Newell: Prince of Persia 'not a video game movie'

22 Comments by Justin McElroy Nov 12th 2007 10:05AM
Filed under: Culture

Mike Newell had only been at the helm of the upcoming Prince of Persia movie for five days when he started insisting that it was a great story first, and a video game movie .. well, not at all. "It's not a video game movie," Newell told Rotten Tomatoes. "It's a great story. If you had read the script, you would know that it wasn't a video game. It's very exciting and it's immensely romantic and it's like Lost Horizon. It takes you to somewhere you've never been."

Sure, that doesn't fill us with loads of confidence, but if you consider the "video game movie" canon, we can't blame him for wanting to distance his film from that pile of wickedness. Besides, if you're worried about him staying true to the series, Rotten Tomatoes reports he "has an assistant playing the video games to brief him on key details" ... so you're completely justified in your concern. Well done.

[Thanks, Hashbrown_Hunter]

Tags: Jerry-Bruckheimer, movies, prince-of-persia, princeofpersia

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

NATO_Duke: Nov 12th 2007; 10:13AM

So he says...

DammitBran: Nov 12th 2007; 10:21AM

We all remember that Super Mario Bros. was also not a video game movie.

There's no way it could have been. I've never seen bowser in a Mario game and thought, "Oh he looks like Dennis Hopper".

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring): Nov 12th 2007; 11:38AM

You know, when you don't expect Mario Bros. to be a faithful adaptation of the game, it's a pretty entertaining movie.

Kon: Nov 12th 2007; 1:18PM

If by "entertaining," you mean completely horrible and painful to watch.

NaeemTHM: Nov 12th 2007; 10:23AM

*claps*

Good move. I love Prince of Persia as much as the next guy, but it would suck ass if they tried to make the game into a movie. How do you translate 2 hours of trap jumps and epic sword fights...

WAIT A MINUTE!! NOOO!! DON'T CHANGE IT!!

Hashbrown_Hunter: Nov 12th 2007; 2:23PM

Hopefully this will turn out like Pirates of the Caribbean

.....the first one at least.

F. Rocker or Fernando R.?: Nov 12th 2007; 10:25AM

Newell: Not a very 'good director'

Bryan: Nov 12th 2007; 6:13PM

If you had seen any of his movies you wouldn't be saying that.

Donnie Brasco is one of the best undercover-cop/mafia movies.

Hashbrown_Hunter: Nov 12th 2007; 10:53PM

Yeah he gets major cred for Donnie Brasco. Fantastic movie.

Jeff: Nov 12th 2007; 10:31AM

I would like a job as that kind of assistant.

samfish: Nov 12th 2007; 10:46AM

I wonder if we'll have bombed Iran by the time this is released?

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring): Nov 12th 2007; 11:39AM

Does it come out before Bush leaves office?

William: Nov 12th 2007; 10:57AM

Not a video game movie? EVERY movie that started as a video game is a video game movie, regardless of its actual contents.

By their logic, Alone In The Dark wasn't a video game movie, either... Or Resident Evil... Or... Heck, most of them. Very few of them keep the actual plot of the game... It's part of what makes them so bad!

NATO_Duke: Nov 12th 2007; 11:01AM

Man, wasn't Alone in the Dark the best movie. Oh, I loved it.

I kid.

samfish: Nov 12th 2007; 12:24PM

Pirates of the Caribbean was based off a Disney ride, though. It's not that they do or don't follow the plot...it's that most video game movies ignore everything but the action elements of it; so you end up with Action Packed Crap while stuff like romance and general character developments are either ignored or, at best, given lip service.

This PoP movie could be good if they basically ignore everything about the games except a few characters and keep a skeleton of time travel/manipulation in place.

Martin: Nov 12th 2007; 11:06AM

Damn, from the headline I thought it was Gabe Newell unleashing some more huge rips on products. I feel sleighted.

Dale: Nov 12th 2007; 11:19AM

This guy has one bizarre CV - Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings And A Funeral, a Harry Potter flick and Love In The Time Of Cholera?!

I have no particular bond with Prince Of Persia, but it could make for a great film... or a horrible effects-laden cheesefest like The Mummy.

PhrawzT: Nov 12th 2007; 2:42PM

I agree that any movie made using the likeness of a video game character and world is a video game movie. Just because it isn't adapted from the plot of the game doesn't make it something more regardless of what the ostentatious director says.

dsub: Nov 12th 2007; 2:56PM

Dude, the title of your movie is the same as a Video Game, and your telling us it's "not a video game movie"?

save your breath.

Mohan: Nov 12th 2007; 5:05PM

Good, I am looking forward to this movie and I really don't want to it suck!

Figboy: Nov 12th 2007; 5:14PM

cleary Newell hasn't played the Prince of Persia games (hence the comment about his assistant), because if he had actually maybe *WATCHED his assistant play, he would see that the Prince of Persia Trilogy is one of the best narratives out there, especially part 3, which wraps up the series *PERFECTLY (well, wraps up the current Prince's tale perfectly).

he's obviously from the side of the fence that thinks that gaming can't possibly have good writing. i guess he's never seen or played Half Life (whole series), Indigo Prophecy, Shadow of Destiny, Second Sight, the Metal Gear Solid series, the Final Fantasy series, Mark of Kri (great Disney-esque feel and story, but for adults), and so many more i won't even bother to list them all.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a decent movie, but they could have gone with a better director for this one. hell, any of the other Potter Directors would have been better choices. even Chris Columbus, who's good at establishing a light, fun atmosphere, before more heavy directors step in and take it to a darker tone; like Alfonso Cuaron, who i think, would fit the darker latter two installments of the Prince Trilogy (Robert Roderiguez and Guillermo Del Torro would be my other choices).

Figboy: Nov 12th 2007; 5:14PM

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