Army of Two movie in the works at Universal, EA producing for the first time
Army of Two is the latest videogame heading to the big screen.
As Variety reporter Michael Fleming and I are reporting in tomorrow's paper (read the story here), EA has licensed the rights to Universal, which has set Scott Z. Burns ("The Bourne Ultimatum") to write the script.
In an interesting twist, EA is actually attached as a producer on the film (along with Scott Stuber, who was previously attached to produce the "Halo" movie, amongst many other projects). As I was writing yesterday, EA is getting very active in film licensing recently and being attached as a producer gives it a whole higher level of involvement in how the end product turns out.
It was only last month that EA licensed "Mass Effect" to producer Avi Arad (it's not set up at a studio yet). And of course there's "The Sims" movie at Fox, the initial pitch for which got less than stellar reviews from gamers. I wouldn't be surprised to see more in the near future.
Universal has also been getting pretty active in adapting videogames. It's the studio that's doing the "Bioshock" movie and it was previously involved in the doomed "Halo" film.
My colleague Michael Fleming talked to Burns and got this interesting quote about his take on "Army of Two" as a movie:
The ambiguity of these private military corporations lends weight to an intelligent thriller with relevance to what's going on in the world right now. You have contractors with their own agendas, and two guys whose friendship supersedes all the politics. I told EA right off the bat I wasn't a gamer, and that appealed to them because they didn't want to simply replicate the game.'
Given how "Army of Two's" story was received, that's probably a good thing. On the other hand, as I just reported, "Army of Two 2" (working title, I'll assume) is in the works and it's a safe bet that whatever EA has got cooking for the follow-up will influence the movie and possibly vice-versa.
Personally, I just hope the main characters have at least as many awkwardly gay moments in the film as they did in the game. Preferrably in those awesome skeletor masks.
Chris Morris reports on the business and culture of video games and offers analysis of recent events and industry trends.
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My cousin is actually going to be in this movie as one of the "army of two " people im not too into video games and from what i see it looks like it could be very good!! lets hope so.
Posted by: dalene | November 10, 2009 at 03:34 PM
Take it easy, guys
Posted by: Viagra 100mg | November 01, 2009 at 03:31 PM
so the dude at the end of the comment list says this movie had horrible sales? apparently more than a $100 million isnt a lot these days? this game was about 2 bad asses running around jackin stuff up with (granted it was cheesy) a little comedic relief and a somewhat relevant story line to todays world. ask your kids what games they want made into movies, and theyll say army of 2. c'mon man, play a real game, get off world of warcraft, oblivion and fable. perhaps a clancy game would be pretty sweet too, along with assassins creed. settings and storylines are there
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Posted by: 江哲SEO | August 20, 2009 at 02:08 AM
^ Really dude? I thought Ao2 was perfect for a movie. It already had the story, the conspiracy, the comic relief, the backstory... Granted, the game is too short, and a little glitchy, but I think this may turn out awesome.
Posted by: Austin G | March 06, 2009 at 06:59 PM
you suck. just because what you think is the "right" opinion,doesnt mean its a fact. i agree that most video game movies suck, but this could be very good.and why do you keep copying and pasting other peoples comments?...oh, and im bringing back dead topics. and you cant stop me.
Posted by: that karl guy sucks. | March 04, 2009 at 09:08 AM
It may be correct but they have not been releasing the right video game movies, there are games that would suit almost anyone but they have not released it yet.
And video are not "crap" as how you put it
Posted by: Melfice Nightshroud | March 03, 2009 at 07:28 AM
To be honest, my friend and I played this game and i loved it. I was really happy with the customizations with your guns and masks. I don't see this being a bad situation.
Posted by: Ashwaria | February 27, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Video game movies never work because people have no confidence in them, normally giving a small budget for it obviously it won't work, the movie industry does not accept game movies yet, thats why not enough work = fail fail fail oh and uwe boll is just fail. but this sound like a winner, for once.
Posted by: salem | February 19, 2009 at 05:38 AM
this could be amazing or catastrophic.I love the game, i'm a twin so me and brother always play this game. Should be really good, just need good actors and director,story is already brilliant.
sound track should be danny elfmans "all the little things" (as used in the wanted movie), the lyrics go so well!
looking forward to it.
