Hollywood’s Need For Speed
The popular video game franchise is having its engines revved for the big screen.
Further proof that Hollywood is exhausting every avenue for new film ideas, DreamWorks Studios has just acquired the feature film rights to EA's popular video game franchise, Need For Speed.
Following in the footsteps of other game-turned-films such as Lara Croft, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and Prince of Persia, the screenplay is based on the Need for Speed series, but not on an individual game.
Brothers George and John Gatins developed the original story with George writing the feature's screenplay. EA will produce along with John Gatins and Mark Sourian, with Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) currently attached to direct.
"I'm excited about getting back into the creative trenches with John and George Gatins and my partners at EA to bring to life an exhilarating script based on an epic video game that seems to have been made for the movies," said Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Chairman.
One of EA's best-selling video game franchises, Need For Speed is the premier racing game in the video game industry, selling more than 140 million units worldwide and generating an estimated $4 billion in retail revenue.
CEO and Co-Chair of DreamWorks, Stacey Snider, said a very compelling story has been brought forward, which DreamWorks believes will make a fun, cool movie franchise. The film adaptation is set to be a fast-paced, high-octane ride rooted in the tradition of the car culture films of the seventies while being faithful to the video game franchise. "With such a large following around the globe, we're excited to make a film that does justice to the popular underlying video game series," she enthused.
The project will be fast-tracked at DreamWorks with a target production start date for early next year, and a planned 2014 release.
