28 Weeks Later director in talks for Bioshock film

According to a report in Variety, 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks with Universal Pictures for the adaption of 2K Games’ first-person action game BioShock. Gore Verbinski, who will reportedly stay on as the producer, has decided not to direct the film. John Logan is still attached - he wrote the script, so you know who to blame when the movie’s plot sucks.

Fresnadillo directed the 2001 Spanish thriller Intacto, but made his mark on Hollywood with 28 Weeks Later, sequel to the zombie thriller, 28 Days Later.

The report goes on to say that the reason for this is to save the studio money and not have another mess like they did with the Halo film, which is now stalled. Verbinski is looking to shoot the film abroad in order to take advantage of tax credits and favorable exchange rates. Verbinski can’t take the time needed to direct the film abroad because he is also working on other Paramount projects including the animated film Rango, which stars Johnny Depp.”

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Universal Wins Film Rights to Unannounced EA Game

If the news coming out of Hollywood this morning is any indication, dealing with Electronic Arts really is like making a deal with the devil … or rather, making a deal for the devil. Last week, Variety reported rumors that five major film studios were bidding on the film rights to an unannounced, upcoming EA game based off of the first part of Dante Alighieri’s classic poem, The Divine Comedy … better known as “Dante’s Inferno”. Now the outlet is reporting that a potential seven figure deal has been reached between EA and Universal which will give the movie studio the film rights to the new property.

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Army of Two Headed to the Big Screen

Variety began reporting yesterday that Universal Pictures has picked up the film rights to EA’s buddy shooter, Army of Two. The studio, according to the report, is looking to fast track the project, with production hoping to start as early as next year. Scott Z. Burns, co-writer of The Bourne Ultimatum, has been tapped to write the script, with Scott Stuber (The Kingdom, Role Models) and EA co-producing. The deal will mark the first time Electronic Arts has taken a film production role.

“Because people experience the game in pairs, playing two guys who go against the world, Scott and I agreed this format presented an opportunity to make a great buddy film,” Burns said. “The ambiguity of these private military corporations lends weight to an intelligent thriller with relevance to what’s going on in the world right now. You have contractors with their own agendas, and two guys whose friendship supersedes all the politics. I told EA right off the bat I wasn’t a gamer, and that appealed to them because they didn’t want to simply replicate the game.”

Army of Two is the third EA project getting ready for its close-up with a big screen debut. Last month, it was announced that former Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad has optioned the right to the sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. Meanwhile, The Sims is currently being developed over at 20th Century Fox with producer John Davis.

Source: Variety