Rumor: MechWarrior Movie "In Development"?

Want to see MechWarrior on the silver screen penned by the guy who did 300? It may be in the cards sooner than you think.

A "trusted source" has told Joystiq that preliminary plans for a MechWarrior movie might finally be coming to fruition, as the movie is "in development" at Michael Eisner's Tornante Studios.

As MechWarrior series creator Jordan Weisman told Gamasutra, Eisner does own the rights to the franchise through a series of acquisitions: "WizKids bought FASA, and then Topps bought WizKids, and then [Michael] Eisner bought Topps." So, it isn't out of the question that filmmakers might be looking to capitalize on the upcoming MechWarrior revival with a tie-in film penned by Michael Gordon, the writer of 300 and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Of course, that's assuming the game ever gets off the ground. Harmony Gold has been raising a stink over classic mecha designs that bear more than a passing resemblance to those from the Robotech franchise, and it's hard to imagine that the company would be willing to let its trademarks slide for a feature film.

We can still cross our fingers, though. It might be our best chance at seeing some live-action mecha action on the big screen, since god knows we're not getting G-Saviour anytime soon. Which is probably a good thing in retrospect.