Bruckheimer busts into games

Blockbuster film producer teams with MTV Games to establish new "incubation studio," gives progress report on Prince of Persia film.

Jerry Bruckheimer has a style, and that style is big and loud. The producer has helped create films from Top Gun to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and TV shows like C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation and The Amazing Race, developing a reputation for unapologetically entertaining fare and blockbuster hits.

Now Bruckheimer is following fellow filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and John Woo into the world of game development. MTV Games today announced that it has partnered with the producer to launch Jerry Bruckheimer Game Studio. Described as "a game incubation studio," the operation will conceive games but won't actually develop them.

"It'll be an idea [house]," Bruckheimer explained to GameSpot. "We'll work with other developers and studios to hire an executive team and come up with something we feel is interesting. We'll work with them just like we do with writers and directors [in film] and television--it's about getting the best and the brightest."

As for who the best and the brightest could be, MTV Games isn't ruling out anyone. The publisher's vice president of electronic games and interactive products, Bob Picunko, said the deal allows them the leeway to secure the best talent they can find, whether that means working with an independent studio or going through fellow publishers to get access to their internal teams.

That flexibility appears to be a theme incorporated throughout the agreement. Picunko said Bruckheimer's team could wind up making console games, PC titles, handheld, or even mobile games.

"We've left the palette relatively open," Picunko said. "Our hope is to have the first effort be a big game that people will be lining up at midnight to buy it the night before it comes out, but all options are on the table right now."

While the studio is going to "seek out and deliver new game concepts and intellectual property," Picunko said the company would love to see those properties migrate to other media, specifically TV and film.

Bruckheimer is currently putting together one such game-to-film adaptation: He is producing the upcoming Prince of Persia movie. The filmmaker updated the status of the film, confirming that as reported, Donnie Brasco director Mike Newell has been tapped to helm the project. He also said that location scouting is set to begin next month, with a possible 2009 release date in mind.

Bruckheimer has seen his work migrate in the film-to-game direction many times, from Days of Thunder and Top Gun on the NES to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean games on current platforms, but he noted those titles were made facing unfortunate constraints. "They do the best job they can," Bruckheimer said of the developers who adapt his film work for games. "It's a very short period of time you have to develop these games because the movies come out so quickly. By the time you get a green light, the movie will be out in eight or nine months or a year after the gamers get involved. I don't think they really have the time to develop something as exciting as if you start with a fresh venture."

119 Comments

  • gin_rummy89

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 3:22 am PT

    movie people you stay with movies, don't do to games what you did to cinema

  • Jedilink109

    Posted Dec 22, 2007 11:30 pm PT

    PLEASE GOD don't tell me there's going to be a game based on the movies "Pearl Harbour", "Kangaroo Jack", and "Armageddon". *vomits*

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Dec 21, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    well could go good or bad, who knows until the games are done

  • SSJ_Tenx

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 12:44 pm PT

    i'm gunna use the dagger of time and speed time up so i can watch the movie!

  • ronniepage588

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 12:24 pm PT

    jerry's resume is outstanding, he knows entertaining better than almost anyone, so i have a good feeling this will be a successful production company...not unlike vin diesels, everyone knows how great escape from butcher bay was.

  • Proman84

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 10:36 am PT

    To Foolz3h:

    No, the job of an executive producer is not just to provide money but to organize and oversee the entire project and make sure that the director's, as well as his own vision is realized. This could be a logistics nightmare.

  • V-Nine

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 10:10 am PT

    ...now who's playing the prince Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp...

  • hidden_ninja4

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 9:56 am PT

    I couldn't care much less about Bruckheimer. Get QT to write/direct a game, though....

  • stfolife

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 9:41 am PT

    Ahh he's a good friend of my fathers met him once he's a good guy i'm glad he's getting involved with video games.

  • Words_of_Ivory

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 9:41 am PT

    "The more filmmakers we have supporting videogames, the more credibility we gain."

    While we're at it, lets make book writers directors and get musicians to write classical novels. The industry needs to nurture it's *own* identity if it ever wants to be taken seriously, and starts promoting it's own figureheads, instead of trying to emulate cinema so much.

    I have no doubt some of these guys have the creativity to understand the unique medium of video games, but we have already have established people can and will do it better than them.

  • Pfilosophy

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 8:31 am PT

    Yeah, because Pong's story was life-changing. Get off your high ponies, people, this is a GOOD thing. The more filmmakers we have supporting videogames, the more credibility we gain. And I'm pretty sure Jack Thompson's napkin degree is no match for the litigation teams of Woo, Spielberg, Bruckheimer, and (hopefully) soon McTiernan, so the ratings are gonna balance out again. You wanted games to be taken seriously as art, right? Well, in this society, any movie with Paul Giamatti is regarded as that so bringing in Hollywood directors and producers (especially during a writer's strike) is a pretty good step in that direction. I can see it now: Lipton saying "I had no idea but this GTA game had a story with likable characters. How poignant."

