Sony Pictures making Metal Gear movie
[UPDATE] Executive confirms his movie studio is working on the live-action adaptation of the seminal stealth action series; Sony also pondering EverQuest film.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Feb 8, 2007 10:21 am PT
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo last year, Konami revealed that work had begun on a
live-action movie based on Metal Gear Solid. The news broke via a pamphlet for Studio Kojima, the Konami-owned development house headed up by Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima.
"I have received many offers to adapt Metal Gear Solid. It has taken a long time, but we have finally settled on an arrangement," Kojima said in a statement. "False facts aside, a movie project is underway. I have finalized a Class-A contract with a party in Hollywood."
For eight months, the identity of the aforementioned "party" was unknown. That changed this week, when Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Yair Landau revealed his studio is developing the project.
"We're working with the Metal Gear guys," Landau told GameSpot following his
D.I.C.E. summit keynote address in Las Vegas. "It's a very cinematic game, it really lends itself to movie telling. But the question is, 'How do you translate Snake's experience into a full arc that conforms to what audiences expect on the large screen?'"
Landau also hinted the Metal Gear Solid movie may just be the beginning. "There are other games we are looking to develop," the executive said. "We're working with one of my favorite producers right now on an idea for an EverQuest movie." The producer was apparently of such stature that Landau declined to name him. "I'll let him disclose that," he said cryptically.
Besides the
forthcoming World of Warcraft film, currently in development at Warner Bros., the Metal Gear Solid movie is the highest-profile game-film project in Hollywood. Previously, that stature was held by the
Peter Jackson-produced Halo adaptation, which imploded last year.
[UPDATE] On Friday, news of Sony's involvement surfaced in the Hollywood trades, which gave further details on the deal. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, former New Line Cinema chief Michael De Luca is in talks to produce the project, with Kojima himself being named as executive producer.
Sony executives Sam Dickerman and Doug Belgrad are in charge of finalizing the deal to acquire the Metal Gear Solid film rights, which is apparently close to completion. Belgrad hailed the Metal Gear IP as "loaded with well-developed, intriguing characters and one of the first games to ever use cinematic tools in its storytelling."
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