Bruckheimer disregards box office record, set to shoot Prince of Persia

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed yesterday (January 17, 2008) that Jerry “Blockbuster” Bruckheimer has teamed up with Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner to launch yet another attempt at bringing video game movies into the realm of respectable cinema. So far the feat has been unattainable in spite of a glut of entrees, the most recent being the spectacularly horrible Hitman.

Reporter Paul Hyman quotes Bruckheimer’s interest in the series and his ambivalence toward the dismal track record for game-to-movie crossovers:

I like to look at arenas that haven’t been exposed to audiences for quite a while and then surprise moviegoers with the way we’re doing it. The ‘Prince of Persia’ characters are wonderful and they exist in a period of time and a venue that’s interesting.

When something hits you and excites you, that’s what you do. I’ve played the game … it’s a great game … and I believe the movie is one people will want to go see.

Mechner, who wrote the screenplay, chronicles the creative process:

If I’d tried to adapt the game’s storyline beat for beat into a screenplay, we would have wound up with a ‘B’-level survival-horror movie about a warrior prince who spends most of his time fighting off ravaging, zombie-like sand creatures — basically, ‘Resident Evil’ in the desert,” Mechner explains. “You might make a good movie from that, but it definitely wouldn’t be a Disney-Bruckheimer ‘A’-level summer blockbuster.

Which all sounds fantastic on paper, but can it fly? I’ll tell you the God’s honest right now, I kind of doubt it. The video game movie is like the sword in the stone of cinema, so who can blame Bruckheimer for wanting to have a try where everyone else has failed? But moviegoers have been burned time and time again here, and it’s going to be a tough sell.

Still, it’s good to hear the top guys making this kind of noise — naïve perhaps, but they’ve got their hearts in the right place. If it were a bunch of studio execs sitting around a table spouting this kind of nonsense, then I’d be worried. Here’s hoping that they get it right this time.

Read [Hollywood Reporter] Also Read [Penny Arcade]