Variety reports that Legendary Films has ponied up an undisclosed chunk of change to help New Line with the continued development of its Gears of War film adaptation. As the story points out, Legendary - which also helped finance The Dark Knight - isn't known for getting involved with flicks that are in development hell.

As we've previously reported, the Gears movie is being helmed by Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman and has the game's designer, Cliff Bleszinski, serving as an executive producer. The film had originally been slated for release in 2009 by New Line before the studio became a part of Warner Bros. Its parent company hasn't offered an updated release timeframe since, but the partnership with Legendary suggests that it remains serious about getting Microsoft's second best selling franchise onto the silver screen.