sisslethecat
During a panel on video game adaptations today at San Diego Comic Con, screenwriter Justin Marks and Producer Neal Moritz discussed Electronic Arts’ plans to move ahead on a Dead Space film adaption. We’ve heard rumors and rumblings regarding this project before, even some wild claims by horror film guru John Carpenter about how interested he’d be in directing a screen adaption of EA’s horror-action franchise, but this is the first time we’ve heard concrete evidence that the film is in the works.
Following decisions made on the soon to be released Need For Speed film adaption with Dreamworks, EA has already begun working on a script of their own, and will present it to a studio to partner with on funding, a move that is becoming increasingly popular with multi-media films (Marvel Studios has direct control over the recent Avengers films, and Ubisoft has begun production with Warner Bros. for an Assassin’s Creed film).
Dead Space is a franchise that is very near and dear to the hearts of it’s fans, and the concept of seeing a serious screen adaption of the original game’s tense survival horror (from before the series began leaning heavily on action horror) could be amazing. The film is still a long way off, so who knows what will eventually become of the production. There’s plenty of video game movies that almost happened that still to this day rot in development hell- the makers of the Final Destination franchise procured the rights to a Metroid Prime film over a decade ago, and Paul W.S. Anderson, of Resident Evil infamy, got the rights to make a Castlevania film in 2004.
I must cite a piece of disheartening news, however, as Justin Marks claimed that the film “shouldn’t be too close an adaption” to the source material. I’m repulsed by this bit of information, as “doing your own thing” with adaption films rarely works, especially with video game films, which have a long history of being bad for simply disregarding the source material altogether (Far Cry, BloodRayne, the Resident Evil franchise). Of course, there’s always a chance that taking the original story and layering on their own interpretation could have positive benefits, like 2006’s Silent Hill adaption, which is arguably one of the better video game movies- mainly due to the fact that, while it’s story was largely original, it kept the mood, music and overall tone of the games intact, although I’m more in line with adaptations like 2012’s Ace Attorney, which is an almost word-for-word adaptation of the first game.
Marks explained his thinking by stating that a direct adaption of Dead Space would be too similar to films he’d “already seen”, sighting Event Horizon and Alien.
There’s no way of telling exactly what the Dead Space film will be like at this point, but hopefully EA won’t allow the film to drift into the land of make-believe that films like Far Cry and Alone in the Dark inhabit. Of course, the fact that the screenwriter Justin Mark’s filmography contains the abysmal Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li and he’s stated a hesitation for truly adapting the source material, I’m not going to be getting my hopes up any time soon.
So, how about you? Are you excited to hear we might be getting a live-action Dead Space film down the road? Who are your top casting choices? I still say Adrien Brody would make a fantastic Isaac, if for no other reason than his awesome voice. But what about you? Sound off in the comments below!
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