Variety reporters Ben Fritz and Michael Fleming are reporting that four studios are currently engaged in a bidding war to snap up the rights to Electronic Arts unannounced game Inferno (tentative title).
Paramount, MGM, Universal, and New Regency are the studios still in the hunt (after Warner Bros. dropped out earlier) for film rights to the game, which will reportedly be a modern updating of Dante’s epic poem. There are no real details about the game out there at this point–aside from what seems obvious given the inspiration (hard to imagine it being about anything other than players fighting their way through Hell…)
It is interesting to see a bidding war over a videogame–particularly a game that’s not even been officially announced, let alone released. If I were an optimist, I’d say this might be the beginning of a new age wherein Hollywood finally understands the value of games and is interested in converting interesting videogame narratives into just as interesting films. I’m a pessimist, though, so I really imagine this is just a case of four studios (as opposed to the usual one) wanting to churn out not only a horror flick but a videogame one as well. That’s two demographics covered in one film! Think of the money!
More on this as details emerge.
