Doom Movie in Production For Aug 2005 Release

Lord Prox writes "Doom: The motion picture is now in production from Universal Pictures for a release date of August 5, 2005. According to IMDB the cast includes The Rock, Rosamund Pike, Razaaq Adoti, Ben Daniels, and Karl Urban. The plot and setting is right from the game."

Comments

So.....

[FatherKabral]

Who's going to play the big floating eye?

Re:So.....

[cryptochrome]

Angelina Jolie. That creepy freak.

Re:So.....

[Xpilot]

They could use the same guy who plays the big floating eye from "The Lord of the Rings".

Re:So.....

[tepples]

Who's going to play the big floating eye?

Probably whoever played Sauron, of course.

Re:So.....

[skaffen42]

I heard he wasn't interested. Aparently he was worried about getting typecast.

Re:So.....

[BlackHawk-666]

Surely they would rather have the fine floating eye from "Big Trouble in Little China". Please don't tell his boss he's been sleeping.`

Re:So.....

[yuud]

I read that he wanted to pursue his true passion: playing flashlight.

Re:So.....

[Various Assortments]

Chistopher Walken's left eye, of course.

Re:So.....

[AbbyNormal]

No floating eye, not enormous, freaky inhuman floating lips.

Didn't we already discuss this to death?

[Anonymous Coward]

Doom Movie Scriptwriter Dave Callaham Interviewed

Re:Didn't we already discuss this to death?

[FortKnox]

What's worse is there hasn't been a discussion about Halflife the motion picture which is also now in production...

Re:Didn't we already discuss this to death?

[yoz]

Perhaps because it has nothing to do with the game?

On the subject of a movie of the game, Gabe Newell has nixed the idea for the forseeable future.

Re:Didn't we already discuss this to death?

[sgant]

Um, this movie has nothing to do with the game...it's a drama.

Also, Valve has already stated that the "hollywood" guys have tried to get them to make a movie based on Half-Life...but when they started talking about "Gordon's love interest" they high-tailed it back home!

Re:Didn't we already discuss this to death?

[I_Want_This_ID]

There are always plots in The Rock movies, sometimes they just don't make it on screen.

Censorship?

[2.7182]

I heard that an issue was the amount of goriness. Remember the soldiers hanging from meathooks ? Apparently the director wants to show that!

Re:Censorship?

[telbij]

Why would they censor it? They have that in Hellraiser, Event Horizon, Silence of the Lambs, etc...

Re:Censorship?

[Feminist-Mom]

Yes I read that too. He also wanted to show flesh splattering everywhere when a rocket is used in an enclosed area. A lot of money is going to be spent on CGI effects, like being melted in acid.

Re:Censorship?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but in all those films, they were white guys getting slaughtered. With this film, they're worried about upsetting the helldemon minority.

Re:Censorship?

[BabyDave]

[Joke shamelessly pinched from a Charlie Brooker cartoon about the Doom movie from several years ago ... ]

The movie features a cameo appearance by Macauley Culkin:

Culkin I get strung up on a meathook and beaten insensible with a carjack. It's a great honour - apparently the part was written specifically for me.

Re:Censorship?

[stratjakt]

Chicks got hung on a meathook back in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that guy was actually after a PG-13 rating.

People remember that as one of the goriest slasher flicks of all time, but if you watch the movie closely, you see very little actual blood or gore.

You see a girl being lifted up, camera cuts to the front, you see the washtub underneath her - you know what it's for, but there's no blood. Your imagination supplies the scary parts.

But of course, that was just good filmmaking, which I don't expect of a "Hey this is a popular game, I bet we could rake in a couple bucks, see if the Rock is available" flick.

Re:Censorship?

[lukewarmfusion]

Good filmmaking makes you scare yourself. Really gory movies aren't usually scary to me. I think the classic examples is from Reservoir Dogs - when he cuts the ear off. The music, the camera pan/tilt, the screams... you never see anything but you immediately start imagining what might be happening.

My wife pointed out that the filmmaking in A Time to Kill (was on TV last night) did the same thing; you never see the terrible things they're doing to the girl, but you know what's going on.

The "rake in a couple bucks" attitude is likely to be the perspective of the studios. But the filmmaker, writer, etc. are fans of the game... so you're going to get a mix of the studio perspective (money) and the gamer perspective (how cool can we make this). Could make for a no-brainer that's fun to watch.

Re:Censorship?

[sgant]

Which is also why the original 1964 "The Haunting" was MUCH more frightening than the special effect laden remake just a few years ago.

