The LA Times published a piece discussing Microsoft’s (MSFT) and Ubisoft’s efforts to invade Hollywood with movie shorts based upon their video-game properties Halo and Assassin’s Creed.
Take-Two Interactive’s (TTWO) Grand Theft Auto series has long been rumored to cross over into a movie vehicle, but the publisher’s Rockstar Games studio laid the smack down on that idea:
"We don’t believe that the Grand Theft Auto games, which are massive in scope and structurally complex, can be adequately compressed into a two-hour movie," said Dan Houser, vice president of creative at Rockstar Games.
"It seems obvious to us that maintaining the long-term integrity of any entertainment property has been dependent on not making substandard spin-off products to people whose primary interest is making a quick buck. If we ever decide to do a film, it will be because we have resolved our creative doubts, and while retaining enough control to ensure that if the movie is terrible, at least we will know we ruined the property ourselves."
Despite the fact that I don’t enjoy the Grand Theft Auto series of games, I have thought it would work extremely well in Hollywood.
But I can’t help but agree with Dan Houser here. The strength of the GTA series is in the writing – a brilliant blend of social satire and typical gangster-talk. Unless Rockstar themselves were writing the movie, I doubt a film could hit the same unique dynamics that the games do.
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