Producer Avi Arad has brought us a lot of comic book movies and is still a producer on the new “Amazing Spider-Man” movies, but his attention has now also turned to adapting video games for the big screen. Kotaku caught up with Arad in Beijing and got some updates on the Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid and Mass Effect movies.
“Converting games to film hasn’t been done yet successfully, though Resident Evil did very wellit was actually a great series,” he said. “I remember when Bernd Eichinger started it. I was working with him, I just couldn’t do that at Marvel but I had a good feeling about it, it’s a fantastic franchise.”
Out of the above mentioned titles, he says the Uncharted movie may be closest to the starting gate. “I think Uncharted will be very successful. It’s a father and son game. There are things about it that are interesting. I think the world of antiquities theft, there are many countries in the world that realised they’re being robbed and they’re trying to recoup these important pieces,” said Arad. “Now, the script has a lot of character [and] I think that has a shot at being the first one [to succeed].”
There is that pesky “father and son” mention again that kept being emphasized when David O. Russell was attached to write and direct with Mark Wahlberg attached to star. Before you say ‘maybe they’re talking about that fathers can play with their sons,’ back then they were talking about the story itself.
Back then, Russell went as far as saying, “I think if we take that family dynamic that we have in The Fighter, and put that in terms of a grander stage, with a crime family that metes out justice in the world of art and antiquities. If you’re the head of a museum, or head of state, you’ve got to deal with them, and they’re badass.” Let’s hope they’ve scrapped that idea.
So what about Metal Gear Solid? “If you go to Metal Gear Solid, it’s actually full of storytelling,” Arad added, “you have Cain and Abel.” The interviewer said that Arad expects the movie to be about three or more years away.
And the Mass Effect movie? It could take even longer. “It’s a big idea, that we, humans, are the least developed, the least trusted, it’s an interesting mirror image of our world, we are the aliens now,” said Arad. “Love the project, it’s getting there, it’s been a lot of work; some movies take five, six years before they’re ready.”
Are you looking forward to seeing these titles on the big screen?