Posted by: Stuart Brown | February 09, 2009 at 04:07 AM
I love your bases guns. I think there cool.
Posted by: dakota hoffses | November 20, 2008 at 05:55 PM
Eventually there will be a game that is turned into an awesome movie. No one has figured out the formula yet, but I know character empathy is something that is critical in movies but rarely found in games. If they can get you to care about Salem and Rios, this will be a big movie
Posted by: DPH | November 10, 2008 at 05:04 PM
your dumb the halo movie has been back in the works for a couple months now. EA + stuber = road to crap! I hope EA backs off so that possibly this movie comes out good. EA can barely make a game with coming out with 10 sequels that are barely changed. I hop this movie does well because I liked the game but god EA let the professionals handle it!
Posted by: Rob | November 03, 2008 at 04:33 AM
To be honest, my friend and I played this game and i loved it. I was really happy with the customizations with your guns and masks. I don't see this being a bad situation.
I think the industry should see the success in comic book movies and put the budget into the game-to-film movies. We wouldn't complain. Also, keep Uwe Bowe away from any camera.
Posted by: Tyler | October 25, 2008 at 08:55 PM
To be honest, my friend and I played this game and i loved it. I was really happy with the customizations with your guns and masks. I don't see this being a bad situation.
I think the industry should see the success in comic book movies and put the budget into the game-to-film movies. We wouldn't complain. Also, keep Uwe Bowe away from any camera.
Posted by: Tyler | October 25, 2008 at 08:55 PM
man what are you talking about.?
your acting like people are gonna stop going to the movies!
if the story and the trailer looks good, people are gonna go regardless of it it's a video game movie or not.
they just have to put good actors.
army of two is perfect for a movie.
the story and the premise is loose enough to allow the director enough liberty to create a very good movie .
They hired the guy that did the bourne ultimatum!
hes probably just gonna take the general idea of having 2 soldiers working together ,write an epic movie with a deep storyline (like hes capable of) and add a bunch of crazy special effects.
this could turn out very good.
Posted by: karl | October 24, 2008 at 09:08 AM
man what are you talking about.?
your acting like people are gonna stop going to the movies!
if the story and the trailer looks good, people are gonna go regardless of it it's a video game movie or not.
they just have to put good actors.
army of two is perfect for a movie.
the story and the premise is loose enough to allow the director enough liberty to create a very good movie .
They hired the guy that did the bourne ultimatum!
hes probably just gonna take the general idea of having 2 soldiers working together ,write an epic movie with a deep storyline (like hes capable of) and add a bunch of crazy special effects.
this could turn out very good.
Posted by: karl | October 24, 2008 at 09:07 AM
man what are you talking about.?
your acting like people are gonna stop going to the movies!
if the story and the trailer looks good, people are gonna go regardless of it it's a video game movie or not.
they just have to put good actors.
army of two is perfect for a movie.
the story and the premise is loose enough to allow the director enough liberty to create a very good movie .
They hired the guy that did the bourne ultimatum!
hes probably just gonna take the general idea of having 2 soldiers working together ,write an epic movie with a deep storyline (like hes capable of) and add a bunch of crazy special effects.
this could turn out very good.
Posted by: karl | October 24, 2008 at 09:05 AM
This is quite possibly the dumbest of all the video game movies. Not only did army of two have horrible sales, it was absolutely panned by critics and gamers alike. EA is ruining the video game industry, and now they are going to take a shot at ruining the already struggling movie industry.
Note to studio execs:
Before your start green lighting every piece of crap video game movie that comes across your desk do some freakin research, ask your kids what they think, put together a focus group. This is an abomination.
Just because "Max Payne" was #1 movie on a slow weekend does not mean the American public wants more of this crap. Believe me all of these video game movie deals are going to blow up in the studios faces very soon and heads will roll.
PLEASE STOP MAKING VIDEO GAME MOVIES, THEY ARE ALL TERRIBLE AND PEOPLE WILL NOT PUT UP WITH MUCH MORE OF THIS.
Posted by: Jim Stevens | October 24, 2008 at 06:37 AM