As Microsoft continues to try and get its Halo movie made, the company will see New Line Cinema adapting its latest hit game franchise, Gears of War. According to Daily Variety, New Line put in the highest bid to the game’s developer, Epic Games, which holds all ancillary rights. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl scribe Stuart Beattie is adapting the game for producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill, who hope to have the movie ready for the 2009 summer frame.
Gears of War is a third-person tactical action/horror game that has players take on the role of Marcus Fenix, a soldier at war against the immense Locust Horde, a mass of nightmarish creatures that threatens human existence. Most remarkable for its sophisticated next-generation graphics, the game has sold more than three million units to become the best-selling game for Xbox 360 and the most popular Xbox Live title. The game also took Game of the Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards, held earlier this month in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Epic Games developed Gears of War as a multi-platform entertainment franchise and had already crafted story elements beyond those presented in the game to prepare for film and publishing opportunities. Cliff ‘CliffyB’ Bleszinski, who served as lead designer on the game, will serve as exec producer on the film.
Beattie, who wrote a 21-page treatment for Gears before starting on the screenplay, also wrote a screen adaptation of Midway Games’ SpyHunter for Universal and star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Other credits under the busy writer’s belt include the script for Columbia Pictures’ feature film based on the Dark Horse horror comic series 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles.
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