...according to this in Deadline, at least:An auction of screen rights for the PlayStation3 game Heavy Rain is coming to a close. I'm told a deal is near with Unique Features, the film shingle started by Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne after they exited New Line.
Using their own money, Shaye and Lynne posted top bid in an auction held by CAA on behalf of game developers Quantic Dream.
Heavy Rain has sold 1 million units since its release in February. The game's combination of murder, rain and an inherent atmospheric gloom evokes memories of the David Fincher-directed Seven, one of the formative blockbusters at New Line when Shaye and Lynne grew that company into a rival to the majors.
Players hunt the “Origami Killer,” a serial murderer who drowns his victims four days after they are abducted, leaving only a small origami figure and an orchid on the corpse. The game becomes a procedural in which four characters try to solve the crime after another potential victim is kidnapped.
Unique has a first look deal with Warner Bros, but Shaye liked it enough to use his own money and not wait for approval to buy it. A deal should be sealed shortly.
Using their own money, Shaye and Lynne posted top bid in an auction held by CAA on behalf of game developers Quantic Dream.
Heavy Rain has sold 1 million units since its release in February. The game's combination of murder, rain and an inherent atmospheric gloom evokes memories of the David Fincher-directed Seven, one of the formative blockbusters at New Line when Shaye and Lynne grew that company into a rival to the majors.
Players hunt the “Origami Killer,” a serial murderer who drowns his victims four days after they are abducted, leaving only a small origami figure and an orchid on the corpse. The game becomes a procedural in which four characters try to solve the crime after another potential victim is kidnapped.
Unique has a first look deal with Warner Bros, but Shaye liked it enough to use his own money and not wait for approval to buy it. A deal should be sealed shortly.
-I enjoyed the game a lot and can see a decently good movie coming out of it, if they handle some of the plot holes...thoughts?
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It wouldn't be an Oscar winner, but it could be solid entertainment...
ReplyDelete"...if they handle some of the plot holes..."
ReplyDeleteThey won't.
That's a little pretentious of you, no?
ReplyDeleteYou don't know who's writing or directing or handling any of that. The very nature of the game isn't going to be a straight translation to film, even though it's specifically trying to be a cinematic experience, so to say the plot issues won't be resolved with what is essentially going to be a brand new plot is a bit premature...
Perhaps, but let me put it this way: experience favors my pretentiousness. Think about all the video games adaptations ever filmed. I'll even exclude Uwe Boll. You've got Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros, Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat, Wing Commander, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Resident Evil, Doom, Silent Hill, DOA: Dead or Alive, Hitman, and Max Payne. With the possible exception of Kombat, which I'll admit has a certain B-movie appeal to it, all of those films are terrible.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't know who's directing or writing this one, but let's not hold our breath for someone like Michael Mann to take the reins of this film. Even if a talent got on board, don't forget that Roland Joffé, Christophe Gans, Roger Avary, and Luc Besson all have impressive resumes, and their efforts to successfully bring a game to the big screen have been disastrous.
Now perhaps Heavy Rain will be the breakthrough that will change everything, and if it does, feel free to throw what I wrote back at my face and laugh. But considering how the story of Heavy Rain contains SEVERAL murder mystery cliches that would have seemed musty even in the 80's, I can't see this being anything more than a dated, tired retread of Se7en or Saw.
You call my expectations "premature," I call them realistic.
I think that unlike all the titles you've mentioned this project at least has more "potential", it was envisioned as a movie type format. The odds of any of those projects becoming a decent movie were slim, although I did have hopes for Hitman and Silent Hill. Handled by the right people the material could translate decently enough, though I'll agree that the odds of someone of decent talent taking the reigns over for this project are slim, you never know. Even if it turns out to be a slightly worse version of Se7en, I'll consider it a success in terms of video games translated into movies.
ReplyDeleteRobert-While Final Fantasy and Silent Hill had their defenders, it's true this type of adaptation hasn't been handled too well yet, but everything is only failure until there's some success.
ReplyDeleteIraq related films were all failures (though I loved Stop-Loss) until The Hurt Locker (and to a lesser extent The Messenger) came along.
Being realistic is great, but optimism never hurts.
Mitch- It's one of a slew of games with potential being made into films.
ReplyDeleteWill it be any good? Who knows.
The point is, there's potential...
And I also inexplicably enjoyed Wing Commander when it first came out, though I have no rational explanation for that.
ReplyDelete