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Mass Effect To Invade the Big Screen

Posted by Soulskill on from the seth-green-seems-like-a-lock dept.

UgLyPuNk writes "This could be a good thing or a bad thing: EA has just confirmed that it's making Mass Effect into a movie. The franchise has been acquired by Legendary Pictures, which is best known for its co-productions of The Dark Knight, Clash of the Titans, 300, Watchmen, and, um, The Hangover, as part of a co-financing agreement with Warner Bros."

31 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Legendary Pictures is good news! by tingeber · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe we'll get Zach Galifianakis as Shepherd.

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    1. Re:Legendary Pictures is good news! by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 2, Funny

      But Shephard is a woman!

  2. Can it wait? by atheistmonk · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm in the middle of some calibrations.

    1. Re:Can it wait? by atheistmonk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Seriously, though. Reading TFA (I know I know) it is somewhat comforting to know that Bioware dudes are going to be involved. I'd prefer to know if their writers were in on it, though. Hell, Mass Effect blew my mind with its cinematic integrity. Will it get the Hollywood treatment and everything we know and love about it is raped and murdered before our eyes? Yeah, probably. But who knows, 300 and Watchmen were pretty faithful adaptations and maybe we won't have Johnny Fucking Depp or Robert Downey Jr playing Commander Shepard.

    2. Re:Can it wait? by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bioware dudes are going to be involved

      And if they're really quiet and well behaved, they may even be allowed to stay on set and fetch coffee for the guy who walks the dog of the broad who puts the makeup on Johnny Fucking Depp.

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    3. Re:Can it wait? by shadowknot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree and, of course, the really good news is that Uwe f*cking Boll isn't involved.

    4. Re:Can it wait? by Homburg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Watchmen was such a faithful adaptation of the comic that it was unwatchable as a film; this kind of mechanical "faithfulness" to the appearance or minor details of the source material is rarely a good thing. A similarly faithful film of Mass Effect would presumably keep interrupting the plot for a quick tour of the 15th more-or-less identical mining station or military outpost.

    5. Re:Can it wait? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They didn't make a film of The Watchmen; They made the Watchmen comic book move.

      The only adaptation was the ending, presumably because explaining Barbastus to the peons who think Die Hard 4.0 is technically accurate would leave most cinema goers with a sore head. The rest was, scene for scene, the comic book main story.

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    6. Re:Can it wait? by BForrester · · Score: 2, Funny

      A similarly faithful film of Mass Effect would presumably keep interrupting the plot for a quick tour of the 15th more-or-less identical mining station or military outpost.

      Not to mention a four-minute elevator ride every time the scene changes.

    7. Re:Can it wait? by zill · · Score: 2, Funny

      Umptilogy

      It's as if millions of grammar nazis suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

    8. Re:Can it wait? by PanzStrata · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Watchmen was such a faithful adaptation of the comic that it was unwatchable as a film

      One thing that Watchmen taught me about adaptations is you can never please everyone. You will either get castrated for getting too far off path from the original or you will get burned alive because you had no originality.

      I never go into a movie comparing it to the original, you will never win because the entire time you will be critiquing and not enjoying. I have know doubt that a good number of people will be very vocal about how much they thought the Mass Effect movie sucked (when it comes out), but no one will be talking about it as a movie that quite possibly could have been a decent movie. they will too focused on the fact that Shepherd hooked up with Ashley rather than Liara, or that Joker wasn't played by Seth Green, or that Cerberus wasn't mentioned.

      If we have any chance of enjoying this movie, we have to go in with the understanding that we didn't write this story line. It might even help to imagine that you are watching your friend play Mass Effect, take yourself out of the equation and it might just be a good movie.

    9. Re:Can it wait? by gwslyon · · Score: 2, Funny

      I agree and, of course, the really good news is that U** fucking B*** isn't involved.

      Fixed that for ya.

  3. Uwe Bolle to direct. by deniable · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since he's made so many other game adaptations.

    1. Re:Uwe Bolle to direct. by sortius_nod · · Score: 2, Informative

      You are a sick human being.

    2. Re:Uwe Bolle to direct. by deniable · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are a sick human being.

      and so are the mods. :)

  4. I'm... by blahplusplus · · Score: 2

    ... Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the citadel!

