New Line Cinema options rights for film adaptation of Heavy Rain

by Griffin McElroy on Feb 27th 2010 4:00PM

What if Heavy Rain, which is so often heralded by creator David Cage as "interactive fiction," was just a bit less interactive? Is the game's story and cast of vaguely-French-sounding characters strong enough to carry a feature-length film? We might just find out, some day -- internet super-sleuth superannuation recently uncovered copyright documents which reveal that New Line Productions optioned the rights to turn Heavy Rain into a movie on May 15, 2006 -- just a few days after "The Casting" trailer (NSFW) was revealed at E3.

This doesn't ensure the development of a Heavy Rain movie, of course; it only means if any film studio makes the film, it's going to be New Line Cinema. We think the rights are in good hands -- New Line did some great work on the film adaptations of those Lord of the Rings games.

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Tags: adaptation, copyright, david-cage, film, heavy-rain, Interactive-Drama, new-line-cinema, option, quantic-dream, SCE, SCEA, Sony, Sony-Computer-Entertainment, Sony-Computer-Entertainment-America

Reader Comments (98)

Wasn't the whole point of the game suffering from the decisions you made? Just like I can't see a good movie coming from a choose-your-own-adventure book, this would probably lose much in translation.

WARNING!

You know someone is going to try and spoil the game here, so don't read the comments if you haven't played the game.

Just to give you unfortunate people who hate spoilers a heads-up.

NORMAN JAYDEN IS ACTUALLY WREX, WHO IS ACTUALLY MASTER CHIEF, WHO CAME BACK IN TIME TO WARN MARIO THAT THE PRINCESS WAS BEING TAKEN.

*spoiler*

They could film the movie like the Clue movie was done way back when. They could make four movies and distribute them randomly with different events and outcomes.

I... I... I had to stop her from screaming!

Thanks for the heads up wiizer I'm into everything heavy rain right now but haven't recoeved my copy yet as I'm in costa rica on business and it takes like 2 weeks to ship here from the states... Yeah sucks I know.... but I started reading comments then I saw your warning and stopped. I want my experiance with heavy rain for the first play thru to be fresh. You just saved my kids from having to watch their dad cry my hat goes off to you sir you are a scholar and a gentelman!

"Just like I can't see a good movie coming from a choose-your-own-adventure book, this would probably lose much in translation."

What are you talking about? The Goosebumps movies were fantastic works of cinematic gold!

/sarcasm

You know the hardest part of the game for me was choosing to throw the fight at the beginning and lose. It was the hardest thing to do.

You know the one I'm talking about the fight with the lightsabers/swords

the whole premise of the game would make a good movie... yea it looses the interactivity, but im pretty sure it would still translate well into a movie

Wiizer is the spoiler police. A tough job, but someone's got to do it.

nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono.

No need for a movie, just watch other people play the game.

that's exactly what i did. enjoyed it quite a bit, and saved myself $60 (though that's not how i'd describe it to my friend, hah).

"No need for a movie, just watch other people play the game."

Correction:

No need for a movie, just watch other people play the game on a big-ass screen with THX stereo sound...

"THX stereo sound"

haha. "THX"...do you mean lossless Dolby or DTS "surround" sound?

I don't know about you, but all my local theaters have shitty standard definition projectors that shake and blur the image on to a scratched up dusty screen. The seats are barely comfortable, the food is ridiculously expensive, the floors are sticky, and the people there suck.

I'd much rather just play the game on my comfy couch, eating whatever I want, on my LCD HDTV with crystal clear picture, surrounding myself with people I actually like.

Your THX can suck it.

"I don't know about you, but all my local theaters have shitty standard definition projectors that shake and blur the image on to a scratched up dusty screen. The seats are barely comfortable, the food is ridiculously expensive, the floors are sticky, and the people there suck."

You live in Philly too??!!

Yeah.....this is never going to happen.

Don't see the point of a film adaptation. The game is an interactive movie of sorts, taking the decision making process out removes the viewer from any of the consequences.

Fantastic game and seems like a perfect fit for a movie. However, I'd rather Hollywood leave this one alone.

it would be wrong.....I mean I suppose I can see them making it so the Blu-ray was like one of those "choose your own story" books from back in the day(**turn to page 41, "Nancy is caught by the killer and is viciously murdered") but that won't be cost efficient to act out ALL those possibilities with dozens of actors.....leave it what it is....

Interesting concept and comment, I don't get the down-voting. I wouldn't be totally shocked if some people do release/record their play-throughs, but that wouldn't the choice option, you'd just be kind of seamlessly watch another's game.

Fun tip - Go through a choose your own adventure book ONLY reading the options, and none of the actual 'story' line. Good times.

I dono...i just don't know. its already a movie.

I said the same thing when I finished it. This is a great story with a pretty good script.

It would make a good movie, except that it's already one.

So the movie would be basically er, a remake.

