A few months ago, we reported that Len Wiseman was in negotiations to direct the Escape from New York remake and also Gears of War.
The big news today, that started over at AICN, is that Len Wiseman will no longer be directing Escape and that Brett Ratner has replaced him.
The IESB contacted a source over at New Line, the studio behind the film, and was able to confirm the story which is no longer a rumor but instead 100% fact. Brett Ratner will take over directorial duties on the remake.
Which leads to a lot of other questions. Will the script go through a re-write process? Hopefully not considering that it’s pretty solid but you never know with the Rat in charge of the film. Check out IESB’s review of the script here.
Does this mean Len Wiseman will now be moving forward with the highly anticipated Gear of War film? Nope, the IESB has been informed that Wiseman is also off the video game adaptation and that New Line Cinema will most likely not move forward with the film at all. Our source is saying that the studio has concerns with ballooning budget of the film.
Video game adaptations are not proven blockbusters the way comic book films have become in the last 10 years. Studios have a hard time gambling $100 million dollars plus to a genre that has not been able to break out of the “Uwe Boll” stereotypes.
The best hope that future video game films may have, and this is totally IMO, is to have Michael Bay make Prince of Persia after he is done with Transformers 2 and prove that a video game movie can make $300-400 million in worldwide box office receipts.
Until then be prepared for less than mediocre video game films with hacks as directors.