It's what you don't see that scares me. Which is why none of the Freddy or Jason movies were at all frightening. I mean, not even in the least.

I like creepy. "The Ring" was creepy. Kubrick's "The Shining" was creepy. "The Changling" was creepy. "28 Days Later" also. All creepy...at least to me, your miliage may vary of course.

Creepy is cool. Just blood and gore for no reason is not creepy. It's not scary...just looks messy to me. What I think when I see a really bloody scene in a so called horror movie is "wow, who get's to clean that up" or "that looks fake"...which totally takes you out of the movie experience.

Of course, there are gore movies that are also creepy. "Evil Dead 2" comes to mind. That hit on all cylinders because it was cheezy, funny AND creepy.

Oh well, we're all different I guess. Some people may find "Gigli" a creepy film, and who can argue with them?

Re:Censorship?

[Minwee]

A lot of money is going to be spent on CGI effects, like being melted in acid.

I'm sure you could save a few bucks and just use real acid. Just be sure to keep your goggles on.

That's going to be a real technical challenge

[Exmet Paff Daxx]

How do you make a movie without vertical clipping? I think it's going to be a real challenge to explain to the audience why a rocket fired 300 feet below someone can hit them. Should make for interesting cinematography though.

Re:That's going to be a real technical challenge

[BlackHawk-666]

Just wait until they show off the BFG in Doom The Movie by firing a shot down a long hallway, then running into a small room and herding the poor demons around the room while waiting for the BFG shot to hit the end of the hallway, then blat, they all fall dead for *no apparent reason* :-)

Re:That's going to be a real technical challenge

[piquadratCH]

I think it's going to be a real challenge to explain to the audience why a rocket fired 300 feet below someone can hit them.

Since when does Hollywood give a shit about accurate physics? Hell, Doom 3 has a better physics Engine than most Hollywood movies!

So basicly what youre saying is.....

[sholde4]

No plot and Mars.

You finish eating the floating eye corpse.

[Anonymous Coward]

You feel a strange mental acuity.

I'm excited!

[gowen]

Hooray! Because we all know that films based on video games are always great

Re:I'm excited!

[zenmojodaddy]

Interesting that two of the three stinky movies you mention were directed by the same prize sweaty-arsed rat cock who directed Alien Vs Predator.

Why? Sweet Zombie Jesus, why did anyone let him near AvP? I saw it two days ago and I'm still so fucking angry I want to take an angle-grinder to the guy's face.

Re:I'm excited!

[gowen]

Every movie listed in this thread was enjoyable, brainless entertainment. Just like the video games they were based on.

No. They weren't. They were each badly written, appallingly acted and poorly choreographed. Even the fight sequences were outright bad. I enjoy good Kung Fu films. These were shit Kung Fu films.

Hey, if you enjoyed them, good for you. But I like my mindless chop-socky violent entertainment to be high quality mindless violent entertainment made by people who know how to sustain tension, write witty dialogue and produce choreograph action sequences. And the plots don't have to be deep, but it'd be nice if they were at least slightly coherent.

That's why Enter The Dragon and The Matrix are great mindless entertainment, and Mortal Kombat is an appalling waste of everyone's time and money.

Re:I'm excited!

[halivar]

Well, my bottom three would be Wing Commander, Super Mario Bros., and Street Fighter. I mean, come on... you got Christopher Lambert, I got Jean-Claude Van Damme (sp?). Obviously, your choices look like Oscar contenders next to my icons of B-movie badness.

Think about it: would you rather spend five days strapped in a chair forced to watch Milla Jovavich and Angelina Jolie, or Jean-Claude Van Damme and John Leguizamo? Choose very, very carefully.

Re:I'm excited!

[Idarubicin]

Sweet Zombie Jesus, why did anyone let him near AvP? I saw it two days ago and I'm still so fucking angry I want to take an angle-grinder to the guy's face.

Really? I heard it was a great comedy. I mean, really great. Bust-a-gut funny. Tears rolling down your cheeks funny.

It was a comedy, right? Right?

Flashlight or gun?

[general_re]

...cuz you can't have both, Mr. The Rock.

Re:Flashlight or gun?

[CGP314]

Well, if the main character is the rock, now I can understand why he can't use a gun and a flashlight at the same time.


-Colin

Re:Flashlight or gun?

