Juno getting game treatment?

  • By Tor Thorsen, Tom Magrino, GameSpot
  • Posted Feb 6, 2008 4:54 pm PT

[UPDATE] Mixed reports indicate the Oscar-nominated independent movie might be get developed into a mass-market game.

LAS VEGAS--Last year, the title "the little indie that could" was bestowed on Little Miss Sunshine, a small independent film that went on to land a Best Picture Oscar nomination and gross over $60 million. This year, that honor was taken by Juno, the offbeat dramedy starring Arrested Development's Michael Cera and Jason Bateman and written by screenwriter du jour Diablo Cody. Budgeted at just $7.5 million, the film is nominated for four Oscars--Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay--and has made over $100 million at the domestic box office.

[UPDATE] Now, it appears that Fox Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind Juno might be set to earn even more revenue from the film. Today during the opening session of the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, former Eidos Interactive president and current intellectual-property migration specialist Keith Boesky made comments which GameSpot misinterpreted as indicating that a casual game based on the film is in development.

Later, though, Boesky clarified his comments, adamantly saying he did not announce a Juno game. "The reference to Juno was made when I analogized a low-budget, small game breaking out and being a hit to examples from the film business like Juno," he said. He went on to say he hadn't even seen the film.

However, Boesky's pointed clarification hasn't completely deflated talk of a Juno game. On Monday, the mysterious blogger known as Surfer Girl, who has been the source of numerous game-industry leaks, claimed in a typically cryptic post that Fox Searchlight had enlisted Crave Entertainment and 7 Studios to make a Juno game. According to its jobs page, 7 Studios is working on a "portable puzzle based game," a "next generation third person action/adventure original IP," and a "third person action fighting game based on a movie/comic license."

182 Comments

  • kos1085

    Posted Jun 16, 2008 1:13 pm PT

    Bound for failure....

  • Thorpe89 Site moderator

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 11:16 am PT

    Juno was a great movie but as a video game?

  • Karmacodelc18

    Posted Feb 10, 2008 11:05 pm PT

    ugh! Kill this game before it comes to light please! Stop putting out movies and stuff making teen pregnancyes look cool!

  • skateboard1587

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 9:05 pm PT

    just get laid in real life

  • DaClint91

    Posted Feb 9, 2008 10:35 am PT

    all movie games suck (with the excpetion of like 3 games). ya'll really expect this to be good?

  • cooldude03

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 8:05 am PT

    Well the movie wasn't that great and the game won't be that great. It will probably go on the Wii and DS because they put any game on those systems. No game rejected they take all comers even leftovers. btw I love my Wii and DS. but it's still true

  • bigmick07

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:18 pm PT

    What type of game is it going to be? I mean honestly, there are ust some things you cannot make games out of.

  • V-Nine

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 3:51 pm PT

    ....Oh so there needs to be a game about the poster child for unsafe "doing it".....siiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhh.......

  • boobush

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:51 pm PT

    I can't see Juno in a game. Hell, I didn't see it in a movie theater.

  • powerframe8

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:11 pm PT

    The movie sucked. It'll either be minigame based liek the stupid Napoline Dynamite game, or its be like the Sims.

  • DarknessMF

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:06 pm PT

    what. the. hell?!

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 12:36 pm PT

    well I can't see juno being a game but we'll see

  • Anarky

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 11:57 am PT

    Did they actually SEE the movie or just the box-office returns?

  • MECHAPIXEL

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 11:56 am PT

    What is it a Fps that will shoot sperm

  • drogaz

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 8:33 am PT

    One of the worst ideas for a game I've seen in a while. Even Napoleon Dynamite and Dirty Dancing would make a better game then Juno. What next a Little Miss Sunshine game with a M-rated EBA ripoff as the final level? Puleeeease.

  • supersonicGO

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 8:03 am PT

    who wants to play with teen pregnancies? Come on people, are we that low in life to do so?

