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Epic Games’ Megahit ‘Gears of War’ Goes Hollywood

A screen shot from Gears of War (courtesy Epic Games)

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Editor’s note: John Gaudiosi writes a blog about video games for WRAL.com

RALEIGH—Videogame developer Epic Games, which is based in Cary and is represented by Creative Arts Agency, is taking its bestselling videogame franchise, "Gears of War," to the big screen, courtesy of "Lord of the Rings" studio New Line Cinema.

Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of "Gears," worked with Hollywood scribe Stuart Beattie ("Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl") to craft the treatment for the film. Beattie will write the script for the film, which will be produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey ("iRobot") of Temple Hill Entertainment.

Microsoft’s videogames unit published "Gears of War” for its Xbox 360 platform.

"Gears of War" has topped sales of 3 million units worldwide since its release in November. The game, which is set on the planet Sera, pits a ragtag army of human soldiers against monstrous creatures called the Locust Horde. In addition to topping sales charts, the game won critical praise and several Game of the Year Awards. The online gameplay is currently the most popular on Xbox Live, dethroning "Halo 2."

This marks the first Hollywood foray for Epic Games. Ironically, Microsoft aired commercials for "Gears of War" at theaters last fall to get gamers excited about the title. Epic worked with MTV on two documentaries that chronicled the making of the game in Cary.

This is the second time a Microsoft franchise (Epic owns the IP for "Gears," but Microsoft publishes the game franchise) has been optioned for the big screen. Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox optioned "Halo" for the big screen last year with Peter Jackson to produce a script by Alex Garland ("28 Days Later"), but both studios killed that movie due to budget concerns. Microsoft has not given up hope for a film in the future.

Like "Halo," which has a third game launching this fall for Xbox 360, a "Gears of War" movie would be a big budget endeavor. The sci-fi nature of the game and the many creatures the humans battle on the foreign planet all require a hefty effects budget. However, "Gears" certainly has a global audience and a more intriguing story, in many ways, to "Halo." The reason "Halo" wasn't optioned for so many years in Hollywood was because the game borrowed a lot from "Aliens." "Gears" stands out as a more original story that hasn't been seen in theaters, which bodes well for the film to one day make it to the big screen.