Castlevania sinks teeth into film

The question these days isn't what game is getting turned into a movie, it's what game isn't getting turned into a movie. Another classic game franchise fell to Hollywood today, with the rights to a film adaptation of Castlevania being roped in by Crystal Sky Pictures, according to a report by Variety.

Paul W.S. Anderson will direct the film, after having game-to-movie experience with Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. Steven Paul and Benedict Carver of Crystal Sky and Anderson and Jeremy Bolt of Impact Pictures will produce the movie. No cast has been announced, and production is set to start in mid-2006.

The Konami-developed series, which debuted in the US on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 1980s, follows vampire slayers on the hunt for creatures of the night, including Lord Dracula himself. The film, according to Variety, will follow the Belmont Clan as it hunts bloodsuckers to save humanity.

Crystal Sky Pictures, based out of Los Angeles, is also working on two other properties: one that fits the big screen perfectly and one that may surprise some. A Tekken film is scheduled for release in 2006, and a Pac-Man movie could gobble up box offices in 2007.

The franchise is almost into its second decade, with the latest game, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, having been released for the PlayStation 2 earlier this week.