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God of War the Newest Video Game Movie

warpwhistle writes "Sony Computer Entertainment's God of War is the latest videogame property to be snatched up by Hollywood studios. Universal announced today that it has secured the rights to the game, and has tied producers Charles Roven and Alex Gartner to the project. Gartner has produced such films as Batman Begins, Three Kings and Twelve Monkeys, while Roven produced Out of Time and Barbershop 2."

22 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Three Kings and Twelve Monkeys by Mupp252 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is that some sort of fairytale?

  2. rating by EddieBurkett · · Score: 3, Funny

    If this includes a representation of the sex mini-game, does that mean it will get an R (M) rating, or will Hilary throw a fit and make it NC-17 (AO)?

    --
    The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
    1. Re:rating by blueZhift · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Heh, I keep wondering when the torch carrying, censorship mob is going to stop beating on GTA and turn their attention to Hollywood. That's the true target in all of this afterall. The video game fight is just a warm up.

  3. Grumble. by grub · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Has Hollywood any originality left? Lately all they seem to release are rehashes of Japanese horror movies, video game movies or remakes of other movies & TV series.

    Quick: name the last 5 original Hollywood movies you've seen.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Grumble. by MiceHead · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Has Hollywood any originality left? Lately all they seem to release are rehashes of Japanese horror movies, video game movies or remakes of other movies & TV series.

      Quick: name the last 5 original Hollywood movies you've seen.


      1. Half Life 2
      2. Doom 3
      3. Battlefield 2
      4. Soul Calibur 2
      5. Halo 2

      Oh. You said original movies. ;) I suppose both industries dabble in a bit of sequelism, but I enjoyed most of the games in that list. How about a trailer for a movie that's based on a game that's a sequel to a game that's a sequel to a game?

    2. Re:Grumble. by MyDixieWrecked · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Lately all they seem to release are rehashes of Japanese horror movies, video game movies or remakes of other movies & TV series.

      let us not forget movies made from books and comic books and sequals to previous successes.

      --



      ...spike
      Ewwwwww, coconut...
    3. Re:Grumble. by movieman200x · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, I'll agree on the Devil's Rejects comment, especially since the movie was simply the worst I have ever seen, but I have to disagree on the others.

      The Island is similar to Gattica, but Gattica sucked and the Island was good, thus voiding Gattica.

      Wedding Crashers... Have you seen any Kevin Spacey movies? Have you seen Wedding Crashers? No comparison...

      Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is NOT Nightmare Before Christmas 2 just because it uses the same stop motion animation. You could say Terminator 2 is like Corpse Bride then, because the opening to T2 was done in stop motion animation as well.

      They call me the Movieman for a reason you know...

      And this is not a flame, I am just VERY passionate about films :)

      --
      Woohoo! I've been arrested on 6 continents. Now all I need to do is kill a penguin... - Homer Simpson
    4. Re:Grumble. by steelfood · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The thing about games is that things tend to get better with every sequel. Engines get more realistic, gameplay gets more complex, scripting/modding tools get better, etc. Sometimes, sequels are only vaguely based off of the original, in terms of storyline. Sometimes, the sequel is a completely different story that's using the name of the original as a form of marketing by association e.g. Final Fantasy.

      On the other hand, movie sequels are more likely to be the next 2-1.5 hours of the first part. Some of them can't even bother with a new story and do no more than rehash the first one. The equivalent in video games would be releasing a sequel that just adds some more missions. That, in the video game industry, is called an expansion pack, and they are nowhere near as widely-received as sequels, though often as or more prevelant. As for actualy video game sequels that are really just rehashes of the first game, they tend not to be so popular, though fandom and prerelease hype skews the reality of that statement somewhat.

      But all this highlights a fundamental difference between video games and movies. Movies are one-dimensional. The story happens while you watch. Video games are multi-dimensional. You control the story, you control the events, and you're watching it. So a video game sequel has much more room for improvement, and such improvements happen to be expected of a sequel.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
  4. Backwards by mR+SlIcK · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looks like the names are switched up in the post. Alex Gartner produced Barbershop 2 and Out of Time while Charles Roven produced Batman Begins, Three Kings and Twelve Monkeys. Even the imdb links in the post show this.

    1. Re:Backwards by warpwhistle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Damn, that's my bad. Was trying to get this out as fast as possible. A lot better names tied to this movie than most movies based on video games though

  5. So is this Hollywood's plan? by ZakuSage · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After a ton of people complaining about crappy hollywood movies, far too many bad sequals, and superhero movies, this is their plan to bring back movie-goers? If history has taught me anything, all these video game movies will be horrible, and not worth seeing. The only one I think has any hope is a Metal Gear Solid movie, and that would only be good if directed by Kojima.

