Gears Of War heading to the big screen with Universal Pictures

Ahead of the launch of Gears Of War 4, Microsoft announced during a livestream with new developer The Coalition that it is working with Universal Pictures to finally adapt the hit third person shooter franchise for the big screen.

Speaking to Variety, Gears Of War co-creator and The Coalition lead Rod Fergusson said it was the right time for the long-rumoured project to get off the ground. "Some video game movies in the past have failed because they tried to make a movie for gamers," he said.

"If you have this great IP with a deep backstory and lots of lore that you can make interesting stories out of it's great, but if you just go after the gaming audience then it isn't going to be a successful movie."

Does this mean a straight adaptation of Epic Games' original Xbox 360 trilogy? Or will the film zero in on other parts of the Gears lore - the Pendulum Wars that took place before the games, for example?

Variety revealed that seasoned producers Dylan Clark (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) and Scott Stuber (Central Intelligence) will steer the project towards full production.

"As a way to support the franchise the next logical step was to make the movie," Fergusson told Variety. "We'd done comics and novels in the past but the opportunity to work with Universal to bring the movie to life was perfect."

"That's one of the great things about working with Universal," he continued. "We're finding that line where we can say it has enough lore and canon that it feels genuine to the game while at the same time going beyond that and asking 'OK what makes a great movie?'"

Gears Of War 4 launches on Xbox One and PC on 11 October. No date has been set for the forthcoming movie.

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