  • DomLeighton

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 5:57 am PT

    Bruckheimer films are the cinematic equivalent of Dynasty Warriors - mindless and violent, with frequently pointless plotting (if any at all). However, I like Dynasty Warrior games. I also like many Jerry Bruckheimer films. They're not works of art - they're works of entertainment, and shouldn't be judged as anything other than that. The Bruckheimer calling cards - action, explosions and eye candy - are integral to games already and bringing a further high-profile name into the industry can only improve the acceptance of gaming culture by the mainstream. One more studio producing games simply provides gamers with more choice, and ultimately their output will be judged on its merits just as any other game is.

  • excelR83

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 5:18 am PT

    Jerry Schmuckheimer is kind of a laugningstock in the movie world, to me. He represents movies selling out like nobody else. He is usually a punchline to movie jokes. However, he gives people what they want, which is mindless fun that sells tickets and popcorn. Sometimes all you want is a buddy action-comedy with a lot of **** blowing up and the heroes cracking one-liners. He delivers. His type of movies will be perfect for games. I think this is good news for gamers, at least on the development side, however it is bringing more attention to gaming which can mean more advertising, shadier deals, shorter games, etc. Can't stop progress though.

  • Fat_Boy_PT

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 4:24 am PT

    Blockbuster games? Might be fun.

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 4:22 am PT

    Bruckheimer Tink Tank.... LOL... Here is how a meeting would go... "So how do we make crap blow up and be crapier, I mean if we leave out any hint of a story we would have more space for crap that goes boom"

  • larlarbd

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 3:34 am PT

    That blows ( Bruckheimer Style) . LoL.

  • ninjarat

    Posted Dec 20, 2007 3:23 am PT

    I have a feeling that this film may suck.

  • Rowr14

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 11:51 pm PT

    here come all the "aww bruckheimer sucks..waa"
    he is kind of a douche and his many of his movies and projects have sucked balls.

    But this can only be good for gaming, heres a man who WILL push on the "games as epics" front. To me this news is a final representation that games have hit the big time, when halo makes a bazillion dollars, guys like this (people who know how to make money from entertainment) pay attention. All thats left is the perception of video games to change among the mass market and we are definetely starting to see that happen now. The wii is doing ridiculously well, and getting people who have never played games (people who form their opinions from the media + ignorance) to see first hand the appeal.

  • turb06

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 10:19 pm PT

    "Jerry Bruckheimer = shaky cams and non existant plot."

    Gears of War anyone?? Give Brucky a go his movies to me are mindless enjoyable fun, exactly what a lot of people want in games.

  • Demetri_OS

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 10:14 pm PT

    We already have the "Bruckheimer' of gaming - EA.

  • Foolz3h

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 10:03 pm PT

    Proman84:

    Failed attempts at fancy lighting in CSI is not good hands on producing... in fact isn't the job of a producer just to fund the damn thing? PErhaps that's why his stuff sucks so much..

  • rocktimusprime

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 9:56 pm PT

    Get this Bruckheimer trash out of here!

    I can't wait to play

    "Super Action Game with Basic Plot and Annoying Wooden Charater Acting"

  • markdzebissov

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 9:17 pm PT

    First crappy movies, now crappy games...

  • Proman84

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 8:57 pm PT

    None of you guys know what you are talking about. Bruckheimer is not about shaky cams, he's about whatever audiences want (or dodn't know they want). Say wha you want but while he is no Spielberg his movies are very well produced and polished. Sure most, of them aren't especially grea but it's not the point. He is a "hand's on" good producer.

  • LinkErdrich

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 8:39 pm PT

    Bruckheimer'd be a perfect fit for EA. Formulaic, predictable, regurgitated, overhyped, cliched, nonplausible, Bruckheimer's everything I hate about motion pictures.

  • mYslead

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 8:16 pm PT

    Jerry Bruckheimer = shaky cams and non existant plot.

  • vadicta

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 7:02 pm PT

    If this works out the way they have planned we could see alot more great games comming out... that's too many great games comming out. I NEED A BREAK! where's the summer when you need it?

  • gam3r3OOO

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 6:56 pm PT

    If he succeeds we're going to see a whole lot of directors crossing over into making games. If he fails... the same will happen. To be honest I could care less. I don't care if musicians started making games. Film/Game cross-overs have traditionally failed.

