New Line snags "Gears of War" movie rights.

posted by Chris.

Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 02:49:01 PM EST

New Line has won feature rights to Microsoft's hugely popular vidgame "Gears of War" with Stuart Beattie writing and Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey producing via their Temple Hill banner.

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961472.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Looks like it's time to start your dream casting, Gearheads.

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Comments Disabled | 55 comments

  •  Hmm...... (none / 0)

    So I'm thinking a Micheal Moore movie based on how we are hurting the rights of locusts everywhere......ya?

    But seriously, the movie should be as action-packed as the game but with more detail in the story. As a game, the most important thing is how it plays, but a movie has to have some depth to it. With as many chainsaw shots as possible...

    I'm sure they will make nothing but the best.

    by SweetTea023 on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 03:54:22 PM EST

  •  OMG (none / 0)

    yes i hope this happens!

    Give me a minute and I'll change your mind, Give me a bullet and I'll change your life!

    by MDK2002 on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 04:07:37 PM EST

  •  In case (none / 0)

    you guys are wondering, Stuart Beattie wrote one of my favorite movies of the past five years, Collateral.  So I'm thinking that the story is in really good hands.

    I was just writing a post about this, but Chris beat me to it ;-)

    Marcus Fenix needs to be played by someone kind of bad ass and there just aren't too many of those kinds of actors out there anymore.  I think Bruce Willis would've been a natural 10 years ago.  

    Here's the guy who I think would be the best choice.  He'd be freaking awesome because he is bad ass.  Michael Clarke Duncan could play Cole.  Or maybe rapper DMX.  Raymond Cruz should play Dom.  And I'm not sure about Baird.  He's got a smart aleck kind of personality, so I'm thinking an Owen Wilson type.  But he's probably too wimpy for the Gears universe and he'd probably command waaaay too much money.  Then again, he was pretty good in behind enemy lines.

    by papi blez on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 04:34:20 PM EST

    •  He (none / 0)

      also worked on Pirates of the Caribbean. Collateral is one of my favorite movies, so this looks like it could actually turn out really well.  I like Franky G, the tough guy in Saw II and the mechanic in The Italian Job, as Dom, Neal McDonough, the guy from Band of Brothers, as Baird, Lester Speight (VO) as Cole, and either Vin Diesel or Mickey Rourke as Marcus.

      I'm feeling California and looking Minnesota.

      by heeyoh2 on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 01:27:59 AM EST

      [ Parent ]

  •  the only thing (none / 0)

    jason statham is a little bit on the small side. I quess he can beef up. Michael Clarke Duncan would be perfect or maybe be Bob Sapp from the  new longest yard.  

    by Dan Foster on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 05:04:24 PM EST

  •  cool (none / 0)

    i really hope they dont screw this up like a lot of other video game based movies. Here are my picks, not that it matters but its fun to do it anyway.

    Thomas Jane (Punisher) for Marcus. Djimon Hounsou for cole,  Raymond Cruz (agreed with papi) for DOM and Leonardo DiCaprio for Baird. All of these guys need to be beefed up a bit i guess.

    by naveeda on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 06:27:27 PM EST

  •  Hmmm (none / 0)

    Statham is way too small to play Fenix, in my opinion.

    by Chris. on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 06:55:37 PM EST

  •  annnnd (none / 0)

    I actually think Dominic Purcell could have a good shot at doing Dom's character justice.

    by Chris. on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 06:56:19 PM EST

  •  idk... (none / 0)

    I don't know about this one... Sounds like an amazing idea, but the whole premise of gears is the exaggerated blood and gore elements that would be very difficult and well, gruesome to make into a movie. I enjoy the somewhat comical feel of chainsawing someone in a video game, but if they were to realistically do that in a movie, I just feel like it would be far too disgusting making it into a horror movie. Or far too fake making it very cheezy.

    by Fergy33WF on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 06:58:54 PM EST

  •  Dream Cast lineup (none / 0)

    Fenix = Mickey Rourke or Gerard Butler (of 300 fame)

    Santiago = Dominic Purcell (I agree with Chris on this one).

