300 Scribe Hired To Write EverQuest Movie

Sony has hired 300 screenwriter Michael Gordon to pen an adaptation of the popular online role-playing game EverQuest. Former Marvel Studios head Avi Arad is producing the flick for Columbia Pictures.

Released on March 16, 1999, EverQuest became the most popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) before World of Warcraft took over the universe. At its peak, EverQuest had more than 450,000 paying subscribers.

In EverQuest, players create a character by selecting one of 14 'races' in the game, which range from elves, dwarves and ogres of fantasy, to humans, to cat-people and lizard-people. Players also select their characters' adventuring occupation (such as a wizard, ranger, or cleric – called a class – see below for particulars).

Players use their character to explore the fantasy world of Norrath, fight monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points, master trade skills. As they progress, players advance in level, gaining power, prestige, spells, and abilities through actions such as looting the remains of defeated enemies and doing quests. EverQuest also alows players to interact with other players through role-play, joining player guilds, and dueling other players.

So how would a big screen adaptation of EverQuest be any different from the scores of other movies which borrowed and stole from Dungeons and Dragons? I'm not quite sure. And hiring the guy that wrote 300 seems like a great move on the surface considering the popularity and success of that film. But I tend to believe that most people bought a ticket to Zack Snyder's film because of the intense graphic novel-inspired visuals, and not the lackluster screenplay. And isn't the movie destined to failure purely based on the fact that it is a video game adaptation?

source: Variety