Sony gears videogame for film

Popular franchise coming to bigscreen

By BEN FRITZ, DIANE GARRETT

Sony is bringing hit vidgame franchise "Metal Gear Solid" to the bigscreen.

Michael De Luca will produce the adaptation, with vidgame creator Hideo Kojima as exec producer. A bigscreen adaptation of the futuristic vidgame has been rumored since last May's E3 confab, but negotiations with Konami Digital Entertainment have been ongoing. Sony chair Yair Landau confirmed it was in the works following his keynote speech Thursday at the DICE vidgame confab in Las Vegas.

Columbia co-prexy of production Doug Belgrad hailed the franchise as especially cinematic in its storytelling and "loaded with well-developed, intriguing characters."

"Metal Gear Solid" has sold more than 20 million units since 1998, but its roots date back even further; the first "Metal Gear" game came out in 1987. Stealth action title became one of the industry's biggest hits and has four sequels, the last three of which came out under the "Metal Gear Solid" moniker. Another sequel is set for release this year.

"Metal Gear" games involve political intrigue and have a generally antiwar message.

CAA represents Konami and negotiated the deal.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959052.html

Like this article? Variety.com has over 150,000 articles, 40,000 reviews and 10,000 pages of charts. Subscribe today!
http://www.variety.com/emailfriend
or call (866) MY-VARIETY.
Can't commit? Sign up for a free trial!
http://www.variety.com/emailfriend