[via FirstShowing]
Proving once again that Hollywood has both run out of ideas and doesn’t understand that video game movies just don’t seem to work (yet), producers Hunt Lowry (A Time to Kill, Cypher) and Mark Johnson (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Chronicles of Narnia) have teamed up with Adrian Vanderbosch and Isaac Testerman of Mysteria Film and are planning on making a movie out of the 1993 adventure game Myst. While Myst was pretty popular back in the day, I can’t help but wonder how big of a fan base the game still has. I know that a bunch of sequels to the game have been made over the years, but as far as I know, only one of my friends was ever a fan of the franchise. Everyone else who has played it (including myself) just remembers it being vague and extremely frustrating. Not that any of this matters, since the movie is in the works anyway. Here’s a quote from the producers:
“Our aim with this project is to stretch the genres it operated within, much like the source material did. […] It is such an innovative property and by utilizing the novels as our primary resource, we have the opportunity to offer audiences the essence of MYST without being limited only to the famous island of the first game. Our focus has always been on creating an entirely new visual experience driven by engaging characters and an epic narrative.”
Yeah. Mythology. Narrative. Good movies have those things. I find it odd that they’re choosing to focus on the novels rather than the games, but I suppose it makes sense, since the games didn’t have much driving narrative and were more about exploring. I wonder if the movie will just be a series of static images of locations…
As someone who never really played Myst, I’m pretty indifferent to news of a Myst movie, beyond my surprise at the fact that they’re trying to revive a property that’s 17 years old. Are there any Myst fans among our readers? Care to weigh in on whether you think this is a good idea or not?