    Cole = Lester Speight (AKA the VO actor for Cole. Just add some hair and your set.)

    Kim = Robin Shou (Liu Kang in the MK movie)

    and Baird = well, this one is tough, I was thinking that if one of the two choices for Fenix didn't work out, that one person could do Baird .

    ATTACK!

    by Striker10 on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 07:12:22 PM EST

  •  vgnm (none / 0)

    Alfonso Cuarón needs to direct. Children of Men had some amazing sequences that were very reminecent of gears. They should go all unknown for cast.

    by Mel O Rama on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 07:54:35 PM EST

    •  Children of Men (none / 0)

      Good stuff!

      Not all who wander are lost

      by Zoso Fan on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 07:58:20 PM EST

      [ Parent ]

    •  I agree here (none / 0)

      The Cast for Gears doesn't need to be headliners as much as they need to be up and comers we havent' seen too much of.  They need to be big and physical.  How else are we going to believe one of these guys is putting the chainsaw to a locust.  All good movies have money shots and this is going to be one of them for sure!

      You know, I hate to say this but I think that a film that is going to pull this off will have to be full green screen, just like "300", otherwise we will have an all CGI show, like "Final Fantasy".  To create the backdrop of a world in ruin is going to need some movie magic.  I like what "300" has made possible.

      Now, I wonder how it is going to play out with MS launching "Halo" sometime in the future and EPIC is launching "Gears"?  It looks like production for both could be in the relative same time frames.    

      Ready to finish all the Fights!

      by Damn Boris on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 08:10:12 AM EST

      [ Parent ]

  •  I personally think (none / 0)

    that Terry Tate should be Cole. He is the Voice Actor, and has some pretty huge muscles (just like Cole). I wouldn't really care who plays who just as long as they're not some stupid, pretty boy actors who've never done an action movie before. And the thing I want to see the most.... Curbstomps! I wonder if they can put that in the movie though... Suck if they can't, but I can deal with just Chainsaws.

    GO BETHEL PARK BLACK HAWKS!!! 14-0 WPIAL CHAMPIONS!!! STATE CHAPS INCOMING!!!

    by Grymm on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 09:24:39 PM EST

  •  Bruce Willis (none / 0)

    as Colonel Hoffman.
    Scarlett Johansen as Anya.
    The guy who does Gollum for LOTR as the wretches.

    I'm feeling California and looking Minnesota.

    by heeyoh2 on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 12:09:03 AM EST

  •  R Lee Emrey (none / 0)

    ^ his voice is a little to high pitched

    Crab walk all you want, you'll still get chainsawed

    by Posiden67 on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 10:10:16 AM EST

  •  My dream cast (none / 0)

    Marcus: My first choice is definitely Leonidas himself, Gerard Butler.  If not maybe hardass actor Cole Hauser, he was great in Higher Learning.

    Dom: I'm kind of liking Bobby Cannavale, I think he's got the right attitude for the role.

    Cole: I think Terry Crews is the man for the job.

    Kim:  Definitely Daniel Dae Kim of Lost

    Baird:  This was a tough one, but I think I found someone with chops to play this smartass, Scott Caan.

    [img]http://card.mygamercard.net/nxe/mini/GearDaddy77.png[/img][/url]

    by titusdaddy on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 11:38:26 AM EST

  •  after thinking about it (none / 0)

    If I were going to make this movie I'd get Emmanuel Lubezki to do cinematography, and instead of covering what happened in the game I'd have the story cover what alpha squad was doing up until the time you meet up with them. To try and make all the corpses you see in the game have some sort of emotional connection. I'd get a cast that can pull off staying in character during the massive single take roadie type shots that this movie has to have. I'd have the feel of the film be more like  Jaws where once they were on the boat they were isolated and the characters started to break down.

    Baird = Christian Bale
    Cole = Ving Rhames
    Rohjas = Adam Goldberg
    The first corpse you see by the hole in the ground = Daniel Craig
    And as the guy you're going to love but he's totally going to die cause he's a rookie = Jason Schwartzman

    by Mel O Rama on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 11:27:54 PM EST

    •  That sounds pretty sweet (none / 0)

      but I gotta stick with Neal McDonough for Baird and Lester Speight ("Terrible" Terry Tate/VO of Cole) as Cole. The whole following Alpha Squad idea sounds sweet, although it also seems like it wouldn't have enough Marcus in it, which I think would disappoint most people.

