Movies
‘Dead Space’ Video Game Being Adapted for Big Screen Terror
Good news, bad news, which you want first? The good news is that the Electronic Arts hit video game Dead Space (an experience that reminds me of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon) is on course to become a sci-fi/horror film. The bad news is that Eagle Eye and Disturbia helmer D.J. Caruso is attached to direct. Eagle Eye is nearly unwatchable (27% on Rotten Tomatoes), so handing him such a beloved new video game franchise is a little scary. More on the announcement can be found inside.
EA will produce the film with Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. The producers, EA and Caruso have been listening to takes from prospective screenwriters, and once they set a writer and EA signs off on a creative direction, they will auction the property to studios. That will likely happen in early September.
The last EA property to follow that course was “Dante’s Inferno” — a journey through the depths of hell; Universal made the deal after a four-studio bidding battle.
“Dead Space” is set in the 26th century in deep space, where an engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous creatures called Necromorphs. The creatures are human corpses, reanimated by an alien virus.
EA launched the game in 2008 and is working on the second and third installments.
“Dead Space” becomes the fifth EA title to percolate as a feature property. Aside from the “Dante’s Inferno” film that will be produced by Strike Entertainment partners Eric Newman and Marc Abraham, EA is in business with Universal on “Army of Two,” with Scott Z. Burns (“The Bourne Ultimatum”) scripting and Scott Stuber producing. EA’s “The Sims” is being developed by producer John Davis and “Mass Effect” by “Spider-Man” producer Avi Arad.
Temple Hill’s Bowen and Godfrey are producing “Gears of War,” a live-action adaptation of the Microsoft and Epic Games’ vidgame for New Line, with Len Wiseman attached to direct and Chris Morgan scripting.
Caruso is also developing “Defender,” the Gary Witta-scripted DreamWorks drama that Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci are producing.
It was announced two weeks ago that Paramount is resurrecting the Scary Movie spoof franchise with a brand new reboot movie, which will likely arrive in theaters next year.
The new movie, a joint venture between Paramount and Miramax that will technically be the sixth installment in the franchise, is expected to go into production this coming Fall.
We don’t yet know who will be writing, directing or starring in the Scary Movie reboot, but two actors in particular have already expressed an interest in joining the franchise.
The first is Melissa Barrera, who can currently be seen in theaters in Radio Silence’s bloody horror movie Abigail. Barrera is of course also the star of Scream and Scream VI, which kind of makes her a perfect candidate to lampoon herself in a Scary Movie reboot.
“I always loved those movies,” Melissa Barrera tells the website Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun.’ That would be so fun to do.”
The actress adds, “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one.”
In a tweet posted last night, Bailee Madison (The Strangers: Prey at Night, the upcoming “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School”) also threw her hat in the running.
Madison tweets, “Random but scary movie 6 hit me up cause I just feel like we’d have fun okay bye.” Your move, Paramount. And make sure you call Anna Faris and Regina Hall too.
Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, the first Scary Movie was released in 2000, just four years after Wes Craven reinvigorated the horror genre with his meta slasher masterpiece, Scream.
The film parodied horror movies of the time including Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Blair Witch Project, and the horror-comedy spoof scared up $278 million at the worldwide box office. The success of that first Scary Movie paved the way for an entire franchise of horror spoofs, five of them in total released between 2000 and 2013.
Bailee Madison in “The Strangers: Prey at Night’
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