Mech Warrior Movie ?
Posted: 02 Mar 2003, 14:45
Thu Feb 27, 2:37 AM ET
By John Gaudiosi
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Dean Devlin will produce a movie based on the best-selling "Mech Warrior" video games.
Paramount Pictures is in negotiations to option the property from Wiz Kids, a Seattle-based game company, for Devlin's Electric Entertainment, which will develop a screenplay that Devlin will produce.
"Whether I write the script or help with the script or direct, I'm crazy about the material, and this is a real passion project for me," Devlin said.
He said "Eight Legged Freaks," which he produced for $30 million last year, was an experiment in putting almost all of a film's budget into special effects. Similarly, he said his intention with "Mech Warrior" is to make it look like a $150 million movie while spending less than $100 million.
"The type of CG we'd use for this movie, in which warriors battle in giant mechanized suits of armor, would be much easier to create than spiders," he said. "We had 200 CG shots in 'Freaks,' and I think we could get a lot more out of this film."
Devlin said he'd like to get the movie into theaters within 24 months. "The material is a franchise already," he said.
Jordan Weisman, who created "Mech Warrior" 20 years ago, will play a creative role in making the film.
In addition to the games, more than 60 novels have been published. Weisman said the movie will focus on the Republic, a melting pot of people similar to the United States, and how factions in the Republic and forces outside of it are hoping to restart the Mech Wars of old.
"The film is in many ways a coming-of-age story," said Weisman, CEO of Wiz Kids. "It's set 40 years after the Mech Wars have ended and introduces a group of young heroes in their late teens and early 20s that have grown up in peaceful and prosperous times."
Weisman said the sci-fi "Mech Warrior" universe he created was heavily influenced by the relationships that World War II pilots developed with the fighter planes they flew. The fall of the Roman Empire and the feudal system of lords fighting over scraps of land also plays into the game universe.
"This is a very gritty, grimy sci-fi universe," Weisman said. "This isn't 'Star Trek,' where everything's shiny and new. The mechs are constantly breaking down."
Six months ago, Wiz Kids released a collectible "Mech Warrior" miniature table-top game that has sold 5 million units. Penguin Putnam will publish 18 new novels based on the franchise during the next three years.
CAA represented Devlin and Wiz Kids in the "Mech Warrior" deal.
By John Gaudiosi
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Dean Devlin will produce a movie based on the best-selling "Mech Warrior" video games.
Paramount Pictures is in negotiations to option the property from Wiz Kids, a Seattle-based game company, for Devlin's Electric Entertainment, which will develop a screenplay that Devlin will produce.
"Whether I write the script or help with the script or direct, I'm crazy about the material, and this is a real passion project for me," Devlin said.
He said "Eight Legged Freaks," which he produced for $30 million last year, was an experiment in putting almost all of a film's budget into special effects. Similarly, he said his intention with "Mech Warrior" is to make it look like a $150 million movie while spending less than $100 million.
"The type of CG we'd use for this movie, in which warriors battle in giant mechanized suits of armor, would be much easier to create than spiders," he said. "We had 200 CG shots in 'Freaks,' and I think we could get a lot more out of this film."
Devlin said he'd like to get the movie into theaters within 24 months. "The material is a franchise already," he said.
Jordan Weisman, who created "Mech Warrior" 20 years ago, will play a creative role in making the film.
In addition to the games, more than 60 novels have been published. Weisman said the movie will focus on the Republic, a melting pot of people similar to the United States, and how factions in the Republic and forces outside of it are hoping to restart the Mech Wars of old.
"The film is in many ways a coming-of-age story," said Weisman, CEO of Wiz Kids. "It's set 40 years after the Mech Wars have ended and introduces a group of young heroes in their late teens and early 20s that have grown up in peaceful and prosperous times."
Weisman said the sci-fi "Mech Warrior" universe he created was heavily influenced by the relationships that World War II pilots developed with the fighter planes they flew. The fall of the Roman Empire and the feudal system of lords fighting over scraps of land also plays into the game universe.
"This is a very gritty, grimy sci-fi universe," Weisman said. "This isn't 'Star Trek,' where everything's shiny and new. The mechs are constantly breaking down."
Six months ago, Wiz Kids released a collectible "Mech Warrior" miniature table-top game that has sold 5 million units. Penguin Putnam will publish 18 new novels based on the franchise during the next three years.
CAA represented Devlin and Wiz Kids in the "Mech Warrior" deal.
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