      I'm feeling California and looking Minnesota.

      by heeyoh2 on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 12:56:46 AM EST

      [ Parent ]

    •  I would suspect there is so much fodder (none / 0)

      there for the telling of the actually emergence day story, then it makes complete sense.  It's the type of epic thing that should probably be shown rather than played.

      by papi blez on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 01:16:52 AM EST

      [ Parent ]

  •  Try this on for size (none / 0)

    Fenix- Mickey Rourke (great call whoever mentioned him first).

    Dom- as papi already suggested: Raymond Cruz

    Minh Kim- Jason Scott Lee (The Dragon, Soldier, The Jungle Book). Dead-on likeness.

    Cole- papi again: Michael Clarke Duncan or Lester "Rasta" Speight

    Baird- Thomas Haden Church

    Hoffman- R L Ermey or Powers Boothe

    Gears is MY Star Wars!!! Wooohhh!!!

    by Blankman on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 03:32:10 AM EST

  •  I Mean (none / 0)

    I'm kinda iffy about the movie but Cliffy IS Executive Producing.

    This is his baby, all I expect is 2 hours of complete testosterone.

    by Chris. on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 09:39:04 AM EST

  •  Meh... (none / 0)

    Yeah, after looking at the people who are involved in this It really doesn't seem like it's going to be as good as it could be. And by that I mean it's going to be bad.

     I think in about 10 years you're going to have kids who grew up in the 80's playing games like castlevania in good positions in hollywood who will treat game franchises like viable films. But now you have people who are like "Meh, it's a video game." And of course when the people making video game movies are directors who don't really understand the games but understand that guys play games, and guys like breasts so we get asshats like Uwe Boll and Paul "I'm going to fucking confuse everyone by making them think I'm either Wes Anderson or Paul Thomas Anderson by putting a W.S. in the middle of my name!" Anderson making terrible game movies. Executive Producers don't really do anything anything though, like I get the feeling that Cliffy's presence in the film is going to be minimal... Like his name is going to be in the end credits and that's it.

    by Mel O Rama on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 06:47:54 PM EST

    •  What people are involved (none / 0)

      besides Stuart Beattie?  I haven't seen any directors, producers or anything announced outside of the writer.

      by papi blez on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 12:33:24 PM EST

      [ Parent ]

      •  fdafasd (none / 0)

        Stuart isn't a terrible choice. His pirates script didn't pass but they salvaged some of it and he's getting a screen credit in all three films. Collateral was decent. But the production team has an iffy track record. I think this is more of a cash project to them  as opposed to a passion project.

        by Mel O Rama on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 04:16:45 PM EST

        [ Parent ]

        •  I disagree about collateral (none / 0)

          That's one of my favorite movies over the past few years.

          by papi blez on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 04:52:50 PM EST

          [ Parent ]

          •  I agree with Papi (none / 0)

            Collateral was a great film. Tom Cruise did a FANTASTIC job as did Jamie Foxx.

            I hate how people downplay Collateral & MI:3 because of Cruise's personal belief's/life.

            Both were above average movies.

            by Chris. on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 11:28:43 PM EST

            [ Parent ]

            •  fhgdfhdgfhd (none / 0)

              My opinion on collateral has nothing to do with Tom Cruise's crazy religion. Hell if I was famous I'd probably be a scientologist too. (When you clear the million dollar bracket you get slaves.) It actually has more to do with the fact that I thought it was kind of bland for a thriller.
               If New Line really cared about Gears of War they would have passed it off to a writer whos upcoming projects weren't Punisher 2 and Spy Hunter. I'm seriously not going to be surprised when Paul W.S. Anderson is announced as the director and Marcus becomes Marlene who will be played by Michelle Rodriguez. I'm not going to be surprised because one of the announced producers worked on Aliens vs Predator and is hard at work on Aliens vs Predator 2. Let me spill the plot for avp2... Aliens are going to fight Predators in a small town. Not like an awesome sci-fi town, but like Montana. Which even if it was in the future would still be fucking Montana, not just in name, it would look like it does at this moment.

