Topic: "His Dark Materials" Planned for Unnamed Consoles

[Svevan]

Development for Nintendo consoles likely from Sega of America and Sega Europe.

SEGA JOINS FORCES WITH NEW LINE AND SCHOLASTIC TO MOUNT MAJOR INTERACTIVE INITIATIVE FOR 'HIS DARK MATERIALS' FRANCHISE    

First Game to be Based on New Line's The Golden Compass Motion Picture    

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (September 27, 2006) – SEGA® of America Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today reached an agreement with New Line Cinema and Scholastic Media to create video game content based on the films from award-winning author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. With over 10 million books sold worldwide, the His Dark Materials trilogy is comprised of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The first film, The Golden Compass (Northern Lights in the UK), will be produced by New Line Cinema, producers of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Scholastic Media. The $150 million-budgeted film will star Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (James Bond in the upcoming Casino Royale) with Oscar-nominated writer/director Chris Weitz (About a Boy, Antz) directing, and with Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media, producing. Scholastic Media is also serving as the licensing agent for this property. The Golden Compass is set to be released on November 16, 2007.    

"We are excited to be partnering with New Line and Scholastic to bring the dark and fantastic story of the His Dark Materials trilogy to the video game audience," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "The Golden Compass is a perfect match for the video game medium with compelling characters engaged in a heroic conflict between good and evil in an incredible and rich fantasy world."    

"For New Line's biggest film since The Lord of the Rings, we knew we wanted an interactive partner that had the talent, the scope and the reach to deliver AAA video games to the four corners of the globe," said David Imhoff, Senior Executive Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising for New Line Cinema. "For The Golden Compass, that company is SEGA."    

"We are confident that SEGA will create a compelling interactive experience that fully realizes the power and magic of The Golden Compass," said Deborah Forte. "We're thrilled to be working with SEGA."    

The Golden Compass revolves around a young girl named Lyra as she sets out to find her missing friend Roger. Lyra's quest leads her to the beautiful splendor of the icy North, where giant armored bears rule a kingdom, witch queens fly through the frozen skies, and the secret of another universe is waiting to be uncovered. The Golden Compass is an imaginative, original saga about the eternal struggle of good versus evil and the power of a young girl to change the world.

[18 Days]

There go my dreams of directing this trilogy of games. Seriously Sega will fuckitup and a brilliant liternary trilogy will have it's image tarnished forever.

[KDR_11k]

Naah, noone cares what Sega does. Hollywood will do the screwing up and mangling. Literary classics never survive Hollywood, look at what they did to The Neverending Story or Dune.

[Svevan]

Let's not disrespect Dune. And while Hollywood has been less than successful with book-to-movie adaptations, there are quite a few outside Hollywood (read: foreign or independent) that are successful. People just can't get over this "the book was better than the movie" mentality.

[Kairon]

Yeah, why the Dune hate?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Pryopizm]

Why The Neverending Story hate?  I love that movie.

[KDR_11k]

In both cases the author has publicly denounced the movie, Michael Ende even sued the movie studio to prevent them from calling it "The Neverending Story" but failed. Herbert said he wrote a book about a man thinking himself a god, they made a movie about a man that was a god. The TNS movie ended a bit after the introduction ended, the bulk of the story came after that.

[ReverendNoahWhateley]

Let's not forget how hideous the Luck Dragon was.  Ever notice how his "scales" looked more like rows upon rows of bulbous dog ticks hanging from his back?

I with those who defend the Dune film.  Actually, I prefer Lynch's interpretation of Baron Harkonnen to Herbert's.

But...uh...Sega, yeah...wasn't the Batman Forever pinball game great?

[KDR_11k]

He had scales? I thought Fuchur only had fur (at least in the movie, can't remember if the book said anything about that).

[Svevan]

As much as I respect Frank Herbert (and as messy as the film is), Dune is still respectable cinema that deserves to stand both on its own and next to the book. No author will be satisfied with cinematic adaptation of his material, except maybe Michael Crichton.

[Jonnyboy117]

Not sure if I believe that quote from Frank Herbert, because his version of Paul in the books is FAR more powerful than the one in the movie.  Sure, maybe Movie-Paul can spontaneously create rain on Arrakis (though I believe that was just dramatic license on Lynch's part and not meant to be taken as the direct work of Paul), but Book-Paul can see the future, see with no eyes, see clairvoyantly, think like a computer, move faster than the eye can see, control others and kill with his voice, hear people's heartbeats, detect lies, etc.  His son is even more retardedly powerful, and some of their descendants are even more powerful still.  Movie-Paul is a charistmatic kid with a cool gun, in comparison.

[Svevan]

Chaaaaaaak-SA!

[KDR_11k]

Book-Paul can see the future, see with no eyes, see clairvoyantly, think like a computer, move faster than the eye can see, control others and kill with his voice, hear people's heartbeats, detect lies, etc.

The effect of spice?

[Pryopizm]

I don't know about Dune, but TNS is an excellent kids movie.

[KDR_11k]

Yes but it's only a fraction of the real neverending story. It's like what would be the first episode in a TV series when compared to the overall storyline.