Spore

A film based on EA's popular sim could be coming to the big screen.

"With Spore, we're looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc. We're basically planting the seeds to spread Spore out to a much wider group of people than would ever play a computer game," creator Will Wright told Reuters in an interview in August.

Spore begins in the primordial ooze, as players create a character from DNA that will grow, survive, and mate as it evolves from a single-celled organism to a fully-formed member of an establishing species. As more and more creatures inhabit the world, and as evolution forms the future, your species will join herds, clans, even civilizations. The more advanced the creatures of the planet grow, the more complex the strife of survival becomes.

It's a hugely customizable gaming experience that would certainly be a challenge to bring to the big screen.

Spy-Hunter

Spy-Hunter has been in development for some time now, but things on the project based on Midway's hit game appear to have slowed to a crawl.

The latest is that Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson has been tapped to write and direct the movie for Universal. Anderson joined the project last summer and at the time he told industry insider mag Variety that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is not currently set to play the title role, as had been the case when the project was first setup.

The movie follows a fighter pilot turned intelligence agent who does battle with a nefarious terrorist organization from behind the wheel of his fully armed G-6155 Interceptor vehicle. From inside the car, which has morphing capabilities that allow it to change from a car into a motorcycle, jet ski and submarine, he hunts the dangerous spies and assassins of Nostra, who engage him in their own sophisticated vehicles.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

20th Century Fox will release the new Street Fighter movie, about female fighter Chun Li, played by Kirsten Kreuk, in February.

Kreuk stars along with, Neil McDonagh (M. Bison), Chris Klein (Nash), Michael Clark Duncan (Balrog) and Robin Shou (Gen). Actress Moon Bloodgood stars as a new character, Detective Maya Sunee.

So, what's up with the flick focusing on Chun Li and clearly not including some of the videogame's most popular characters? Screenwriter Justin Marks wrote on the movie's blog, ""Think of the X-Men franchise," he wrote. "Think of the way it started with a simple story of Wolverine trying to find a place in the world. And then it spawned an entire universe of amazing characters. If we didn't keep this movie grounded, we would risk turning Street Fighter into a parody of itself. And to those of us who are fans of fighting franchises, the last thing we want is a movie that doesn't take itself seriously"

Romeo Must Die helmer Andrzej Bartowiak is directing.

Tekken

Tekken, based on the long running and highly successful Namco video game franchise of the same name, is written by Alan McElroy (Spawn, The Marine) and directed by Dwight Little (Anacondas, Murder at 1600). The flick's fight choreography is handled by Dion Lam (Spider-Man 2, Doom, Red Cliff).

Set in 2039, the film tells what happens as the greatest fighters from around the world come to compete in the last and greatest sporting event of all time, the Fist Tournament. After World Wars destroy much of civilization as we know it, the remaining territories are no longer run by governments, but by corporations the mightiest of which is Tekken. In order to keep the masses down, Tekken sponsors the Iron Fist Tournament in which fighters compete to the death for ultimate glory and receive a lifetime of stardom and wealth.

The story follows Jin Kazama, a street fighter that enters the tournament in order to avenge the death of his mother that he blames upon Tekken's powerful and controlling Chairman, Heihachi Mishima. He knows that the only way to get close enough to Mishima to kill him is to win the tournament. With the help of Lucas, an ageing Iron Fist Champion and fight trainer, Jin makes his way through the tournament, but in doing so, he begins to uncover his own past and inner demons as well as exposing a dark underbelly to Tekken that threatens the very existence of humanity.

Area 51 Movie Update
Grant Morrison on adapting the vidgame for the screen.
by Stax
July 2, 2007 - Comic book icon-turned-screenwriter Grant Morrison is reportedly close to completing his first draft of the Midway videogame-to-film adaptation Area 51 for Paramount Pictures and producer Stan Winston.

The film will follow a hazardous materials specialist called in to investigate a viral outbreak -- one that is possibly extra-terrestrial in nature -- at the U.S. government's most top-secret military facility.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Doctor Cray and Mister White will be in the film. As for the team sent in to investigate, they'll be a collection of new characters for the movie. But there will be settings and environments in the film inspired by the new Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game BlackSite: Area 51, which ships in September; but the story comes from the mind of Morrison."

Morrison, a gaming fan, informed THR, "The video game adaptation allows us to create new and more contemporary screen heroes for the 21st century while still enjoying the safety net of an established franchise."

He added, "I think it's always important to honor the source of one's material, and only by playing games can a filmmaker know what makes them tick and how best to translate game effects into the very different language of Hollywood drama."

Wolfenstein Movie Update
Avary's script reportedly due soon.
by Jim Vejvoda
August 4, 2008 - Progress on the long-in-development game-to-film Return to Castle Wolfenstein is expected once screenwriter Roger Avary turns in his screenplay adaptation, which will reportedly happen soon.

In a chat with Eurogamer, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead said, "With the writer's strike it took so long to get underway and Roger Avary, the writer, had a commitment that was in line before working the Wolfenstein stuff, but I've recently been in contact with Roger and he's actually working on the script right now."

Hollenshead added, "There's some contract provisions and if they don't have certain things done within a certain period of time they can't just sit on the rights forever and not use them."

Avary was hired last summer to write and direct Wolfenstein for Davis Films, but he was arrested in January under the suspicion of manslaughter and driving under the influence in a car accident that killed one of his passengers.

Warcraft Movie Update
What's the status of the game-to-film?
by Jim Vejvoda
October 13, 2008 - Gamers expecting to see a World of Warcraft movie sometime in the next year should not hold their breath for it, according to a new report online.

Shacknews reports that Blizzard president Mike Morhaime spoke about the planned movie adaptation of Warcraft while appearing at this past weekend's BlizzCon 2008.

"I don't know about the 2009 date, but it is still something we are very excited about," Morhaime said about the movie. "We do have a draft of a script, it isn't final. ... I think we still need to do a lot of work."

Blizzard had announced a 2009 release for the Warcraft film at last year's BlizzCon. Blizzard is developing the feature film along with Legendary Pictures (300, The Dark Knight). They envision Warcraft as a live-action, digital effects-heavy epic. The movie reportedly won't follow any of the games but will be set in the same fantasy universe.