              by Mel O Rama on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 12:41:40 AM EST

              [ Parent ]

              •  What movies (none / 0)

                do you like? :)

                Not all who wander are lost

                by Zoso Fan on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 01:41:54 PM EST

                [ Parent ]

                •  Collateral (none / 0)

                  has some of the best dialogue in movies in years.  It's one of those movies that anytime that it's on HBO I stop and watch it.  And I don't really like Tom Cruise at all.  I just love the contrast between the two.  And one of my favorite moments is the wolves crossing the street and the Audioslave song starting up in the background.

                  by papi blez on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 03:26:50 PM EST

                  [ Parent ]

                  •  i liked (none / 0)

                    collateral as well

                    Not all who wander are lost

                    by Zoso Fan on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 04:02:27 PM EST

                    [ Parent ]

                  •  Shadow on the Sun (none / 0)

                    That was the most memorable part in my opinion.

                    I'm feeling California and looking Minnesota.

                    by heeyoh2 on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 04:23:18 PM EST

                    [ Parent ]

                  •  hblk (none / 0)

                    I remember going to see Collateral. I remember because I was at the beach with my family and it was either that or I-Robot. I remember that I had just purchased new shoes that day, I remember the cool looking put-put course near the movie theatre. However, I remember absolutly nothing about the film. Like even now, when I sit here and ask myself "What the fuck was that movie about?" all I remember is a guy falling on a taxi, and I have a suspicion that I only remember that because it was in the trailer/tv ads. I've seen other films only once and I can recall parts where I held my breath, the plot, awesome shots, awesome scenes and what not. Collateral was just vapid, I don't recall anything about it, and I've seen it twice. And I like Tom Cruise, even more so now that he's crazy.

                    And MI3 was doomed from the start because I was going to compare it to the first.

                    by Mel O Rama on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 04:24:05 PM EST

                    [ Parent ]

                    •  I guess we just have different movie (none / 0)

                      tastes because I could rattle off about 10 scenes from the movie that resonated with me. The wolf scene was all about telling Foxx's character that in order to deal with the wolf in his back seat, he was going to need to become a wolf, leading to his eventual freaking out and flipping the cab.  The scene in the night club where Cruise first saves Foxx, then kills the cop who is trying to help him.  The scene where Cruise is trying to kill Jada Pinkett Smith and she's crawling around on the floor with the lights out.  I loved the thugs taking Cruise's briefcase and then getting their asses handed to them.  The nuance of Cruise's character and the fact that Foxx is happy in his contentment but is ultimately forced out of that content shell by the wolf in his cab (like Cruise's character telling his guy off).  Foxx slowly evolves to the point where he does defiant things like throwing Cruise's briefcase into the freeway.  But then he slips back into weakened puppy mode and has to act like he's Vincent.

                      I don't know, to me there was a ton of detail, nuance and story to it that was just some subtle things, but upon watching multiple times I realized the brilliance of the film.  Then again, I also loved Training Day and Man on Fire (although those two movies are a lot less subtle with relationships than Collateral was).  I just thought Collateral was simply one of my fave movies of the last five years.

                      But we just disagree on it I guess.

                      by papi blez on Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 05:14:30 PM EST

                      [ Parent ]

  •  Well (none / 0)

    There's a Castlevania movie in teh works too.

    It's in Pre Production right now, should start filming Fall/Winter 2007.

    by Chris. on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 11:28:19 AM EST

  •  yeah...... (none / 0)

    There are two castlevania movies in the works. One's going to be animated and based on part 3. I'm not saying I have extremely high hopes for that but it's being written by Warren Ellis and the art direction is being done by James Jean so it's a safe bet that it will at least be watchable. The other is most likely going to be beyond awful, and will probably involve Sonya Belmont which is going to totally send Igarashi off the deep end.

    by Mel O Rama on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 12:08:52 PM EST

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