Universal picked up Dante’s Inferno before the game came out, and now it wants to make the movie.
Way back in 2008, when Dante’s Inferno had yet to hit store shelves – when it wasn’t even officially called Dante’s Inferno, for that matter – Universal Pictures won a bidding war for the rights to make a live action movie. Yep, that’s in addition to the animated straight to DVD version you may, or may not, have in your collection, and which came out in 2010. Time passed and gamers’ memories may have faded, but the folks at Universal seem to be plugging away at this one with undiminished enthusiasm. Fede Alvarez, the gent who made Panic Attack and the Evil Dead remake, is currently in talks to direct the live action version, according to Deadline.
EA Entertainment’s Patrick O’Brien is one of three producers attached to this epic property. This isn’t the first time EA has partnered up with Universal; Universal also signed on to make a Sims movie and a Mass Effect flick, both of which are still listed as ‘in development.’ At the time the deal was announced back in 2008 nobody really knew what the game was going to be, or how it would be received. It was a Universal gamble, which may yet pay off. Or just go straight to DVD.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see the movie surface, years after the game’s release, with a presumed screen date some years from now. It’s maybe not as much of a surprise to see Alvarez’s name attached to it, even ‘in talks’; if Universal’s going to give it to anyone, it might as well be the guy who put together some good short films, made one big budget film, and not much else.
Source: Deadline
