Screen Rant » gears of war

Billy Ray Signs On For Gears of War

Rob Frappier — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:35:50 +0000

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.

So, what does Billy Ray bring to the table for Gears of War? Well, let’s take a look at his track record thus far. To date, Ray has been the writer behind a number of successful thrillers, including Breach and State of Play. However, both of those films existed in the very realistic world of spies, betrayals, and myriad clandestine government activities. Gears of War is about the super bad-ass soldiers of Delta Squad who fight off the evil Locust Horde on the fictitious planet Sera. In other words, it’s not exactly Ray’s forte.

Does that mean the film won’t be any good? Of course not. Does it mean there won’t be any scenes of aliens being cut in half by machine gun/saws? Maybe yes, maybe no. All I know is that Billy Ray is a pretty good screenwriter with some solid movies under his belt. I’m hopeful that whatever he brings to the film can elevate Gears of War beyond a mere video game movie to something a bit more.

What do you think of the news that Billy Ray has come on to Gears of War? What would you like to see out of a Gears of War film more than anything else?

Source: Variety, /Film

What’s Happening With The Gears Of War Movie?

Rob Keyes — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:21:51 +0000

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.

The Gears of War titles hold a special place in my heart and this all sounds promising… A live-action adaptation of one of the greatest video games ever made to date could be awesome – especially one that’s unique in style and story as this is. However, things get a little worrisome when he starts talking more about the project:

“I suck at video games, it just takes me too long and I can’t get the coordination of ‘em. When I was on [Live Free Or] Die Hard, I had to choose some video game for the background in a scene with Kevin Smith. I was shown about a dozen games and told to ‘Choose one to be in the background’ and I said ‘this one looks really, really cool whatever it is,’ and it was Gears Of War. I just really connected with it; the design of it the world, the whole thing. So I actually bought an Xbox 360 to start researching what it was.”

So it seems he doesn’t know much about video games in general… Let’s hope he actually played through the entirety of the game and its sequel because I’m not nearly convinced he’s the right man for the job at this point.

Wiseman goes on to describe his plans for the film and its potential structure as a trilogy:

“It’s going to be much more [on the] science fiction side of it than the creature side of it. I’ve always been much more of a sci-fi action fan than a horror fan… The hope is that we’re wanting to do a three movies and really cover the bases on everything. Basically a harder edged Lord of the Rings.”

What does he mean “more on the sci-fi side of it?” By harder edged, does he mean rated R? I have an idea: Why not make the movie just like the game! Y’know, since it’s already structured and shot in a cinematic style. It’s literally already done for you, you just have to pick three two-hour segments that cover the story best and re-enact with live actors (and film it in the same way as the in-game cut scenes and action sequences).

Gears Of War Still Turning

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:49:03 +0000

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.

Execs at both Legendary and Epic have had little to say about the possible acquisition (other than to confirm that negotiations are underway). However, this news is surfacing less than two weeks after top-suit over at Legendary, Thomas Tull, resigned from the board of Brash Entertainment, the video game licensing/publishing company he co-founded, and whose performance he had reportedly been unhappy with for some time. With Epic only weeks away from releasing Gears Of War 2, it would be the perfect time for Tull to hop on board and get a Gears movie adaptation in the works over at Legendary Pictures.

Epic Games also has another hot property besides the Gears franchise, Unreal Tournament, a first-person shooter online combat simulator whose design engine is often rented out to third party developers as a mold for their own games. That steady source of revenue would be a promising incentive for Legendary.

Taking all that into account, it’s easy to believe that Tull pulled out of Brash in order to refocus his attention on a company he felt would be a more worthwhile endeavor. Should Legendary in fact acquire Epic, it would mark the first time that a film financing company has invested in a video game developer (though several major studios have recently gone that same route).

However, does any of his news guarantee us a Gears Of War movie we’ll actually be able to sit through?

For those who don’t know the game follows a bunch of rough-neck soldiers on a future Earth that’s been overrun by subterranean beasts known as “The Locusts.” There are guns with chainsaw bayonets, blood and guts galore, with a flimsy plot to string it all together. And, while the game(s) might be awesome, if Legendary is planning to put together a film adaptation reminiscent of Doom, I say just save yourself the money, Legendary, and spare us the pain.

But what do you say?

Source: Latino Review