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Joust: The Movie
Posted: 2007-09-02 03:50am
by Qwerty 42
IGN wrote: Joust Movie Deal Announced
Read that as many times as you want. It's still true.
by Ryan Geddes
August 27, 2007 - A Hollywood production company is planning a big-budget film version of the classic Midway arcade game Joust, according to a report Monday on GameDaily.com.
Will the film include giant flapping flightless birds and pterodactyls? The producers aren't saying, but apparently the screenwriter's vision for the film includes a futuristic Las Vegas suspended in the sky.
Ah, memories.
In the GameDaily article, CP Productions (headed by the producers of the films Area 51, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Blackout) said its deal with Midway could also result in a new Joust videogame franchise based on the film. And CP has already commissioned graphic novelist Steven Elliot Altman (who has worked with DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics) to create a Joust comic based on the upcoming film's script, written by Marc Gottlieb.
Although the arcade version of Joust was released in 1982 (putting even the youngest true old-school Jousters in their mid-30s today), CP told GameDaily its upcoming film is aimed at the under-25 set.
The Joust movie is scheduled to be completed in June 2008 and flap into theatres soon after.
It's mind-boggling. Don't get me wrong, I love Joust, but really.
Come on.
Posted: 2007-09-02 03:56am
by rhoenix
...
I have no words.
Posted: 2007-09-02 04:05am
by Vympel
I don't even know what that is supposed to be.
Posted: 2007-09-02 04:17am
by Bounty
I don't really see the problem here. Joust doesn't have much of a story, but I'm sure you can wring a popcorn flick out of the gameplay: it's basically flying knights doing battle over a pit of lava while dodging trolls and pterodactyls. As long as they don't mention the ostrich, it might work.
Posted: 2007-09-02 09:53am
by Starglider
This is awesome. Joust was so cool. Maybe the film will look something like the game
Flying Heros, which I used to play a lot vs my housemates when at university.
Posted: 2007-09-02 10:01am
by Masami von Weizegger
Bounty wrote:I don't really see the problem here. Joust doesn't have much of a story, but I'm sure you can wring a popcorn flick out of the gameplay: it's basically flying knights doing battle over a pit of lava while dodging trolls and pterodactyls. As long as they don't mention the ostrich, it might work.
That's true but the question is still:
Why?
I mean, ok, flying anything's battling over a pit of lava dodging monsters sounds like a basic idea for a popcorn flick. But then why buy the rights to fucking
Joust in particular? How many extra people will go see this movie because it's based on a Midway arcade game from 1982? Ten?
The amount of extra people who would see this movie because it has the Joust license shouldn't recoup the cost of buying the rights to it in the first place, even if it only cost them a thousand bucks.
Posted: 2007-09-02 10:13am
by Starglider
Masami von Weizegger wrote:The amount of extra people who would see this movie because it has the Joust license shouldn't recoup the cost of buying the rights to it in the first place, even if it only cost them a thousand bucks.
The answer is probably internal politics. The execs backing the film can tell the board of directors 'yes, we have a hot license based on a really popular video game'. Assuming they can keep a straight face, this will be more convincing than 'we want to make a fantasy film about knights flying around on giant birds' - remember that the people who ultimately control the purse strings will have little to no appreciation of what video game culture is like, they just know they're popular.
Posted: 2007-09-02 10:29am
by Bounty
The answer is probably internal politics.
Or they're banking on a chain reaction: they draw attention to the new game by tying it into the classic Joust, then use the new game to draw attention to the movie. The article did mention a new Joust
franchise, after all.
Posted: 2007-09-02 11:47am
by Qwerty 42
Bounty wrote:I don't really see the problem here. Joust doesn't have much of a story, but I'm sure you can wring a popcorn flick out of the gameplay: it's basically flying knights doing battle over a pit of lava while dodging trolls and pterodactyls. As long as they don't mention the ostrich, it might work.
Why not mention the ostriches? That's the whole reason anyone would play Joust in the first place :p.
As long as this brings the original Joust to the Wii Virtual Console I fully support this project
.
Posted: 2007-09-02 11:53am
by Solauren
It could work, if placed into a medieval style fantasy setting, where 'Joust' as presented in the video game is some kind of either
Sport (like the medial ages, but with flying riding birds)
Trail by Fire (survive say 3 - 5 rounds and you're found not guilty)
Death Sentence (crimals joust with each other until there is only one survivor, who gets to go free and is absolved of his crimes)
It COULD work.
And in theory, if you launch a pig out of a cannon into the side of a tree, it could survive....
Posted: 2007-09-02 03:43pm
by Alan Bolte
I made a joke about this about a month ago. Huh.
Posted: 2007-09-02 03:45pm
by Duckie
The only problem I can see with a joust movie is that Ostriches are flightless birds.
Sure it was funny in-game, but in a movie?
Posted: 2007-09-02 04:10pm
by Starglider
MRDOD wrote:The only problem I can see with a joust movie is that Ostriches are flightless birds.
Sure it was funny in-game, but in a movie?
I have it on good authority that they will be replaced by giant, ill-tempered ducks.
Posted: 2007-09-02 05:08pm
by Hotfoot
Starglider wrote:MRDOD wrote:The only problem I can see with a joust movie is that Ostriches are flightless birds.
Sure it was funny in-game, but in a movie?
I have it on good authority that they will be replaced by giant, ill-tempered ducks.
...named "Howard"?
Posted: 2007-09-03 10:38am
by chitoryu12
I'm suprised Uwe Boll didn't get this one too. Hell, if I was a producer, I would just give it to him to save me the embarrasment.
Posted: 2007-09-03 03:02pm
by Praxis
Masami von Weizegger wrote:
The amount of extra people who would see this movie because it has the Joust license shouldn't recoup the cost of buying the rights to it in the first place, even if it only cost them a thousand bucks.
Ah, but you're wrong. We wouldn't have this thread if they hadn't bought the license.
I would have never heard of this movie if it weren't for the fact that they're using the license. It's a great way to draw attention.