It never ends : The upcoming Game Movies Thread

[Bells]

Cold Fear (2008)
Fear Effect (2008)
Area 51 (2009)
Castlevania (2009)
Clock Tower (2009)
Halo (2009)
Kane & Lynch (2009)
The Legend of Spyro (2009)
Metal Gear Solid (2009)
Onimusha (2009)
Sabotage 1943 (2009)
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
Spy Hunter (2009)
The Suffering (2009)
Tekken (2009
Warcraft (2009)/World of Warcraft (2011)
Bioshock (2010)
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (2010)
Driver (2010)
Earthworm Jim (2010)
Gears of War (2010)
God of War (2010)
Joust (2010)
King of Fighters (2010)
Mortal Kombat (2010)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Resident Evil 4 (2010)
Splinter Cell (2010)

Source: http://kotaku.com/5113270/at-least-28-video-game-movies-in-production

So, none of these dates are set in stone or anything... but it gives us something to fear about.

I mean... Joust? Earthworm Jim? Joust? Tekken? Joust? God of War? Joust?!

Know the name of thy pain, for pain soon comes to ye. In the theaters...

PS: I just got the official Script of the Joust movie...

http://www.mono211.com/popcultscanfun/joust-2600-comic-ad.jpg

They seem close to the source material...

[Kim]

I think Earthworm Jim and Clock Tower have the most potential. Clock Tower especially.

[phil_]

I hope the World of Warcraft movie is machinima and it's entirely about grinding rep and engineering to get to get a flying machine. I can identify with that. And, yeah, Clock Tower could be cool if they skip the "this is why you should care" part and get straight to "this poor girl is stuck in a building with a crazy guy with giant scissors and he's gonna kill her."

[Krylo]

I think it'd be better if they made it live action, but still exactly like you described it.

Hilarity.

[RickZarber]

Further details, according to a very brief internet search (ie IMDb and Wiki):

Cold Fear (2008) - No information available.
Fear Effect (2008) - Same as above, but Uwe Boll producing, so...
Area 51 (2009) - Screenplay written last year, nothing else.
Castlevania (2009) - Shelved during the writers strike.
Clock Tower (2009) - Currently filming. This one is a go.
Halo (20??) - No script, no director, not happening any time soon.
Kane & Lynch (2009) - Supposedly filming, or soon. This one is a go.
The Legend of Spyro (2009) - CG movie, supposedly on track for next Xmas.
Metal Gear Solid (20??) - Still in the writing stage.
Onimusha (20??) - Christophe Gans directing, delayed due to the death of Heath Ledger.
Sabotage 1943 (2009) - It's Uwe Boll, do you need to know more?
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) - Coming out in February.
Spy Hunter (20??) - Director John Woo dropped out and Paul W.S. Anderson replaced him. Scripting started over.
The Suffering (2009?) - Supposedly started production in 2006. Can't find solid info on if it'll be ready for an '09 release.
Tekken (2009) - No release date, but on schedule for '09.
Warcraft (20??)/World of Warcraft (20??) - Announced but still no writer or director.
Bioshock (2010?) - In pre-production. Gore "Pirates of the Caribbean" Verbinski directing.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (20??) - I could find no info on this one.
Driver (2010?) - Delayed from 2007, currently still on hold from what I can tell.
Earthworm Jim (201?) - Other than a director, I could find no info on this one.
Gears of War (201?) - "In development", but I can't find any solid info on how far.
God of War (201?) - Script is written, no director is attached.
Joust (201?) - Same deal as Gears of War, only less reputable.
King of Fighters (2010) - Filming, on track for a '10 release.
Mortal Kombat (2010?) - I've heard for years that they've been trying to make a third MK movie. Whether or not it happens... eh, we'll see.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - We all know this one's happening.
Resident Evil 4 (201?) - Paul W.S. Anderson has announced his intentions to start working on this eventually. It's potentially years away.
Splinter Cell (2010) - There has been no movement on this film since the writer and director left the project in 2005. I'd consider it shelved.

Hopefully some of that is helpful. Still, that's only eight of them coming out in the next two years.

[Bells]

i do like the Clock tower posters

http://www.ohmygore.com/movies/clock_tower/poster_teaser_08.jpghttp://www.ohmygore.com/movies/clock_tower/poster_teaser_04.jpghttp://www.ohmygore.com/movies/clock_tower/poster_teaser_03.jpg

But it IS directed by the director of the Hills have Eyes II , so...

