Originally Posted by First Showing

One of the most cinematic games is now making it way towards cinemas. The Shadow of the Colossus video game is being developed by producer Kevin Misher (Fighting, Public Enemies, Case 39) at Columbia Pictures. Hollywood's new favorite fanboy writer, Justin Marks of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Voltron, and Masters of the Universe, has been hired to write the screenplay. The game, which first hit shelves in 2005, follows a character known as Wander, who along with his horse Agro, travels across a western-style landscape to defeat enemies known as Collosi, while Wander tries to save the girl Mono.

This isn't the first time the game has been seen in the movies - it was featured in Reign Over Me, although those scenes just had Adam Sandler playing the game. Shadow of the Colossus was not only a big hit in sales, but also a big hit with critics, and a few years ago was widely heralded as one of the best games of the year. Sony is currently developing on a sequel to the game. Although I know its got the makings of a good movie, I'm concerned that Justin Marks will come up with something a little too cheesy, a little too Hollywood. Hopefully they find a director who will make sure this stays as true to the game as possible.

Originally Posted by First Showing

Hollywood's new favorite fanboy writer, Justin Marks of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Voltron, and Masters of the Universe, has been hired to write the screenplay.

Originally Posted by Intern Nin (Post 911751)

Hey, some good news in all this.

Originally Posted by Variety

One of the most critically beloved games of all time has started its path to the big screen.

"Shadow of the Colossus" is being set up at Sony Pictures by producer Kevin Misher ("The Interpeter," "The Rundown"), sources have confirmed (the news first broke at the Hollywood Reporter).

"Shadow" was published by Sony Computer Entertainment, making this a rare example of content cross pollinating between the conglomerate's studio and games division.

The movie will be written by Justin Marks (Disney's in-development "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li'), who, I should admit, is a friend (as is Misher's development executive Kevin Chang, who played a key role in putting the project together).

Though it sold decently -- enough to keep the development team behind it, which also made "Ico," at work on a new title -- "Shadow" is best known for devoted praise by critics and fans of "games as art" (including me. It's one of my all time favorites). It's arguably the most emotional video game ever made.

It's also not an obvious candidate for a film. The game is an extremely solitary experience, as the main character, a young man named Wander (though you'd never know his name from playing the game) rides through a mysterious land on his horse Agro, slaying 16 colossi in hopes of bring the girl he loves back to life. As anyone who has played "Shadow" knows, it ends on a truly tragic note.

I understand the folks working on the project are planning to have some of the characters who appear only momentarily in the game, such as those who try to track down and stop Wander, play bigger roles in the film. And despite the game's somewhat "artsy" cred, they're hoping "Shadow" will be a "Lord of the Rings"-style fantasy tentpole.

As always, I do want to remind excitable gamers that getting set up a studio is still very far from actually making it to the big screen. Nonetheless, this is a pretty exciting first step for a not-too-obvious candidate for videogame-to-movie translation

Originally Posted by Things that, if there's a breath of mercy left under God's blue sky, will remain stuck in development hell until the end of days / me getting too old to care

Originally Posted by RT

Shadow of the Colossus was the sequel (actually prequel) to Ico, as it was codenamed "Nico" during development. We already know Fumito Ueda is working on "Trico", so this is not news.

Originally Posted by Bells

If they keep the 13 Colossus and give each 5 minutes of Screen time... thats 65 Minutes, or a little over 1 hour.