On Thursday, Variety shared the news that screenwriter Billy Ray (State of Play) was set to take on the real life story of Captain Richard Phillips, the man who was held captive by Somali pirates for five days earlier this year. As interesting as it would be to see Captain Phillips’ dramatic escape brought to the big screen, there was a line at the bottom of the Variety article that was far more interesting: “He [Ray] is currently writing “Gears of War” for New Line.”

Wait? Gears of War? Last time we heard, that movie was being written by the team of Len Wiseman (Underworld) and Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast and Furious), with Wiseman as director. What happened? Brendon Connelly over at /Film speculates that Wiseman turned to Billy Ray after the duo worked successfully on the forthcoming film, Motorcade. Motorcade, if you’ll recall from our previous coverage, has been in development for sometime with Tom Cruise as its originally intended star. The film will now feature Ryan Reynolds (he is everywhere nowadays!) and will not be directed by Wiseman, but by 24 director John Cassar.

This is not exactly breaking news, but due to some reader feedback, we thought we’d touch on the Gears of War movie project and give some information on the latest updates.

At the red carpet premiere of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, the good people over at Bloody Disgusting got a chance discuss the Gears of War project with Underworld creator and producer Len Wiseman. Wiseman revealed that in addition to writing the screenplay with fellow writer Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast & Furious), he will also be occupying the director’s seat.

This is just a quick update for you video game fans out there: Legendary Pictures is reportedly in negotiations to acquire Epic Games, the same video game company that released the now-classic Gears Of War in 2006.

Ideas for a Gears Of War film have been getting tossed around Movieland ever since the game sold over five million copies worldwide, and it looks like Legendary Pictures wants to make it happen.