Persia pitch trailer

Back when PRINCE OF PERSIA creator Jordan Mechner and writer/producer John August were looking to pitch a film version to studios, they had a tough time convincing them that the games could translate to a film. So instead of a verbal pitch or one with storyboards, they did something a little more dynamic. They went into the game and edited out cut sequences to show what the game could bring to a movie.

They toned down the mysticism in the game (no freezing, no sand monsters) and instead focused on the kinds of things movie producers like to hear: adventure, action and romance. In about a week in 2003 Mechner cut a “pitch trailer” from the PS2 copy of the film and, obviously, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer bit. Mechner made the pitch trailer available and now you can see that vision of the film is and how that may translate to what you see on screen when the film is released.