Assassin's Creed 'Better than Spielberg' Movie Deal May Kill Film
Is Ubisoft undervaluing Hollywood?
Hollywood is balking at the level of control Ubisoft is exerting over Sony's Assassin's Creed movie, with one insider going so far as to assert that the film will never get made as a result.
Entertainment site Vulture quotes a 'Hollywood talent agent who represents a smaller video game publisher' as saying, "The whole Ubisoft/Sony deal is a waste of ink, paper and time. The level of control Sony gave up means, effectively, that Assassin’s Creed will never — and I mean never — get made.”
That control extends to budget, principal cast, script and release date. “As a director, even Steven Spielberg cannot get this kind of deal”, another 'insider' is quoted as saying.
An exec from another company that had courted Ubisoft said, "...they're not moviemakers, and the only way to make sure it's a bad movie is to undervalue what movie studios do — and this is a deal that totally undervalues what movie studios do.”
You might want to argue that films such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Max Payne and Super Mario Bros. don't exactly show off the value of what movie studios do - at least when they get hold of a games property.
Someone within Sony (again speaking anonymously) had a different take. Apparently Ubisoft is contributing a huge chunk of capital to the project, so that Sony is spending "only a fraction of what a studio typically would spend to option or develop a script”. That, apparently, is how the games publisher has secured the level of control that it has.
Is the games industry treating Hollywood with the same lack of respect the movie business has shown gaming for years, or is Hollywood getting its knickers in a twist because there's a bigger boy on the block, flexing his muscles? Let us know in SPOnG's brand-spanking new forum.
Entertainment site Vulture quotes a 'Hollywood talent agent who represents a smaller video game publisher' as saying, "The whole Ubisoft/Sony deal is a waste of ink, paper and time. The level of control Sony gave up means, effectively, that Assassin’s Creed will never — and I mean never — get made.”
That control extends to budget, principal cast, script and release date. “As a director, even Steven Spielberg cannot get this kind of deal”, another 'insider' is quoted as saying.
An exec from another company that had courted Ubisoft said, "...they're not moviemakers, and the only way to make sure it's a bad movie is to undervalue what movie studios do — and this is a deal that totally undervalues what movie studios do.”
You might want to argue that films such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Max Payne and Super Mario Bros. don't exactly show off the value of what movie studios do - at least when they get hold of a games property.
Someone within Sony (again speaking anonymously) had a different take. Apparently Ubisoft is contributing a huge chunk of capital to the project, so that Sony is spending "only a fraction of what a studio typically would spend to option or develop a script”. That, apparently, is how the games publisher has secured the level of control that it has.
Is the games industry treating Hollywood with the same lack of respect the movie business has shown gaming for years, or is Hollywood getting its knickers in a twist because there's a bigger boy on the block, flexing his muscles? Let us know in SPOnG's brand-spanking new forum.
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Comments
Spongbobster 7 Nov 2011 11:03
1/1
Whoever's behind it, it's going to make "The Da Vinci Code" look like "Inception". Hope they include actors who can do dodgy italian accents because let's face it, it's not going to be subtitled!