Gears of War Movie Trilogy?

Published by Jeff Leins on: January 26th, 2009

In an exclusive interview with Bloody-Disgusting, director Len Wiseman talked about his plans for a Gears of War movie… trilogy.

“The hope is that were wanting to do a three movies and really cover the bases on everything. Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings,” the Wiseman said.

He prefaced it by saying he’s not much a video game kind of guy, but really got into “Gears” while selecting something for the background of Live Free or Die Hard.  Wiseman said he’s planning more of a science fiction slant for the movie(s) rather than a horror focus on scary creatures.

The “Gears of War” franchise is made up of two third-person shooter games developed by Epic Games.  Events in the first game (released in 2006) unfold on the fictional planet of Sera, where the humans fight an underground race called the Locust.  Marcus Fenix is the leader of the Delta Force team that battles the horde in the original.  The second game, released in November 2008, takes place six months after the first assault.  “Gears of War” was the fastest-selling game of 2006 and second-most popular game on XBOX Live in 2007.  “Gears of War 2″ has sold over four million copies.

Even with the popularity of this game series, Wiseman has his work cut out for him.  There hasn’t been a good video game movie ever and I’m not sure Gears of War is the answer.  What it needs first is a good script and screen writer Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast and the Furious 4) doesn’t boost many confidences.  It’s a shooting game, just like “Doom.”  Fans calling for the early casting of The Rock are just channeling repressed memories of that terrible movie.  I’ll wait to see some cast picks before I make any judgments.  Until then I’ll duck and cover.

The latest news was the producer was shooting for a 2010 release.