I'm starting to become irritated with the "with every decent new game, we should make a movie for it" talk. It's like the film industry is finally noticing that games are just as viable an entertainment format as movies are, and before video games become any MORE of a threat to movies than it already is, they want to come out with movie versions of popular games.

A movie based off an interactive movie? Odd...

.....*head explodes*......

I dont know if I prefer my movies with or without controllers now. It might have ruined movie going experiences for the rest of my life as now I'll want to have slight control of the outcomes at all times.

Just wait until we see the game based off of the movie which is based off of a game.

Orr... and hold onto your pants for this one.

An interactive movie game based off the movie based off an interactive movie game.
So we'd have
Heavy Rain.
Origami Killer. (the movie)
Origami Killer: The Game.

when joystiq finds a dead horse...watch out! they stomp a mudhole in that ass.

Beat the game last night and other than the last 10 mins and the animations i'm not seeing why its getting so much praise. The story was lazy and rushed after you sit back and actually think about all the sub plots that went no where.

What are you talking about? The killer is a good reveal and all those subplots you are talking about flesh out the characters and all add up to make the game work out differently.

If you go back and consider every "obvious" decision you make, then you'll realize how many branches each seemingly easy decision can take on the direction of the story and characters.

Yeah, I don't see why the story specifically is getting so much praise either; the only explanation I can think of is the people who are saying it's a mature / intelligent story have never seen a movie, or at least no a good one. Having said that when the gameplay actually works it can be really intense, but as a movie I can't see the plot as it is being up to the task... at least we might get some good actors though.

compared to movies it has OK writing.
compared to games it has amazing writing.

this is a huge step for gaming. It's finally something different.
hopefully sony makes some money off of it and does another similar type of game.

They never once hinted at who the killer was. It just came out of left field. It could have been any of the characters.

They never truly explain Ethan's blackouts, why he has the weird memories/visions after he wakes up from them, why he wakes up exactly where he does.

But even with the few plot holes the game has I still thought it was fantastic. During the power plant scene... that second half. When he stopped and looked at the door I was practically screaming at my TV, "NO! YOU GET BACK IN THERE! I'M NOT READY TO GIVE UP YET! Dammit! I wanted to keep going!"

AWESOME!..are they going to get french actors pretending to be new yorkers?, have to make it like the game you know.

If someones ADHD is flaring up and is stopping their brain from seeing the huge holes in the story I'm not going to walk them through it.But i'm sure they will nickel and dime us with DLC to try and fix the mistakes.

How can you make a good movie based on a game that changes because of every desicion you make..... It just does not make any sense.

Just beat the game, and I must say that it had some serious flaws:
-For a game which emphasizes story, it has many plot-holes
-For a game that emphasizes interaction with the characters and worlds, there is poor acting
-Some bad controls
etc...

The game is different, but different doesn't mean always mean it is better.

hey there! be careful, stating your opinions could get you vote bombed.

Yeah, despite the fact that I agree with your control point, I'm gonna drop a vote nuke on that down button of yours!

Better get in a fridge if you want to survive the explosion, bish.

but yea, especially after watching that casting trailer i am also a firm believer that the acting in the game is bad.

it's just not right.

I don't think it was that bad. There were just a few glaring moments where the characters sounded... off. Like when he tucks his son in at night. The kid looks about as American as someone can be, but he seems to have a slight French accent, which just sounded out of place.

Then all the times when it sounded like the voices were recorded in a room that made them sound flat. They didn't sound like a character speaking, they sounded more like someone in a poorly designed sound booth speaking.

That was only maybe 1/5 of the time, and it didn't detract too much from the overall experience, but it was still noticeable.

i thought it already was a movie

Could be interesting depending upon who is directing the film.

The game and story are incredible, people. If you have a PS3, get this game NOW.

If you don't have a PS3, get one. Not just for this game, but MLB 10 (even if you hate sports games you'll love it), God of War 3 (duh), and this. Those three games together will keep you busy for months.

Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves ?

There isn't much of a need for a movie; it's dramatic and enthralling enough as it is.

If any game is due for a movie adaptation, it's BIOSHOCK! I'm still waiting for Gore Verbinski to keep on going with production! They have a script from John Logan!

Cameron would make the environment beautifully, but he'll never do it. H just won't. Guillermo Del Toro has publicly stated he's a fan of BioShock, and after false rumors that he would direct the movie a couple years ago, he said "I love BioShock, but I'm not attached to it...not yet, least." And then you have the 28 Weeks Later director officially attached, and while I'm sure he'll do a fine job, I', afraid that he'll start taking BioShock into the wrong direction, making it a horror movie, and he'll lose sight of what to do. Verbinski promised fans that BioShock would not end up dead like the Halo film, and yet, I haven't heard any news about production on BioShock to where I'm very worried. And as I said before, they have a script, so they need move forward with production now, especially when BioShock is so popular right now.

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New Line Cinema options rights for film adaptation of Heavy Rain

Reader Comments (98)

Posted: Feb 27th 2010 4:04PM aristokrat said

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