  • JBiker51

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 6:48 pm PT

    Wait, they just form ideas about games and don't actually create them? Great good that'll do!

  • Foolz3h

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 6:38 pm PT

    This might actually work! Normally games based on shows/films are based on decent shows or films but in this case whatever Bruckheimer was involved in has sucked balls so perhaps he's in the wrong industry?

  • AnimeNewtype

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 6:35 pm PT

    Yeah, this is stupid. Hollywood and video games always turn into pure crap. I hope this studio goes under in a month. Who am I kidding, it'll probably get cancelled before it even opens.

  • Dryker

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 4:21 pm PT

    This is classic... We're not really making any games, have any ideas for games, or eyeballing any particular genre or IP, we just want somebody else to do absolutely everything because they know how to and we haven't the slightest. We fully intend our first endeavor to be one of those games you stand in line for overnight... or not. We just see alot of people making a lot of money with games and though we may not know games from the aperture in our hind sections, we'll just pay someone who does and make most of the profit. Elementary really... if you have the money, more is just a natural extension. Don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a slight on Jerry Bruckheimer, but rather an observation of the natural progression of capitalist fundamentals. Those with money continuously exploit those with ability. If only artists were more business savvy, or rather cared enough to be so.

  • webbut

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 4:11 pm PT

    Awesome that hes gunna start coming up with games but im still fearfull of PoP the movie it would make a great movie if they did a stright rip but thats never what they do

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 3:46 pm PT

    I bet everyting blows up in the prince of persia movie and jack sparrow saves the day some how...

  • spencdiamonds

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 3:41 pm PT

    Prince of persia movie should come out faster

  • SteeleInd

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 3:23 pm PT

    I hardly think MTV Games should be dealing out money to start a new studio already. They've hardly even broken into the gaming industry, and they're already expanding? The only REAL game they've released was Rock Band...

  • rockatanski

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 3:00 pm PT

    You're right Bison, Bruckheimer is and allways will be a bubblgum Producer with lollypoop product. If he implements any of this into these games, then it actually may work.. cos most games don't really focus enough on the story anyway. A Bruckheimer/Tom Clancy collaboration perhaps, and then there may be some REAL hot blood.

  • Buttonio

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:58 pm PT

    I hope Prince of Persia is good, those games rule. so did the originals.

  • bison_tuesday

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:35 pm PT

    With the exception of the pirates trilogy, I find Bruckheimer movies shallow and empty. That said his ideas MAY translate well into the gaming arena. Call me cautiously optimistic.

  • dragonwarlock77

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:33 pm PT

    Bruckheimer is awesome. I have a feeling PoP might break the game-movie curse.

  • Windblade91

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:16 pm PT

    imho only sony makes good game-film adaptions...but then again Disney is practically another branch of sony nowadays...concidering they r best buds

  • paperwarior17

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:07 pm PT

    Bruckheimer bursts into flames?!

  • grafkhun

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:07 pm PT

    IDK... we'll see how all this pans out, i like the incubation idea and as for POP movie in 09? i hope they don't rush it just to get it by that date.

  • eckolocke

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    Why are people complaining about this? Simple. History. Although i dont have exact figures on cross-genre statistics, from my personal experience, 95% of games from movies have been crap while 99% of movies from games have been crap. Now, add investment companies to the mix and people joining the trend that see the gaming industry as a new cash cow, the formula does not add up to great games on the horizon any way you look at it. Games will be pushed out instead of polished which happens a lot in the industry already.

  • andypipkin85

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 1:57 pm PT

    Glad to see someone else directing prince of Persia instead of the original rumor of Micheal bay directing it. Dont get me wrong i LOVE Bay, but i dont want him wasting his time on some POP film when he should be out there filming Transformers 2!!!

  • okassar

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 1:54 pm PT

    OMG Prince of Persia movie would be awesome.Imagine, in a night out to the movies, you see an amazing game adaptation with a sweet prince doin' all this stuff with Transformers-level animations and cool boss fights-with some Arabic music in the background,HELLZ YES!!!!!That movie,the Halo Movie,the Gears Movie,and the WoW movie better be good(if they come out as planned...) so that we can have some better movies and some more depth to our games.

  • Frylock330

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 1:49 pm PT

    I think that a game adaptation film by Bruckheimer would be good, he has a good record of entaining, decnt films that have high production values.

  • kTvTv3

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 1:45 pm PT

    Man! All I hear people talk about friggen movie - game subjects like this is "it's bad for the business, and the movies based on games usually end up not being good" That's ALL people say...over and over and over ! *pulls out hair* Why don't you just wait, because some might be good.

  • X-7

    Posted Dec 19, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    I can't wait for the PoP movie.

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