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Yeah, most of these have been "in production" since the dawn of time. I remember seeing Tekken mentioned about 10 years ago at least. I doubt even half of them will ever see the light of day.

And of course, the other half will suck arse!

[Osterbaum]

I wonder what the deal with VG movies is. Why is it so hard to make them not suck?

A good way to start would be to not let Uwe Boll anyway near any of them.

One of those movies actually sparks my interested just from reading it's name. That one is Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. No info on it though, so we'll see.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I think what happens is, they see that there's this game that's really popular and think, "Hey, let's cash in on this franchise while it's hot and make loads of money off the fans!" But then they start to make the movie and whoever's in charge of the finances runs up the numbers and comes to the realisation that there aren't enough fans in the world to make back enough money to turn a profit, so they instead have to make the movie more appealing to a wider audience, which means changing lots of things about what made the game great, which alienates the fans.

So they start off with good intentions and try to keep it in line with the original source material, but as production goes on it slowly warps into something only vaguely related to what it was supposed to be based on.

That's just my theory though.

[Mirai Gen]

Or more accurately; They see a franchise, decide to rape it, and end up hiring no-talent hacks to work on them because our franchises are disposable.

Which is really dumb; honestly the Max Payne movie could have been great if they got a decent writer and stunt choreographer for it. How do you screw up a movie about a game inspired by John Woo? Well, learn something new.

[Kaneda]

With Gore Verbinski and the writer of Aviator and Gladiator, Bioshock seems like one of those "ooh, maybe it won't suck horribly" ones we can get our hopes up for only to be sadly disappointed.

[Bells]

You know... it's really a weird business...

On one end, the wouldn't be interested in a videogame movie if there was no chance of profit... so, changing the source material to "Open it" to a bigger audience may sound necessary, but at the same time it's actually jarring...

And on the other end, filmmakers dont want to reproduce a game frame-by-frame on the screen because that would be non-creative. But if you go too far from the source material you increase the chances of alienating your core audience... which was the reason you got to do the movie in the first place!

finding that sweet spot is damn hard... where do you draw a line on a Devil May Cry movie that has fidelity to it's source, is fresh enough to please the core fans. And at the same time, it has to be open enough so that new fans are attracted to the point where it is profitable. That's a damn thing to balance...

[Masked Jedi]

Video game movies will continue to suck as long as Uwe Boll continues making them. He intentionally makes them bad so his investors get tax breaks when they flop.

[TheWolf13]

Actually I think most Uwe Boll movies have actually made money due to having really low budgets. There have been some decent video game movies. The original Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Silent Hill(though I never actually finished any of those games), and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. All of those stuck very closely to the game.

I think movies that flop big are the ones that depart from the premise of the game or try to reinvent the story. Resident Evil struck me as a good transition from the first game to the second. Tomb Raider could very well have been one of the games with less dialogue and more exploring. Silent Hill I think captured the creepiness and what the heck moments you feel playing the game. Advent Children was a sequel to a game.

It is interesting that directors and producers feel the need to recreate a movie to expand it's appeal. Videogames are extremely popular already. Most fans of the franchise want to see something faithful while others will go to see the movie because they are fans of the genre and it looks like a good movie.

The other problem is that production companies don't sink money into the movies because they think fans will see it anyways(they are right). Movies like Doom and just about every Uwe Boll movie weren't big hits because they were bad movies. Fans need to stop going to video game movies unless it is quality.

[Kim]

I have a few complaints about the Silent Hill movie, but it's a lot better if you pretend it has nothing to do with the source material, which is hard when you got
Pyramid Head walking about for no goddamn reason.

[Mirai Gen]

On one end, the wouldn't be interested in a videogame movie if there was no chance of profit... so, changing the source material to "Open it" to a bigger audience may sound necessary, but at the same time it's actually jarring...
I can honestly say that if they took the material and made a decent movie with it first and foremost you would have much less problems than making a shitty movie and calling it Double Dragon or Street Fighter.

Really fans will bitch but movie developers will make lots of money, which is what this is obviously all about anyway.
There have been some decent video game movies. The original Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Silent Hill(though I never actually finished any of those games), and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

http://pics.livejournal.com/miraigen/pic/0005c3qk

[Kage_Kurisu]

For Broken Sword, I think they should get Brendan Frasier for George. I mean look at George Stobbart... He IS Brendan Frasier. (but a blonde version as opposed to brunette...)