Gears of War movie still in progress – bet you forgot about it!

The Gears of War movie has been talked about ever since New Line Cinema purchased the rights for it in 2007. A lot of names have been associated with the project in the meantime, including the game’s lead designer Cliff Bleszinsky as an executive producer, with the latest being Shane Salerno, who is the new screenplay writer. His credits include Armageddon, Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, as well as the four upcoming sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar. Salerno also has some game writing experience, as he was working on Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands as well.

The movie adaptation of the game hit quite a few snags. Originally, it was Len Wiseman as director and Stuart Beattie in charge of script, however, that production fell apart in 2010. New Line Cinema was also rumored to have pared down the available budget. Next up, 2012 saw Scott Tuber as the man in charge, but nothing really happened. Rod Fergusson, of The Coalition who have taken over Gears of War from Epic Games, did, at the time, talk about the need to move the plot away from the games: “The big thing we’re really trying to focus on is making the best Gears movie possible, as opposed to the one that’s the most closest to the game.”

Although it seems perfectly understandable to treat film and games as two different mediums, it still remains a fact that there really are no “great” video game movies. And none of those that have been made really follow the plot of the game in any significant manner. This begs the question, who are these movies made for? The movie-goers do not care what is the movie based on, as long as it is good, while gamers do not care particularly to have fundamental things changed from their favorite game in order to make it work as a movie.

We will keep following the development of Gears of War movie in the future.