You have to love franchises. Blockbuster movies (see: Spiderman, Transformers, Quantum of Solace, the list goes on) are almost inevitably turned into video games, and gamers barely bat an eye as they've all come to expect the unfortunate mess that usually follows. Conversely, most gamers are torn the moment they hear an iconic video game is making the leap to the big screen as it can be either a dream come to life, or their worst nightmare.
So what's next in line for the great silver screen treatment? Ubisoft's sweeping epic franchise, Prince of Persia. Considering the video game series has been recently rebooted with the well received brand new Prince of Persia game, the timing is good for the upcoming movie.
And how is this movie attempting to escape the dismal fate of every single Uwe Boll movie?
With MONEY! And lots of it! Disney is throwing their weight behind this series in hopes that it becomes another Pirates of the Caribbean, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing. Of course, everyone knows that Pirates flourished because of some fantastic audience-pandering casting, so who does Prince of Persia have in their lineup?
Jake Gyllenhaal will be playing Prince Dastan
Ben Kingsley will be villain Nizam
Alfred Molina is Sheik Amar
Gemma Arterton is Princess Tamina
Mike Newell (Harry Potter 5, apparently also attached to an Elfstones of Shannara movie) is directing.
Not a bad cast, but I'm not so sure about Gemma Arterton though, especially after seeing her for five seconds in this ET clip:
Apparently, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has Prince Dastan partnering with Princess Tamina to prevent Nizam from gaining the Sands of Time which allows one to reverse time, and conceivably rule the world.
Naturally, real judgement will have to be reserved until we actually get a teaser trailer, much less a real trailer closer to the far-off May 28, 2010 release date. A long way to go, but I'll be watching this one.
--Panda
I'm optimistic about this one. Try to remember Tombraider/Resident Evil and forget about Doom. Those were successful enough to warrant sequels and some. Prince of Persia has the ingredients to make another winner. Gyllenhaal + Disney just can't go wrong.
"Jake Gyllenhaal will be playing Prince Dastan"
Oh yes, because nothing screams "Persian" like Jake Gyllenhaal.
This is going to be just as annoying as the game its based on, where everybody spoke with a British accent. :(
The game is amazing--but I can't see how this can possibly translate well onscreen. @Stewart: Total agreement. Jake Gyllenhaal? I don't see this happening well. On the plus side, I'm glad Gemma has another role. Big one too! I liked seeing her in Quantum.
Oh man, I thought the exact same thing about Jake != Persian, especially after that "poll" David Zandi sent out about "who should be Dastan?!" I mean, how can you get any better than a Real Persian Prince (tm), right?? (I'm assuming Zandi just can't act.)