For a long time, I've wanted to write an article about games turned into movies (sic! not the other way around). I was somewhat discouraged when I submitted my ideas for a game conference and it was turned down with reviews that basically went "we've seen that before" (but that was a bad year for that conference in general ;)) - because to my knowledge I havent seen any academic articles on this particular aspect yet. Several articles exist which deal with movies made into games, but that's something completely different. Anyway, now a new publication opportunity is on the horisont so time to start gathering material again...:

Today, I read that Gears of War is being turned into a movie, with the rights obtained by New Line Cinema. In an article at Variety.com, the game producer states that:
"Epic developed an extensive backstory in hopes of utilizing it for a film as well as potential novels.

"We wanted to make an entertainment property that's not just for games but for other media," said Epic VP and co-founder Mark Rein.

which intrituingly points to the fact that some game developers apparently are beginning to think about their games in a transmedial context from the very beginning of the conception of the game. [with Susana Tosca, I have written on transmedial worlds a few years ago, if you want to learn more about our thoughts on this subject matter]

Interesting also that the article mentions that (World of) Warcraft is going to be a movie (by Legendary Pictures who bought the rights to the Warcraft series last year, and allegedly has informed journalists that "The movie will not follow any of the games but will be set in the same fantasy universe" - nevertheless can't wait to see the plot line for that (hey, the movie already has a page in the IMDB)! In addition, rights for "Metal Gear Solid" the movie obtained by Sony and "Hitman" the game is going into production by Fox these months.
# posted by Lisbeth at: 10:34