Fox making animated Spore movie; Ice Age director onboard; procedural generation, probably not

by Christopher Grant { Oct 2nd 2009 at 10:03AM }

EA is on a movie-making tear thanks to that deal with UTA; it's got The Sims, Dante's Inferno, Army of Two, Dead Space, and Mass Effect. And now, Variety reports that Twentieth Century Fox is signed on to create a CG-animated movie based on EA's make-anything-you-want sim Spore, with Ice Age's Chris Wedge signed on to direct. To put it another way, they're turning the infinite-possibility space of Spore (read: the whole point of the game!) into a distinctly finite feature film. Procedural generation: out the window. Players as creators: nope!

In their place, we'll have a script by the duo of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who've written the upcoming films The Princess and the Frog and The Return of King Doug. Blue Sky Studios -- the team behind Ice Age and Robots -- will handle the whole CG-animation part. Keeping watch over their golden goose, EA's Patrick O'Brien and Maxis' Lucy Bradshaw are billed as executive producers.

Of the source material, Wedge said, "From every perspective -- visually, thematically and comedically -- the world of Spore provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen." Bradshaw misses the mark even further saying, "With more than 100 million unique creatures uploaded to our website, it's clear that people are passionate about the game, and it will be exciting to offer a powerful medium like film in order to expand their experience with Spore."

Tags: Blue-Sky-Studios, Chris-Wedge, EA, Electronic-Arts, Fox, Maxis, movie, movies, Spore, Spore-Movie

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

ben @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:06AM

it takes some work to make my care about spore even less, but i think this movie should do the job

(01) @ Oct 2nd 2009 6:30PM

A movie about nothing?

Ethan @ Oct 2nd 2009 7:27PM

Sofia Coppola did that.

Tom Kalinske, CEO. @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:07AM

That's a scary logo.

Ethan @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:39AM

Yeah it kinda reminds me, though we're not too fond of the major games publishers, how much worse the oligopoly in the movie industry is.

Elranzer @ Oct 2nd 2009 12:35PM

I don't know which company I despise more... Fox or Electronic Arts.

Tom Kalinske, CEO. @ Oct 2nd 2009 12:36PM

The answer should be neither. Never heard of Activision, I take it?

vwbeetlvr @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:08AM

I ho

vwbeetlvr @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:11AM

My bad, read my post directly after this one. I fat-fingered the enter key while typing my first response.

dark_inchworm (stronger than never, ever before) @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:28AM

In response to your original post:

How much for an hour?

vwbeetlvr @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:53AM

I'm cheap. $30/hr.

vwbeetlvr @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:09AM

I hope, for the first time in history, to see a cock-monster on the big screen.

shamu is dead @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:10AM

Will it feature a DRM monster?

shamu is dead @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:35AM

Actually, now that I think about it more...we will probably only be allowed to see the movie 3 times. After that we will have to call EA for permission to see it again.

D-5 @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:06AM

Looking at the quality of many of the movies released these days, one viewing is more than enough.

sonicspike41 @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:13AM

Great... just when people started hating you less and Activision more, you gotta go and create a bunch of soon to be (potentially) shitty movies based on games with no story or plot to begin with.

Hey, Peter, I know you mostly deal with the sports games and all that, but you're a powerful man. Isn't there anything you can tell them?

RogueJedi86 @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:16AM

It sounds like FOX hasn't plaid the game at all. If they did, they'd seen there's no point in this. It's like making a movie based on "The Sims" series. Like y'all said, they're completely missing the point.

JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:15AM

More games should get plaid.

Anthology @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:18AM

"...and it will be exciting to offer a powerful medium like film in order to expand their experience with Spore."

And it will be exciting to offer a medium that offers absolutely no interactivity, one that offers none of the entertainment of its source material.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:20AM

A Spore movie? Really?

Can I just have Toy Story 3 now? Please?

(01) @ Oct 2nd 2009 6:32PM

Only after I can have my Incredibles 2. Oh wait, yours is actually getting made. Damn.

acefondu @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:21AM

Video games with good stories end up being bad movies, (Max Payne). Video games with no story end up being terrible (Mario Brothers). Long and short of it? This will be terribad.

