Movies News
Area 51 Video Game for the Big Screen
By James Wray
Aug 31, 2004, 23:58 GMT

Paramount Pictures has reached an agreement to acquire the worldwide film rights to Midway Games' "AREA 51," a state-of-the-art video game which is scheduled for release in March of 2005, available for use on the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft. Christine Peters will be collaborating with the game developer to produce the film, which will be an action-packed thriller.

"'AREA 51' brings some of the most cutting-edge technology to the gaming world," says Peters, ("How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"). "Bringing the game's riveting and suspenseful concepts to the big screen will be an exciting motion picture breakthrough."

President of Paramount Pictures and Vice Chairman of the Motion Picture Group, Donald De Line, couldn't agree more. "We are delighted to be working hand in hand with Midway Games to translate this innovative game into a provocative film. We look forward to bringing all the excitement gamers will feel playing 'AREA 51' to theaters everywhere."

The game, "AREA 51," features the voice talent of David Duchovny as Specialist Ethan Cole of the Hazardous Materials Division, Powers Boothe as Major Bridges, and recording artist Marilyn Manson as Edgar, the gray alien. Players will take on the role of Cole, who has been sent to investigate a distress signal from Area 51 where a viral outbreak has just shut down the research facility, automatically locking all scientific and military personnel inside per quarantine procedures. It will soon be revealed that the conspiracy theories and alien autopsies the world has speculated about with regard to Area 51 are far worse than anyone could ever imagine.

Source: Paramount Pictures

Pretty interesting that they hav bought the rights before the game is even released. Just shows how the huge amount of interest and revenue from games is having a big impact on Hollywood. Though we will see next year, with BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark and others how well this works. Alien Vs. Predator was certainly a box office success but is this sort of thing healthy for the movie going public?