Apparently slotting the live-action movie adaptation of the “Gears of War” game as a 2010 release was way too optimistic on our part, because after a lot of fits and starts, the film’s development now seems to have come to a screeching, grinding halt.
The LATimes has a good rundown of what has transpired with the movie’s development so far, but the two biggest obstacles seem to be that the original script (by “Wanted” writer Chris Morgan and “State of Play’s” Billy Ray) was too big and too expensive, and would have cost studio New Line well over $100 million to produce. The studio wants something smaller, more generic sounding, like a simple alien invasion movie, and they’re currently looking for writers to adapt that idea.
The other big problem is Len Wiseman, who has been attached to direct for a while now, but seems to have moved on to other projects, notably the post-apocalyptic “Nocturne” over at FOX. He’s still unofficially attached, but with the budget dropping and the original premise that Wiseman signed on with initially all but shelved, that may no longer be the case.
Either way, “Gears of War” is looking mighty stuck in development hell at the moment…