[DarthVain]

I don't know... They could have a lot of fun with this movie... If they make it a kind of Action/Comedy/Parody it might actually be worth seeing. What it will probably will be is a sub-par action film with lots of CGI and effects... But they could have a lot of fun.. like the whole flash light thing... they could have the Rock going down some dark hallway, freaking out due to monsters, frantically switching back and forth between flashlight and shotgun... then finally saying something glib like 'screw this' and duct taping the two together... I would laugh, everyone knows that bit... Or little things like Ads for NVIDIA and ATI, maybe taking shots at the vid card cheating industry... or like making the detonation code for a big bomb at the end being 'idkfa' or someting like that... The Rock can be a funny guy when he wants to, he had that one good movie. So in closing I don't think the movie is 'doomed' (sorry had to) to failure, that is just the most likely result. However if they get away from the game plot (such that it is), and embellish with some witty humor, it might be ok. Anyway just my two cents...

Best job EVER!

[grm_wnr]

I want the post of Gaffer for that movie!

Oh no, not the Rock...

[halivar]

The poor man's Vin Diesel.

He'll probably have to type IDKFA every thirty seconds just to make it through the movie.

Re:Oh no, not the Rock...

[hambonewilkins]

Agreed. The rock at least has some personality. Vin Diesel plays the same Mr. Gravely Voice in every movie.

The Rock is a poor man's Ahhhhnold. Vin Diesel is a poor man's The Rock.

Re:Oh no, not the Rock...

[Jbrecken]

Oh really. And can you name a good Vim[sic] Diesel movie except for Pitch Black?

Iron Giant.

Talented Rock

[CleverNickedName]

I believe the rock will not only do all his own stunts, but he will also be doing all his own camera work too.

You can't beat those first-person movies.

The plot and setting is right from the game.

[stratjakt]

In other words, there is no plot, and the movie is set in several hallways and rooms that look identical to the one in the last scene.

I'll say it again...

[cjpez]

... with any luck, it'll be every bit as good as the comic book.

Delay as marketing strategy!

[DirtyJ]

release date of August 5, 2005

To let the general public get the full Doom experience, they should push the release date back like 5 or 6 times and eventually put it out in 2009.

Finally

[PetoskeyGuy]

A story so short there is no need to read the article.

Just because it's on the imdb doesn't make it true

[Aash]

Anyone can submit info to the The Internet Movie Database, and it's rather notorious for posting incorrect information about movies which are still far from release.

I'm not saying that the casting news at the imdb definitely isn't true, I'm just saying to take it with a grain of salt.

Recipe for box-office victory

[Apostata]

1. Star-studded cast - check

2. Fantastic storyline - check

3. Less than a year from production to release - check

Wow - how will this not be a hit?

delay waiting for video hardware to catch up

[OffTheLip]

Will movie theaters need to upgrade to the latest video equipment to be able to run this film?

yeah right

[nomadic]

The plot and setting is right from the game.

Oh come on, do you think they can really condense the intricate storyline, complex characterizations, and nuanced dialogue of Doom into a 2 hour movie? I think not.

Good god, people, Doom had a bad storyline EVEN BY VIDEOGAME STANDARDS. Who actually thinks it will make a good movie? If you answer "me", then please explain it to me.

The funny thing is most slashdot stories about something the MPAA has done are followed by comments about "who cares, Hollywood movies are so bad why would you want to watch them anyway?". You do realize that you can't honestly be in both camps, you know? You can't criticize the mindless drivel that Hollywood puts out and then say in the next breath that you're eagerly awaiting Doom.

Alright, I MAY see it, but that's only because Rosamund Pike is sexy as hell. When you're the sexiest woman in a movie that also stars Halle Berry, that's something special. But the movie itself isn't something that a sentient being should look forward to.

Re:yeah right

[stratjakt]

What the article submitter probably meant, was, that the plot isn't from the game, but from all the comic book and Doom novel spin-offs from the game. Some geeks are really into all that crap.

To me it was always about "shoot monsters", I never even took the time to realize the monsters were demons, and I was a space marine, and that the whole thing was happening on the moon (or earth, or mars).

Doom 3 tries to jam the backstory down your throat, although I liked the franchise better without a plot. You don't need a reason to shoot monsters, you shoot them simply because they are monsters.

Re:yeah right

[CAIMLAS]

Even though doom has a "bad" storyline, that doesn't mean it won't make a good movie. A good scriptwriter can resurrect even the blandest of plot outlines into an excellent, hillarious, action-packed film.

Take Indiana Jones, for example. It's one of my favorite films, and just came to mind, so I'll use it. How do you summarize the storyline (of, say, raiders of the lost ark) for that film? How about, "US archeologist battles nazis in egypt to try and regain ancient biblical artifacts" - now think of all the completely cheesed out films you've seen with similar plots. It's all in the presentation. Consider Beowulf - not much to that plot, really, in summary, but it evolved over time to become a wonderful epic.