  6. Re:Hmm... by Tyrsenus · · Score: 2, Informative

    They're producers, not directors. Gartner's poor resume probably won't prevent this from being a good movie.

  7. Re:Hmm... by Golias · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Answer: Money.

    What baffles me is why Hollywood keeps throwing cash at video-game-themed movies. They all stink on ice, and most of them lose money.

    Resident Evil was a movie about Milla Jovovich's thighs, and for that reason alone it did well enough to warrant a sequel.

    Likewise, Tomb Raider was a movie about Angelina Jolie's fake breasts.

    Neither film had anything else going for it, and considering the outstanding shapes of Milla Jovovich's thighs and Angelina Jolie's real breasts (let alone the massive fake ones), one could argue that the video-game essense of these crappy movies probably dragged ticket sales down.

    I mean, Milla Jovovich or Angelina Jolie... running around and shooting stuff... while showing off their wonderful thighs or breasts... How can you possibly make a dull, modestly profitable movie out of such a rock-solid formula for a blockbuster unless some other factor is utterly crippling the production???

    Clearly, the video game adaptation is box-office poison.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  8. Re:Hmm... by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 2, Informative

    They are producers, not directors.

    Producers don't actually have anything to do with making a movie. You'll never actually hear anyone say, "ooo, he's a good producer."

  9. The Game-Turned-Movie Genre by Tyrsenus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's just hope future games-turned-movies don't go the way of the Super Mario Brothers movie.

    I wouldn't mind seeing a Half Life movie. ValvE has admitted they have been approached by several studios to make the movie, but have turned them down because they all contain a love story (which is definately not in the game) or other deviation from the plot. I applaud ValvE for not trying to recklessly profit from their franchise and retaining Half Life's credibility, and I hope other companies follow suit. Noone wants to see a beloved game turned into a B-movie.

    If there ever was a HL movie, I hope it does for action movies what HL the game did for the FPS genre.

  10. Gonna suck by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First off, God of War the game, kick all kinds of ass. The movie I expect will blow big donkey dong. For some reason, I can't help but expect that the great storyline (for a video game) of revenge is going to be wrecked in the movie by some stupid love story. We'll see Kratos setting off on a quest of revenge against Ares, only to be caught up in a "not meant to be" love story with some bimbo, probably Athena.
    I'll admit, I'd be more likely to enjoy it if they kept the cold, Kratos who kicks ass and just uses women to try to stave off the memories. It'd almost have to be a low budget film, with lots of fight scenes and boobies flopping about.

    --
    Necessity is the mother of invention.
    Laziness is the father.
  11. Hmm.. 5 bucks say they wont. by AzraelKans · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A lot of people confuse "preproduction" with "coming soon!" release, do you remember the metroid movie? the halo movie, the simpsons movie? all those movies have been greenlighted one way or another, even some directors have thrown their card in the hat, but the chance for seeing those films dome is actually rather slim. First of all theres a ton of projects ahead of them (important projects btw) second the "game to movie" thing is beginning to smell bad to hollywood producers.

    It turns out video game fans are much harder to please than expected (duh! big surprise considering the media stereo types them as horny,drunk teenagers going "xtreme!" all the time) and other than them people is not that interested in seing videogame adaptations, On top of that we have to remember the abysmal "Uwe Bowell" phenomenon, people may have laughed in their movies on how bad they are, but producers ending up losing money over them probably werent too amused. Actually Blood rayne is probably stucked in distribution hell due to that.

    Also condidering how the "Doomed movie" is turning out, we are probably off that way.

    --
    Go ahead MOD my day!
    More opinions here
  12. Re:Kings and Monkeys by AltaMannen · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or rather 3 and 3/4 monkey for each king and one monkey to rule them all.

  13. Re:Hmm... by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    RE the movie was way better than Mortal Kombat analnation, Mario, Double Dragon, Streetfighter... combined.

  14. Re:Hmm... by CheechWizz · · Score: 2, Funny

    that says very little about the quality of RE

  15. Re:They pass up Splinter Cell for this?! by porksoda · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While we're on the subject of overlooked blockbusters just itching to be made, I'd like to see something based on Fallout. But I'd be heartbroken if they put out a straight-to-home-video suckfest.

  16. Why Make a Movie? by Irise · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Honestly I don't understand why anyone would think that just because a videogame is popular, it can automatically be turned into a movie. I really liked God of War, but that doesn't mean that I need to see it on a movie screen. Just like I don't care to see it in paperback, on the WB, or hanging in the Louvre. The video game is a completley different medium because it is almost completley interactive, while the movie is not. It is the interactive aspect of videogames that makes them enjoyable. Can you imagine simply watching God of War, Halo, Zelda, or Grand Theft Auto? It wasn't the story behind these games that drew us to them, it was the gameplay. This is why the videogame/movie crossover doesn't work very well and the whole idea should be given up.