Legendary Pictures is really justfying its name. With Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Watchmen, and The Hangover under its belt and Inception (giddy dance) coming in July, what could the studio possibly do in the future to make itself even more awesome.
This.
Legendary has obtained the rights to none other than Mass Effect, BioWare’s wildly successful, crazy-awesome franchise surrounding Commander Shepard’s exploits vanquishing evil aliens and protecting the universe.
Mass Effect as a game had everything I could have wanted from a gaming standpoint: an intuitive weapons system, original combat mechanisms, hours of gameplay. But it was just as much a cinematic experience as it was a game, with beautiful worlds, a diversity of well-crafted species and characters, and a gripping story full of twists, sacrifice, redemption, and salvation. They could just screen someone playing the game in a theater and it would practically be a movie itself. Imagine what’ll happen when people who actually make good movies get their hands on it.
In talks to write the script is Mark Protosevich, who wrote I Am Legend and contributed to 2011’s Thor. Now, writing a video game movie is tricky, as Prince of Persia may be about to demonstrate. It’s impossible to know what the reputation of video-game films will be once this actually comes to fruition, but if it’s anything below stellar, this should be the film to turn things around (so don’t screw it up, guys!).
If this really happens, which I certainly hope it does, there’s only one man who could embody Commander Shepard: Matthew Fox. He’s got the hair, he’s got the fame, and he’s used to responding to that last name. And there’s already a bit of a clamor on the interwebs in agreement.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter, image via dialtech.)