Even if they were to use the basic plot laid out at the beginning of (and gradually throughout) Doom 3, they would have something to start with. Then give the mischelaneous people encountered throughout the game a larger role (or other people) in the character's quest. Add a lot of jokes (in the nature of films such as Shrek), and it would strike a cord with many of the people that played the original doom. (Well, with my group atl east. Remember the 'demon' - the red bull-like creature that charged? We called it a penis monster because it looked like a giant cock. I'm sure other sexual references could be made throughout the film... but maybe that's just my twisted sense of humor). Another action film that I'm reminded of that would have been bland and boring sci-fi without the humor is The 5th Element. Remember those damn pig creatures? The action was -cheesy-. But it was a pretty freakign good film, as there was a large amount of humor intertwined throughout it.

That said, I agree with you. It'll likely suck horribly. I think their best bet is to not try to make it a horror film, but to make it a film that appeals to what made Doom initially popular - to a large respect, just running around shooting things and having blood squirt everyhwere, making jokes at 4am while drinking mountain dew about the game characters, etc. etc. - I'm thinking along the lines of things like the "exploding wall of blood" scene in Evil Dead 2. That would Rock (and, now that I think about it, The Rock would probably be a pretty damn good "Ash" type character, as he's quite over the top with his acting... hrm. I'm starting to see a lot of (likely unfulfillable) potential here.

Still, there's no way it could be worse than tomb raider. (On second thought, at least TR had fleshy boobs...)

Re:Good luck!

[mopslik]

They have a lot of work to do in order to recreate the atmosphere created in DOOM3.

But think of the money they'll save by not having to hire a lighting crew.

Possible?

[21chrisp]

Call me a pessimist, but I can't see modern Hollywood producing such a violent and gory film. This will probably be another sci-fi/horror flick turned PG-13 (which you can't really call Doom). No studio in it's right mind is going to release a film with people gutted and hanging on hooks. Soccer Moms of the world would have them for lunch.

True to the original

[Dachannien]

The really sad thing here is that the Doom movie is likely to be more true to the original than Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy was.

My son read the script

[jmichaelg]

My son is an avid film buff and Doom player. By chance, he got a copy of the script. An excerpt from his email describing the script:

Bad doesn't begin to describe it. It is one of the single best examples of everything thats wrong with Hollywood. The charachter sic development is so awful that you actually want everyone to die so that the movie will.
(spoiler warning)...
And one of the marines (john) and his scientist sister figure out that essentially this virus from another planet infects the DNA of people and then, if they are bad, manipulates their inner badness into an external representation making them monsters (resulting in lines like "we've all got a monster inside"). So John, since he has not been infected because all the monsters know that he is so good (literally thats the rationale), has his sister pump him full of the virus, and it manipulates his goodness into an angelic form making him an angel (seriously).

Re:My son read the script

[jkovacik]

Turns into an angel, huh? So The Rock finishes the movie in God mode. Figures.

The REAL question is...

[msaulters]

Who's going to play Barney the dinosaur? If this movie doesn't have a Barney patch, it's just not worth watching.

** SPOILER ** The final scene of the movie LEAKED!

[g_adams27]

* WARNING - SPOILER! *

According to a leaked copy of the script, it appears that in the final scene, just before stepping into the final room full of monsters, The Rock will step up to a computer terminal and type in "idkfa".

Then after picking up all the weapons and ammo that have inexplicably just materialized in front of him, he'll type in "iddqd" followed by "idspispopd".

Then apparently he'll just walk right through the wall and blow the entire room away without taking a single hit!

Huh?

[TrentL]

Chicks got hung on a meathook back in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that guy was actually after a PG-13 rating.

That guy (Tobe Hooper) must have been a very forward thinking individual, because the PG-13 rating wouldn't exist for another 10 years.

Re:So..... who will play the eye?

[Wizzy Wig]

Is Marty Feldman still alive?

I know how it ends!!!

[DroopyStonx]

ooh THE ROCK types IDKFA!!!

HA HA HA, yeah, it was posted 4832984 times before this post and each are marked funny. IT'S FUNNY, PEOPLE.

We can't hear this one enough, can we?!

"Hey, The Rock!"
"IDKFA?!"
"Yes."

*insert joke about flashlight* ... ...

IDKFA!!! HA HA HA.

Re:Sorry, she's busy playing Honor Harrington in

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

So? She has more money to better take care of a child.

You poor folk sure do complain a lot.