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Film Director John Woo Licenses 'Metroid' Game
2004-04-08
Acclaimed Hong Kong director John Woo speaks to the media during an interview while promoting his new movie, 'Paycheck,' starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004 in Taipei, Taiwan. |
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LOS ANGELES - Action movie director John Woo wants to bring one of the most famous women in video gaming to the big screen, and he plans to spend big bucks to do it.Woo's production company, Tiger Hill Entertainment, has licensed the film rights to the Nintendo Co. Ltd. video game franchise "Metroid," Tiger Hill's president said on Wednesday. "I think that there's an opportunity in the sci-fi genre particularly for something like Metroid," Brad Foxhoven told Reuters. "I think a lot of parents have grown up on it from the NES days." "Metroid," which made its U.S. debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, tells the story of a female warrior, Samus Aran, who uses a super-powered suit to battle energy-sapping Metroids and the evil Mother Brain. The franchise is one of the most popular in gaming, and the last console version, 2002's "Metroid Prime" on Nintendo's GameCube, ranks as one of the best-reviewed games ever. "We're obviously going to do the film as a bit of an origin story for Samus, the main character," Foxhoven said. Woo, among whose films best-known to American audiences are last year's "Paycheck" and 2000's "Mission: Impossible II," will produce the film and may also direct. With an expected emphasis on special effects and a budget expected to be well over $100 million, Foxhoven said, a "Metroid" film could be released in about two years at the earliest. "Our goal is, if every moon and star aligns, this would be something that we could get out by 2006," he said. The film rights to "Metroid" were initially acquired in early 2003 by producers Warren Zide and Craig Perry but eventually lapsed, allowing Woo to step in. Reuters
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