Over the past two decades Hollywood has attempted to develop a video-game movie which is both critically and commercially successful, but so far they haven't had much luck, not that it stops them from trying. The latest adaptation to be added to the pile will be based on the popular third-person shooter franchise which chronicles humanity's battle against the Locust Horde, Gears of War. During a live-stream to promote the upcoming release of Gears of War 4, Rod Fergusson, studio head of game developer The Coalition, revealed that a GEARS OF WAR movie is on the way.
As a way to support the franchise the next logical step was to make the movie. We’d done comics and novels in the past but the opportunity to work with Universal to bring the movie to life was perfect.
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It's not known whether the GEARS OF WAR movie will be a direct adaptation of the games or an entirely new story set in the same universe, but Fergusson said that you "have to let the movies be the movies."
They’re two different mediums, and two different audiences in some cases, and I think some video game movies in the past have failed because they tried to make a movie for gamers. If you have this great IP with a deep backstory and lots of lore that you can make interesting stories out of it’s great, but if you just go after the gaming audience then it isn’t going to be a successful movie. That’s one of the great things about working with Universal, we’re finding that line where we can say it has enough lore and canon that it feels genuine to the game while at the same time going beyond that and asking ‘OK what makes a great movie?'
Those of you with memories longer than my own will recall that this isn't the first time Gears of War was set to head to the big-screen. Back in 2007, New Line Cinema snagged up the rights to make a Gears of War movie with Len Wiseman (LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD) set to take on directing duties, but after several years in development hell, New Line had to let go of the Gears of War property. Here's hoping that Universal has better luck with it. Gears of War 4 hits Xbox One/Windows PC on October 11th.
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