Topic: John Woo to make Metroid Movie

[StrikerObi]

Plans for big screen Samus are back in action.

A new report from the Reuters news services has revealed that famous Hollywood action director John Woo has optioned the rights to make a Metroid Movie. Woo snagged the rights after the previous holders let them expire after purchasing them in January of 2003.

The movie will focus on the origin of the game's heroine, Samus Aran. It will follow her story of battling the metroids and Mother Brain. "We have to assume the mainstream audience is unfamiliar with the property," said Producer Brad Foxhoven. "As for the rest of the film, we will stay true to the game and have Samus battling the Metroids and Mother Brain in a fight for control of the galaxy."

Woo was quoted as saying, "We are very fortunate that there is such an extensive amount of material to draw upon for the film due to there being so many iterations of the game over the years."

The story also mentions that John Woo's video game development house, Tiger Hill, is currently working on three games. All are being overseen by Woo, who is directing the games' cinematics, watching over voice talent, story, motion capture, and character design. The first of his games will be available late 2005.  

[past pixel]

hey can u try to find the trailer of that movie

[couchmonkey]

Well, Woo is obviously respected for his work in action movies, and the fact that he has his own game development studio says his interest in video games is more than casual.  Good signs, but I still don't really feel like this movie (or any movie based on a video game) needs to be made.

[Ian Sane]

Ah man I HATE John Woo.  I've never seen a film of his that I would consider even remotely good.  His films are always so unrealistic (even by action movie standards) and to make it worse they take themselves too seriously which is a big no-no in an over-the-top action movie.  When you've got guys jumping off of missiles or catching up to falling airplanes by somehow falling faster you have to throw in some jokes or it just looks stupid.  Why else do you think James Bond works so well?

At the very least he seems to have some knowledge in the Metroid series so we'll hopefully not have a Metroid film in name only.  His "experience" in games doesn't mean much to me though.  I think Enter the Matrix shows that movie makers aren't guaranteed to "get" videogames even if they think they do.

I personally think the ideal director for this would have been Ridley Scott.  Since Metroid takes a lot of inspiration from Alien it seems like a natural fit.  Metroid is about isolation, not non-stop action.  The ideal director for Metroid is someone who is familar with suspense or science fiction.  Metroid should be like Alien.  Woo will likely make something like Aliens.

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: past pixel
hey can u try to find the trailer of that movie

just to be clear, all john woo has done is optioned the movie.  the script hasn't been written, actors haven't been picked out, filming hasn't taken place, and editing is so far off it's a joke.  movie won't come out until end of 2005, at the earliest.  look for a tailer sometime around then.

[KnowsNothing]

Quote
His films are always so unrealistic (even by action movie standards) and to make it worse they take themselves too seriously which is a big no-no in an over-the-top action movie.

Well, I don't know if i've ever seen any of his movies, but I don't think the same problems will happen.  What's too unrealistic in the Metroid series?  Being able to survive a fall from any height without a scratch?  I don't think either of the things you metnioned would be a problem in a metroid movie.

Ah, who am I kidding.  Even with a director into videogames this movei withh still suck. =P

[Bill Aurion]

"His films are always so unrealistic (even by action movie standards)"

Well good thing the Metroid series isn't about realism...

[Ian Sane]

Obviously Metroid isn't a realistic game but at the same time stuff that is considered normal in a videogame wouldn't work in a movie.  Samus usually jumps over enemy fire in the games and that would look silly as hell in a film.

"Unrealistic" is probably a poor choice of words.  "Not believable" is a better way to describe Woo's movies.  In John Woo movies I find it hard to suspend my disbelief.

You can say that Metroid isn't realistic but if they had something really goofy like Samus using her speed booster to vertically run straight down a wall to beat a falling bomb from reaching the bottom of the pit first you would probably think it didn't make much sense.  Metroids don't really exist but the universe presented in the Metroid games does have it's own rules of reality.  Breaking those rules would look out of place and silly.

