adaptation posts

How often have you groaned at seeing that one of your favorite movies, books, comic books, or even TV shows was going to be making the jump to video game status? How often have your fears been justified? Perhaps a better question would be: How often have you been pleasantly surprised by a video game adaptation?

It's an all-too-common scenario: based on the sales numbers of a given property, a media conglomerate will sell a license out to whomever thinks they might do a good job of spreading the brand to different markets. A movie will turn into a novelization, a comic book adaptation, a spin-off television series, a direct-to-DVD movie, a line of toys and assorted merchandise, and eventually, a video game. The wisdom of this approach seems to lie in the idea that "If they liked it once, they'll like it again". In many cases, adapting a book to a movie is relatively innocuous; many survive the transition quite well. When it comes to making a video game from a movie, or book, or any other medium, however, all bets are off. Why? It's because the strengths of one medium are not the strengths of another.

According to Variety, Bruce Willis has been attached to the Hollywood movie adaptation of Eidos Interactive's video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. He's been selected to play Kane. The studio (Lionsgate) is still looking for someone to fill the role of Lynch.

The producers of the film have already adapted a video game to the big screen: they helmed the production of 2007's Hitman, another Eidos game. The film will be written by unknown screenwriter Kyle Ward, and directed by Simon Crane, who worked as a stunt director on many films including X-Men: The Last Stand and Titanic.

Don't do it Bruce! The game wasn't that good! We're not even sure why they're making a movie out of it. Even if everyone who bought the game went to see it, it would only gross $20 million; that might just barely pay Willis' salary!