Joust film in the works

Videogame properties translated into movies don’t tend to fare very well – Just look at Uwe Boll and his pantheon of suck, or even the better-intentioned but no less crappy Mario, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies of the ’90s. But, for some reason, producers Christine Peters and Michael Cerenzie of new production company CP Productions aren’t scared of the bad rep. In fact, they’re so unafraid that they’re planning on turning the 1982 arcade classic, Joust – a game about brawling ostriches – into a mainstream film.

The flick has been described as a sci-fi action movie akin to “Gladiator meets Mad Max,” though no more specific plot details are available. The movie is set to launch a new Joust franchise, complete with a graphic novel and a reimagined Joust videogame. The movie is scheduled to be completed in June 2008 with a wide release to follow soon after.

CP Productions is a brand new production company looking to score with the 25-and-under (presumably male) demographic and, with an awesomely bad premise like this, they just might be on their way. Or not. It just seems strange that with all the games with genuinely cool story lines out there that would make for fantastic film premises, this fledging company chose Joust for its first project.

Read [GameDaily Biz] Also Read [IGN]