[Rich]

I don't know why you guys are so uptight about this. At least we have a directer who knows something about making movies work. Not all of his movies are bad either, I enjoy both Mission Impossibles espesially the first. I'm just glad its woo rather than someone else who doesn't know how to make movies. and it can't be worse then Super Mario Bros.

[mouse_clicker]

Anyone who bashes John Woo needs to see Paycheck. I've said my part.

[Don'tHate742]

ya and have you seen Face-Off......that's one of my favorite action movies, also directed by woo

[Nile Boogie]

"John Woo has directed some of the greatest movies of all time"- Q.T. from the Making of Kill Bill.

I love John Woo, "The Killer" is my Fav movie of all time and his flare is unmatched by any director around save 4 maybe QT. His movies include:

Mission Impossible 2
Face-Off
The Killer
Hard Boiled
Windtalkers
Broken Arrow
Hard Target
plus a few others that escape me @ the moment.
...and one more tidbit. Bullet-time that became so popular in the Matrix is John Woo's staple(he mabe it up, everyone is copying him). He didnt have the bugdet to make it as crispy as hollywood but HongKong action movies are supposed to be ashy and grimey.  I look forward to his vision of a space epic.

[ThePerm]

hmmm well i know he's popular...he was also supposed to make a cg ninja turtle movie that never came out.....

the only movie that i can think of that i saw was mission impossible 2.....but i dont even remember that movie....all i remember that it was entertaining.  

[Ian Sane]

The John Woo films I've seen are Broken Arrow, Mission Impossible 2, and most of Face Off (which I left halfway through because I found it so dull).  I don't consider any of those to be even remotely on par with what I would consider elite action movies.  Face Off was boring and Broken Arrow was okay and somewhat worthwhile for some of John Travolta's lines ("Your brain presses against your skull and it feels like THIS!".  MI2 was better than those two but had too many "that is SO DUMB" moments like when Tom Cruise dodges bullets on a motorcycle by hanging off the side with HIS FEET TOUCHING THE GROUND which apparently creates a lot of sparks instead of, you know, ripping his legs off.

Maybe John Woo has made some really great films, I just haven't seen them.  Since I haven't been impressed by what I have seen so far (all three of those movies got pretty good reviews) I haven't bothered to check out his other films.

Nonetheless I don't think his style gels with Metroid that well.

[JonLeung]

I guess it's time to come out from lurking.

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Originally posted by: Rich
Not all of his movies are bad either, I enjoy both Mission Impossibles espesially the first.

John Woo didn't direct the first one.

Quote
Originally posted by: Reuters article
The first "Metroid" product was on the now-defunct Nintendo Entertainment System. Realizing the value of owning such a recognizable brand, Nintendo relaunched the "Metroid" franchise with the high-profile release of "Metroid Prime" in November 2002 on its GameCube platform. Other titles, all of which have been best sellers, maintained the franchise's reputation for impressive 3-D graphics and engrossing battle scenes.

So...Metroid titles other than Metroid Prime have impressive 3D graphics? News to me... Also, this:

Quote
Originally posted by: Reuters article
Nintendo will unveil its eighth "Metroid" game, "Metroid Prime 2," during a news conference at the E3 expo in Los Angeles May 11.

Eighth? Did I miss one? I doubt it, and they're probably wrong. The next one should be its seventh.

And saying E3 Expo is as redundant as saying PIN number or ATM machine.

[Ian Sane]

"Eighth? Did I miss one? I doubt it, and they're probably wrong. The next one should be its seventh."

I imagine the reason they came up with eight is that whoever did the research just looked up release dates.  The original Metroid was released twice on the NES.  The second release came out in 1989 (the first was 1986 or 1987, I'm not sure) and featured different packaging.  Odds are the guy counted the release dates and didn't realize that both of those NES games are identical.

Interestingly enough the multiple releases of the NES Metroid even confused NOA as they incorrectly listed the re-release date as the first appearance date of Samus in SSBM.

