea. Constructed as an idealistic society for a hand picked group of scientists, artists and industrialists, the idealism is no more. Now the city is littered with corpses, wildly powerful guardians roam the corridors as little girls loot the dead, and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn.

10-23-2008, 01:52 AM

Castlevania

Last we heard, director Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) had been hired by Rogue Pictures and Crystal Sky Entertainment to direct their movie version of the classic Konami vampire videogame Castlevania. White, who is also attached to the film adaptation of Frank Miller's Ronin, took over from Paul W.S. Anderson who had planned to direct, but opted to make Death Race instead. The studios have also brought in Death Sentence scribe Ian Jeffers to do a rewrite of the film.

The Castlevania movie had been set for a 2008 release, but it hit a few bumps in the road. It's been a year since we've had confirmation that this project is still in development. It could be a great one, so we'll keep tracking it and have more for you soon.

10-23-2008, 01:52 AM

Clock Tower

Hairspray hottie Brittany Snow is set to star in this Senator Entertainment adaptation of the best-selling Capcom videogame franchise.

The story centers on a young woman gets a disturbing phone call from her estranged mother warning her not to come home. When she investigates, she uncovers a terrible supernatural truth from her past.

Martin Weisz, director of The Hills Have Eyes II, is helming the project, which is set for a November production start in Los Angeles.

10-23-2008, 01:53 AM

Duke Nukem

Max Payne producer Scott Faye is planning to bring another videogame maverick to the big screen, Duke Nukem.

Faye is collaborating with publisher 3D Relms' Scott Miller on the project. He says, "I'm working diligently at making a Duke Nukem movie scenario that will live up to the character and its import in the videogame world... as is the case with all of my game adaptations, I'd rather not make the movie than make a poor adaptation."

The gun-toting, bleach-blonde antihero has been causing carnage on a variety of gaming platforms since his 2-D, PC debut back in 1991, with two next-gen console offerings in now the making, as well as the long-delayed PC update Duke Nukem 4Ever

10-23-2008, 01:54 AM

Far Cry

Perennial videogame movie director Uwe Boll stikes again! The Far Cry flick is actually finished, but as far as we know it's still look for a distributor.

Til Schweiger (King Arthur) stars in the role of the charismatic ex-elite soldier Jack Carver, Emmanuelle Vaugier (Blonde & Blonder, CSI:NY) will play reporter Valerie Cardinal and Craig Fairbrass (The Bank Job) has been cast as Parker.

Udo Kier (Grindhouse, Blade, BloodRayne) will reign as the evil and arrogant Dr. Krieger, the obsessive madman behind many mysteries and deadly secrets of the Krieger Corporation and its creature. Natalia Avelon, Ralf Moeller, Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers), Michael Eklund, Don Davis, Jay Brazeau and Chris Coppola (Postal) round out the cast.

10-23-2008, 01:54 AM

Gears of War

Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is set to direct the Gears of War movie, based on the popular Epic Games title.

Screenwriter Chris Morgan has been drafted to pen the script for New Line -- his previous credits include Wanted and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Epic Games exec Mark Rein told Variety in June, "It's like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now. We want to get it right. There's no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think [Wiseman's] the guy who will do it."

Gears of War is tentatively set for a 2010 release.

10-23-2008, 01:55 AM

God of War

A movie version of the PlayStation hit God of War appears to be solidly in development at Universal.

There's been no official announcement on this, but director Brett Ratner (X3, Rush Hour) is rumored to be directing the movie

God of War is a bloody story of vengeance, set in an ancient Greece full of mythical beings and deities. The hero of the story is a Spartan warrior named Kratos, who must carry out missions for the gods on Olympus to prevent Ares from destroying the city of Athens.

Screenwriter David Self is writing the script for the adaptation. His previous credits include Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days, The Haunting, and the upcoming Wolf Man movie.

10-23-2008, 01:55 AM

Kane & Lynch

Kane & Lynch is on the fast track at Lionsgate where they've got Die Hard star Bruce Willis set to play mercenary "Kane" Marcus.
Veteran stunt coordinator and 2nd unit director Simon Crane will make his feature directing debut on the Kyle Ward-scripted action flick based on the popular Eidos Interactive videogame.

The story tells the violent and chaotic journey of two men -- a flawed mercenary and a medicated psychopath. The story will parallel that of the game, which follows the pair as they encounter one another while en route to death row, and together they decide to embark on a quest for revenge against Kane's former employers, one of those mysterious and covert organization types.

Lynch has yet to be cast, but Billy Bob Thornton's name has been kicked around.

10-23-2008, 01:56 AM

Metal Gear Solid
Kurt Wimmer, the filmmaker behind sci-fi actioners Equilibrium and Ultraviolet, is the latest name to be associated with the writing and directing gig on the game-to-film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid.

What exactly would the movie be about? It's unclear, but for his part, game creator Hideo Kojima has hinted that it might be different from any game storyline. "Things one can express in a game are different of those in a movie," he said in a 2004 interview with Variety. "It would have to be a very different script, almost a different story."

What we do know is that writer-actor David Hayter, who has provided the voice for Solid Snake, the game's protagonist for years, will likely not be involved in the movie version. Hayter had pitched his take on the project to Konami, but they passed.