Like a demonic portal (not really, but we liked the visual), the gateway between movies and games swings both ways. Only yesterday we reported that World Of Warcraft would become a film. Now two very different projects are going all virtual and pixellated.
First up is Guillermo del Toro’s plan for a Hellboy computer game. When not hard at work at the thousand or so ideas running through his head, or indeed developing Hellboy sequel The Golden Army, he’s also found time to sign a pact to assist in the creation of a game based on Big Red.
He and creator Mike Mignola have been giving notes on how to make the computer-based Hellboy a cinematic treat, offering notes on lighting and set design, among other things. As he told The Hollywood Reporter: "We've also approved and given comments on every aspect of the story and concept. We have also been very careful in selecting the score's quality and the people executing it, but we are just a helping hand. We are fortunate enough to be working with great developers that are fans of the comic and the movie."
Exciting stuff. Just as intriguing is word that production company Regency and developers Gearbox will be bringing us a sequel to Michael Mann’s Heat that’ll run on next-generation consoles. And the reason? Last year’s special edition shiny disc. "The success of the special edition DVD last year reminded us how Michael Mann' s Heat is truly a modern-day classic, and deserves to be retold using modern technology that will transport a viewer into that world," babbled Regency president Sanford Panitch.
Michael Mann will be involved, and talks are apparently underway with Val Kilmer, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to lend their voices. Hang on, we hear you ask, didn’t De Niro die? Well spotted – if the project develops into a full-fledged sequel, De Niro will crop up in flashbacks.
"There is something about this concept that I call 'hard core heist' that has never really been done well in a video game, yet everyone on the planet has thought about robbing a bank or something at one time or another," Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford told the Reporter. "Heat pretty much defined what hard core heist means and it gives us a narrative mechanism to consider both sides."