[JonLeung]

Despite the major plot in Fusion, I would think that if they had to base it on any particular game, the original (or rather, Zero Mission), Prime, or Super would work best.  I don't think they'd draw much from Return of Samus.  They mentioned the Space Pirates and Mother Brain...whether they come to be in a possible Metroid film (which may or may not come to be itself) remains to be seen.  But that must mean that they at least like Super and/or Zero Mission.

The first choice in my mind for Samus (note that I said first, not best, feel free to come up with better ideas) is Bridgette Wilson.  With only Samus in most of the games, there really aren't many others to cast...unless you think Ridley should be coherent (as he was in the Nintendo Power comic and Japanese web e-manga) and they'd likely cast some other bounty hunters, space travelers, or scientists.

[oohhboy]

I say that it's a doomed lost cause. John Woo's action movies might have been good during the 70's where HK's movie industry was still growing up. But even that kind of stuff ended by the end of the 80's in HK except for.... Jet Lee films.

Rush hour and the Shaganhi Series from Jackie chan is a bit closer representantion of what Hk films are now to about 5 years ago. HK films have started to sycn up with Hollywoodd, but with it's own flavour. But alas, some of that movies are too much in sycn with Hollywood. eg 2002

Broken Arrow is the only one of two decent movie he has made but that was due to a good cast. "The One" came off ok due to that fact John woo was allowed to throw the rules of phyisics out the window as he please. But the funny with was, for such a movie it was rather subdude.

[Jale]

I read in Nintendo Official Magazine that Jessica Alba was being considered for the part. I think she is too famous and recognizable. We need a girl who hasn't been in much before. That was one reason why Viggo Mortinson was great for Aragorn: With a beard he was hardly recognisable as the person who had played parts in relativly minor films.

[Nile Boogie]

I'm pretty sure JohnWoo didn't direct "The One". James Wong did. I also didn't think 2002 was too Hollywood. A bit on the soft side but still pretty good. All of you, if you want faith that John Woo can pull it off. GO FIND "THE KILLER". You can't buy it bcuz its out of print but rent, borrow, steal, cheat, 007-373-5963 it doesn't matter how you see it. JUST SEE IT.

[nickmitch]

I think that by the time this movie is released enough people would have herd of the Metroid series to go see it. But personally I was hoping that it wouldn't be made because I might loose sleep over it and how much they'll f*ck it up.

[Neil]

a video game of this caliber deserves to have a great movie... john woo should consider collaborating w/ people who know how to make fantasy monsters and graphical effects look convincingly almost real like the what they did to the LOTR trilogy...

I hope it wont be a huge disappointment...

[ThePerm]

the most video game like movie i saw was behind enemy lines with owen wilson..it kinda reminded me of metal gear....
whoever directed that could make a good vg movie...someone all alone.....but going through alot of ****..yet somehow surviving.

[slacker]

A Metroid movie?  Well, I'm always skeptical about the story's quality.  Games to movies just don't seem to work.  I attribute this to the attitude of the producers and directors towards the video game audience.  What I don't want to see in this movie is action sequences that are out of place and physically ridiculous, especially if they have regular people with no special abilities performing physically impossible moves.  What most video games to movie does is followtoo closely to the storyline and end up with no real plots in between the beginning and the ending.  Resident Evil is one of them.  Also, who says video game movies have to have a lot of action with annoying background music.  If they take some time to develop a cohesive and suspenseful sequence leading up to a climatic battle, then maybe it would work.  I don't know if an orange Metroid suit would look right in a live action movie.  

I think the movie should take a Terminator/Aliens type of approach.  Aliens has the suspense build up prior to the finale, and Terminator has that carefully paced action sequence that are fun to watch.  I'm not a big fan of John Woo's live action sequences, but I'm confident he will employ something tasteful.  I would be more comfortable if James Cameron were director, but some one like him don't do video game movies.  As for someone to play Samus, how about Keira Knightley from Pirates of the Carribean.  She was hot in that movie.

[Knoxxville]

John Woo is very good, but he tends to "overproduce" to the likes that border on redundancy.  Like Face/Off and MI2 were both great, but at times you're just like, enough is enough!