Tom Kalinske, CEO. @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:24AM

So the Asteroids movie should finally derail SMB as one of the worst movies of all time.

sonicspike41 @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:28AM

Hey! I liked the SMB movie. Sure it wasn't one of the greatest movies of all time or anything, but it was kinda cool... in a cheesy way. It's one of those movies that's fun to watch because it's just cheesy and bad.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:28AM

Maybe then Bob Hoskins can finally feel better about himself.

acefondu @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:31AM

Mario Brothers makes for a good drinking game. Every time the Mario Brothers do something mind bendingly lame take a drink.

Seishino @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:25AM

If you liked SMB, I recommend the somehow forgotten Double Dragon movie.

I never expected to utter those words.

Batzarro @ Oct 2nd 2009 12:24PM

To be fair, Mario has a story. An extremely linear story with not many motivations, but a story nonetheless. I've always thought to make a succesfull Mario film,"Princess is kidnapped, and Plumber has to rescue her. You just have to fill in a few blanks of why a plumber is in a fantasy world of Koopas and What exactly does Bowser want, and it's possible. Not that the film did that successfully, but It can be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3hmSniYqfM

Mewchu [Super Kawaii Power! ^.^ ] @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:25AM

Not to mention that out of the Pixar/Dreamworks/Fox CGI competition, Fox is usually the worst.

Wow, Spore as a movie. ¬_¬

I cannot wait for the Tetris/Twilight crossover film.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:27AM

Twetlis?

sonicspike41 @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:29AM

Tetrilight.

JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:19AM

Tetrilight sounds like a sugar free powdered drink.

Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:20AM

That last one sounds like a beer.

Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:21AM

Dammit! Too slow.

GewurztraminerX @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:29AM

Wait, I watched Fringe last night... I'm still dreaming, right?

'cause I don't think anyone in my universe would see this as a good idea.

Shawn Mills @ Oct 2nd 2009 2:56PM

I think this has the potential to be amazing. What if they let people create their own little creature on little cheap tablets at the theater before the start of the movie and then the creatures you create are a part of the movie?

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:36AM

thats a good photoshop job there...Did you do that Mr. Grant?

topic at hand....I wish Disney, Fox, Universal, or Warner Bros, would buy EA...they could make all KINDS of Movies....

I

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:39AM

I love how it says "A Video Game Publisher" at the bottom of the logo. That way, when you see this at the opening of the movie, you KNOW what you're getting yourself into.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:46AM

lol...exactly...lol

...Jan... @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:45AM

Actually, a Spore movie in the style of Ice Age seems to fit with me. Maybe they can show the evolutionary process, which parallels the changing of eras in Ice Age.
Also, the first DS Spore game had a story. It was...ok.

iamnotafish @ Oct 2nd 2009 10:57AM

I actually like the idea of an Army of Two movie. As long as they went with the tongue-in-cheek style of the game, it could be a "Bad Boys" meets "Hot Fuzz."

Hell, cast Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and you'd have one of the most entertaining mercenary movies ever made.

Tom Kalinske, CEO. @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:10AM

Yes, the line "Don't piss on my cupcakes." would be Oscar-winning.

JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:17AM

Tetrilight sounds like a sugar free powdered drink.

JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:18AM

UGH! Damn reply fail.

X3HaloEd @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:34AM

Wait wait wait, Spore? Movie? What the fuck?

Mewchu [Super Kawaii Power! ^.^ ] @ Oct 2nd 2009 11:53AM

No one has said Lightris yet, that would actually be a COOL name for a Tetris clone that has NOTHING to do with Twilight.

Batzarro @ Oct 2nd 2009 12:31PM

Spore? Of all games? I bet they could launch a Sonic Animated film franchise, which makes more sense and probably more money! Why Spore?

Octillus @ Oct 2nd 2009 3:14PM

There better be penises on screen or you can bet I'm not showing up.

What?

Maverick Saturn (Igor) @ Oct 2nd 2009 4:52PM

Will it prevent you from illegally downloading it like the game did :D

Naru Sundar @ Oct 2nd 2009 5:35PM

You know where this is going:

Madden 2k10 : The Movie.

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