Len Wiseman to Direct Gears of War
Last year it was reported that Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman was in talks with New Line to develop and direct a big screen adaptation of the popular X-Box 360 video game Gears of War. A year later, and the project has now been officially announced. Speculation first began when Wiseman featured the game in the fourth Die Hard film. Wiseman will develop the story with Chris Morgan, whose credits include Wanted and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I know, not a hugely promising resume. Pirates of the Caribbean screenwriter Stuart Beattie wrote a draft of the film last year. IESB gave that script a 3 out of 10 star review, calling it ”a DUKES OF HAZZARD out of a possible STARSHIP TROOPERS”.
Wiseman has been working with Morgan on Shell Game, a sci-fi thriller set up at Lakeshore/Columbia Pictures (”Set a hundred and fifty years in the future - a detective is faced with a moral dilemma as he investigates the dangerous black market business of immortality.”). Wiseman, made a name for himself in the business as an art director (Stargate, Godzilla, Independence Day, Men in Black), and went on to direct Underworld and its sequel Underworld Evolution. Wiseman is certainly a step-up from Paul W.S. Anderson or Uwe Boll, and his participation guarantees that it will at least be good to look at.
Released in November 2006, Gears has sold over three million units worldwide, becoming the fourth best selling game of last year (not too shabby for only a two month lead). The game became very popular in the online arena of Xbox Live. Gears of War follows the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as The Locust Horde. A video game sequel was announced earlier this year at the 2008 Game Developers Conference. When the film was first announced, New Line has planned on releasing the film in the Summer of 2009, but that timetable is probably unrealistic.
Watch the trailer for the video game below. It makes use of Gary Jules and Michael Andrews somber 2001 cover of Tears for Fears’s Mad World, originally featured in the soundtrack to Donnie Darko.
New Line to make Gears of War Movie
New Line is on a roll. First they win the rights to the Escape from New York remake, and now a big screen adaptation of Microsfot’s popular video game Gears of War.
Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl screenwriter Stuart Beattie is working on the script. No word on who will direct. CAA conducted the auction, which featured a 21 page treatment by Beattie.
Released in November, Gears has sold over three million units worldwide, becoming the fourth best selling game of last year (not too shabby for only a two month lead). The game has become a staple in the online gameplay world of Xbox Live.
Gears of War follows the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as The Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. In cooperative play, the second player plays as Fenix’s friend and fellow soldier, Dominic Santiago (Dom). The two soldiers join up with Delta Squad and battle the Locust Horde through the course of an action-packed campaign.
The story in the game leaves A LOT of room for Hollywood to adapt. This could be a good thing, but also it could be very bad. Look at the Super Mario movie as an example of how wrong this kind of video adaptation could go. But at least Gears is set in the War genre, which will be easier to relate immediately than some of the more fantastical video game franchises (again, Mario).
At the 2007 Game Developers Conference Cliffy B confirmed that Epic Games does “intend to do a sequel” to Gears of War possibly set to be released in 2008.