Walt Disney Pictures has released the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Superbowl television trailer. The new television spot gives us a look at some of the film’s tentpole special effects-filled sequences. You can watch it now, embedded after the jump. As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
There’s a surprising little story at Bloody Disgusting which reveals Warner Bros. are in early development of a new Mortal Kombat movie. They’ve already selected a writer in Oren Uziel, author of the Black List 2009 entry Shimmer Lake. That script was a twisty, suspenseful thriller that combined murder mystery with a bank heist plotline, so it would seem Uziel has a smarter way with narrative than is strictly necessary for a beat ‘em up tournament film. Earlier Kombat pictures were depressingly linear and short on ambition.
The game’s selling point was gory ‘fatalities’, finishing moves that saw the little digital fighters turned into ripped up messes of red pixels. To render these money shots faithfully on the big screen would require an R rated picture - at least! - though I’m not sure that will be the plan. Surely Warners can see how the target audience for the film is stuffed with thirteen and fourteen year olds?
The movie trailer for the big screen adaptation of Namco’s popular fighting video game Tekken is now online. Directed by Dwight H. Little, the guy responsible for crappy bargain bin titles such as Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and Marked for Death, which starred Steven Seagal, and from a screenplay written by Alan McElroy, the guy behind The Marine, Wrong Turn, and Halloween 4. The film version is a science fiction gladiator story set in the near future, about a rebel who rises up against the Tekken Corp. to seize freedom for his people.
The year is 2039. World Wars have destroyed much of civilization as we know it. The remaining territories are no longer run by governments, but by corporations, the mightiest of which is Tekken. In order to keep the masses down, Tekken sponsors the Iron Fist Tournament in which fighters compete to the death for ultimate glory and receive a lifetime of stardom and wealth.
I’m not sure what looks better, this or the last Street Fighter movie. Watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
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No Metal Gear Solid Movie Anytime Soon, Says Producer Mike De Luca
Posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 by Devindra Hardawar
For years now, we’ve been reporting on the potential film adaptation of the Konami game series Metal Gear Solid. Last year, we reported that Equilibrium director Kurt Wimmer was talking with the studio about adapting the game, and there were also rumors about Paul Thomas Anderson directing as well (we think they really meant Paul W.S. Anderson). Now we have more of a concrete update from producer Mike De Luca — it’s most likely not happening at all.
Speaking to Frosty over at Collider, De Luca talked about how the video game companies in particular made it impossible for the film to get made.
New Prince of Persia Featurette Highlights the Sands of Time
Posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based on the UbiSoft reinvention of Jordan Mechner’s classic video game, doesn’t hit until May 28 2010. But Disney is apparently not so confident that the video game basis will translate to a large audience, so the studio has been pumping out images and footage since the first trailer debut last month. There’s a new featurette out now which explains the movie’s subtitle and gives some context for some of the trailer’s swirling, sandy shots. Check it out below. Read More »
Prince of Persia Featurette: “Behind The Scenes: Dastan”
Posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Disney has released a new two-and-a-half-minute behind the scenes featurette for the live-action big screen adaptation of the popular video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The featurette focuses on Jake Gyllenhaal’s character Dastan, and showcases off the film’s parkour-style action and the special effects magic of the dagger of time. Watch it now, embedded after the jump.
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Video Games: Trailers for Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
Posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar
We don’t normally cover much game-related stuff here (unless it’s regarding yet another dreaded game-to-film adaptation), but we came across the following trailers for some hotly anticipated, semi-movie-related, game sequels, and figured there would be no complaints. Especially since these are some fantastic trailers for Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.
We knew the latter was coming, considering the wild success of the first Force Unleashed game. The Arkham Asylum news was a bit more surprising — given that we’re only a few months away from the first game’s release.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Sneak Preview
Posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Jake Gyllenhaal was on hand at the Spike TV 2009 Video Game Awards to present a “first look” sneak preview of Disney’s upcoming big screen adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Watch the 1-minute teaser trailer after the jump.
Gears of War Movie to Be an Origin Story? Possibly Taking Place on Emergence Day
Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar
“Emergence Day” should be a term familiar to Gears of Wars fans already, and it looks like movie fans may become very familiar with it. The term refers to that day that the series’ subterranean villains, the Locusts, started to wage war against humanity. Making Of recently spoke with producer Wyck Godfrey, who spilled some details on their current plans for the Len Wiseman-directed Gears film.
Apparently, they’re currently trying to decide if the movie should take place in the time period of the games—in a war-torn post-Emergence Day world—or, if they should start off earlier and depict a peaceful time that’s shattered by the events of Emergence Day.
Godfrey’s full quote, after the break.
The first press screenings of James Cameron’s Avatar take place on Thursday, December 10th, so we won’t hear any reactions until then. But reviews for the Avatar Video Game have begun to be published, and it’s not good. The game currently has a 64% positive rating on metacritic, which equates to “mixed or average reviews”. It should be noted that while the video game takes place in the world of Pandora, and features creatures and technology seen in the movie, the storyline is different — something created just for the game. Below you can find a few review excerpts:
1UP: “Avatar’s not a bad-looking or playing game — it’s just very average. You may have the whole planet to explore, but your primary objectives boil down to “go to a point, push a button and or kill some guys, then go back to the start.” The framework’s in place — a wide array of weapons, big enemies to take down — but Avatar just doesn’t put them in an interesting setting.”
Official Xbox Magazine: “Nitpicks are plenty, but so are the surprisingly fun aspects — whichever side of planetary strip-mining you fall on.”
More after the jump.
