New Line Cinema Acquires Film Rights for Gears of War
Stuart Beattie (Pirates Of The Caribbean) Tapped To Pen Film Adaptation Of The Popular Video Game
LOS ANGELES (March 20, 2007) – New Line Cinema has acquired the feature film rights to Epic Games' award-winning video game, Gears of War, with writer Stuart Beattie attached to adapt the project and Temple Hill Entertainment set to produce. The announcement was made jointly today by New Line Production President Toby Emmerich and Epic Games' VP and co-founder Mark Rein.
Since its debut in November 2006, Gears of War has broken sales records on the Microsoft Xbox 360®, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide, and has received numerous awards including Gamespot's "Game of the Year" and the Interactive Achievement Awards' "Overall Game of the Year." The game thrusts players into humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. The story unfolds as a ragtag group of soldiers use every last ounce of strength to survive the onslaught from the forces of evil, which begins on the historic Emergence Day.
Beattie previously penned Collateral, and is credited with the screen story for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He has also written the screenplay for 30 Days Of Night and 3:10 To Yuma, a film staring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Cliff Bleszinski, the lead game designer for Gears of War, worked in conjunction with Beattie to define a treatment for the film, which will target existing fans of the video game and captivate a whole new audience. Bleszinski will executive produce the film on behalf of Epic Games.
Gears of War is being produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (iRobot, Daddy Day Care) through their Temple Hill Entertainment production company. The project is being overseen for New Line by production executives Cale Boyter and Jeff Katz.
Creative Artists Agency represents Beattie, Bleszinski, and Epic Games. Beattie is also represented by Joan Vento-Hall of the Law Offices of Joan Vento-Hall.
ABOUT EPIC GAMES:
Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and game engine technology for PC and console. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in their Unreal® series and their latest game, Gears of War, broke sales records on Xbox 360, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide in the first ten weeks and awarded overall Game of the Year for 2006 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Game Developers Choice Awards, Gamespot, Gamepro and many others. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine®, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games including, Console Game of the Year winner, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell by Ubi Soft; PC Gamer's Game of the Year, Deus Ex, from Ion Storm/Eidos; America's Army: Special Forces, by the United States Army, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PC) by Electronic Arts. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder, and three-time consecutive winner, of Game Developer magazine's Front Line award for Best Game Engine. Epic Games was also awarded Studio of the Year at the 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards and Developer of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through Epic's Web site at http://www.epicgames.com.
About New Line Cinema Corporation:
Celebrating its 40th anniversary year, New Line Cinema is the most successful independent film company in the world. Its mission is to produce innovative, popular and profitable entertainment in the best creative environment. In addition to the production, marketing and distribution of theatrical motion pictures, the fully-integrated studio has divisions devoted to home entertainment, television, music, theater, merchandising and an international unit. In 2005, New Line partnered with HBO to form Picturehouse, a new theatrical distribution company to release independent films. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line's Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful film franchises in history. New Line is a division of Time Warner, Inc. (TWX).
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