    1. Re:I'm... by Trent+Hawkins · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oh god... I can't imagine the marketing spin offs of this. I mean Iron man was bad enough, but can you imagine Sheppard with every possible product he could endorse?:
      -I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite hamburger
      -I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite battery
      -I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite shoe

      It will be epic.

    2. Re:I'm... by ElKry · · Score: 3, Funny

      They could go fully recursive and re-release the original game marketing it "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite game".

  5. EVE Online by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My vote goes for a Movie based on the EVE Online universe. Keep it very dark, moving, and awe inspiring.

    I bet you could get away with multiple franchise spin-offs too. Just like with Star Trek and Stargate.

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    1. Re:EVE Online by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Funny

      That would be awesome. The movie could start, we could get up and go play some frisbee, come back in 2 hours, and get the "movie watched" experience without the tiresome business of having to sit through it!

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    2. Re:EVE Online by TechnoFrood · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well there have been 2 official EVE books, EVE: Burning Life and EVE: The Empyrean Age, which admittedly I haven't read so I can't comet on their suitability for conversion to a movie. However there is the fan made Clear Skies, using a combination of footage from EVE mixed with footage shot using Garry's Mod (Source engine sandbox mod) for interior shots, which I think could very well be expanded to a feature length movie (hell Clear skies 1 and 2 together are 1.4 hours long) and seems to capture the universe fairly well.

  6. Shepard by fightinfilipino · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wrex

  7. drm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The movie can not start. For security reasons, only a limited number of machines can ever be licensed by a single purchase. This limit has been reached. Please purchase another registration code, reinstall, and then try again.

  8. Re:Jack Shephard by stealth_finger · · Score: 5, Funny

    You surely mean Assface Shepherd?

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  9. Uwe Boll by jaryd · · Score: 2, Funny

    is rumored to be attached to direct! EPIC WIN!

  10. Great... Game to Movie by ronoholiv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My recommendation? Leave Shepard alone. Work on another point in time in the universe,preferably in a spot where all the back-story that would have to be told is either integral to the story or doesn't limit people from understanding the story. Maybe pluck stories from the First Contact War, or events just before the start of Mass Effect.

    1. Re:Great... Game to Movie by Unkemptwolf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Mass Effect: First Contact

      That would be awesome. Its even already got a cool story line: Humans encounter Turians. Turians blow up Humans. Humans send a small fleet that blows up the Turians, Turians send a bigger fleet to capture Shanxi, thinking it is the Human homeworld. Humans send a bigger fleet, kick the Turians in the teeth, and take back Shanxi. Council realizes that the whole thing was a big misunderstanding and brokers a peace treaty.

      I would pay to see that. It sounds pretty awesome to me. Cue the sequels.

      --
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    2. Re:Great... Game to Movie by mkairys · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Totally agree with you on that point. If they choose the First Contact War as the story for the film, they could easily focus on Captain Anderson being the lead character. He was an interesting and developed character in the series and his back story could translate into a good film if done right.

  11. I don't think the submitter watched that last one. by Faaln · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Clash of the Titans (bland movie, with bland writing, starring a bland lead actor) gets listed among a bunch of moderate to great movies without so much as a hiccup and The Hangover gets a pretentious "um"? WTF.

  12. No thanks by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I loved Mass Effect 1 and 2. I have almost every achievement known to man in them, even in the DLC. I am a major fan. But I have no interest in a movie. Playing Mass Effect has, in fact, made me much *less* inclined to see a movie. Why? Because any Shepard on that screen won't be *MY* Shepard. Any story on that screen won't be something I will play a part in. The only choice I will have in that theater is which size popcorn to buy. That's not Mass Effect--it's just a glorified game trailer. I am no more interested in watching it than I would be in watching a video of someone else playing through ME1 or ME2. I couldn't give a shit less how the director wanted to play *his* Shepard.

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  13. Half Life? by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How about Half Life + HL2?

    The old "portal to a dimension of baddies" has been used before, but there's plenty of other plot in there. Aliens preventing human conception. Traitors/Quislings. The combine. Headcrabs with headcrab zombines. A wacky scientist in the resistance. Ravenholm...

    There's plenty of stuff in there for a good movie.