In an interview with IGN, The Coalition’s studio head Rod Fergusson has explained that the planned Gears of War film will not adhere to the canon set forth by the games and will instead explore a unique story.
Speaking some candid truth, Fergusson said:
“In order for the movie to be successful, it has to be a great movie first and a Gears movie second. Basically the way that we sort of reconciled that was, we said, ‘oh the movie should be an alternate reality. It should not be dependent on the game story, nor should it influence the game story.’”
Bypassing potential creative hindrances like the canon established in the 8 game-canon will no doubt be a blessing for writers overly concerned with fan service (yes, there is such a thing…Warcraft.)
“I’ve heard of other franchises who come with this really large story Bible and this really sort of, here are all the rules now go and deal with 700 pages of how you live in our world. When we did it, we were two pages. I was like, ‘Here’s two pages of thou shall nots and recommendations.’ We want people to have the freedom to have new ideas and to take things differently.”
The last time I can think that a studio went completely off-book for a video game adaptation has to have been the near-universally panned Super Mario Bros. (although to this day I personally hold the film team blameless for their efforts; exactly how was anyone meant to create an entertaining and compelling film from that franchise as it stood in 1993? Howabout even now?), so I for one think that this move on behalf of The Coalition is a simple kind of genius, and completely against the grain of the last ten years worth of video game adaptations.
It remains to be seen if smart bombs, precision guided armaments and a more sophisticated way to end up dead will yield to the film creation strategy but again, many believe that the video game adaptation curse is still on, as real as the Uncanny Valley we might just be starting to finally see the end of.
Gears of War is still in the planning stages, with mostly production rumours at this time; allegedly the film is getting made at Universal Pictures and the script is being penned by F. Scott Frazier (xXx: Return of Xander Cage); Dave Bautista has claimed that taking the lead as notable badass Marcus Fenix would be his “dream role”. It goes without saying that we’ll be keeping you up to date as we hear further developments!
What say you, Wasteoids? Chomping at the chain-bayonets to see a Gears film on the big screen? Or does the decision to abandon canon leave you wanting to step away from that damned wall and leave humanity to its miserable fate.
Sound off below!