  • lionheartssj1

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 7:18 am PT

    So Juno: The Game......where you casually cause teen pregnancies. Oh, and Hard Candy the game? *chills*

  • TruestRose

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 4:54 am PT

    Hard Candy the game, Devloped by Rockstar, and banned in every single damned country for giving the gamer a chance to... 'remove genitals'.

    That actually would be a great game too... imagine the detail

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 4:36 am PT

    Even though all of us are confused about this and will most likely whine about it, in the end, we'll all be sittin on the couch, with absolutely nothin to do, then think to ourselves "Hey wait a minute! Let's play JUNO!" Because we're that damn lazy. Mark my words.

  • z3r0myst

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 3:25 am PT

    Wow, the movie is great and all but the content of this movie really doesn't make sense for a game.....

  • PandaBear86

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 3:02 am PT

    GOTY for sure. Watch out Gears of War 2, MGS4, FF13!

  • diablobasher

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 3:01 am PT

    wtf... seriously.

    At least games about a talking crime fighting dog have potential for GAMEPLAY, even if its terrible.

    This film DOES NOTHING. Nothing happens in this movie! How in gods name to you hope to make a game out of it?! Let alone an interesting one?!

    Shameless cash whores.

  • Filaki

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:58 am PT

    Someone at Fox needs to lay off the crack. What next, Little Miss Sunshine and Hard Candy?

  • IXIAntiksIXI

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:33 am PT

    wow

  • NaitoTheShinobi

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:30 am PT

    Might as well make a game for Superbad. Better yet, one for There's Something About Mary. The zipper mini-game would be epic.

  • d3f1anc3

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:28 am PT

    Worst idea for a game ever. Just no.

  • buggeroffu

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:13 am PT

    good way to ruin a perfectly good movie

  • blingchu55

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:06 am PT

    could this knock are you smarter than a fifth grader off the worst games of all time list?

  • CamisadoBlue

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:56 am PT

    FAIL

  • Axe_336

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:46 am PT

    What a terrible idea, I really can't think of how this would make a good game unless its just like.... I dunno, alternate story possibilities like a choose your own adventure? I'm gonna stick with "Its a bad idea."

  • TWOC2689

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:35 am PT

    Maybe you play as a potential parent fighting for the unborn child in bloody death matches and death races that wasn't in the film.

  • Lunar52

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 1:19 am PT

    oh....dear.....god i smell yet another horrible licensed game

  • A7Xfan

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 12:41 am PT

    I'd like to see something before or after. How their relationship led up to getting pregnant or maybe how the life of the new mom and Juno connect later on. (maybe the guy who left to pursue music comes back)

    But you can't retread the story when the DVD is released. This is actually a chance for a really unique game. You don't have to have a great fighting system to make something fun. On one level have a Mass Effect-like dialouge system, or make something totally new, Make environments completely interactive, and analog stick control legs and arms. Something like that, something real like Juno.

  • MaChaorules

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 12:05 am PT

    how do you make a game about juno? play juno through her stages of pregnancy?

  • Archerion3

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:54 pm PT

    I'm still waiting for game based on the movie "kids" where I can give random chicks AIDS.

  • p00phead

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:53 pm PT

    i loved that movie but a game for it bad idea.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:52 pm PT

    Making bad games based off of films is one thing, but this stoops to a new low.

  • Livewirez

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:45 pm PT

    It would probably consist of walking around the town talking to people, doing mini quests like a guitar hero -ish minigame when the girl is with thtat adoptive parent who is a composer. Maybe sketching on notepaper, running to school, god i dunno but it's going to be hard to come up with a game that will keep you entertained for several hours.

  • cichy69

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:33 pm PT

    isn't it too early for April fools jokes??

  • FordFairlane

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:30 pm PT

    For the casual market?

    One word: Be-Juno-ed

  • Jragon7

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:30 pm PT

    flop

  • dEaThAwAiTs013

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:24 pm PT

    Uhh... what the **** is the point?

  • shabulia

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:24 pm PT

    What the hell would the game be about? What would you even do? Would you play the girl who gets knocked up? This is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard of. What's next, a game based on the movie "The Hours"?

  • ayumichan

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:23 pm PT

    How strange

  • SorcererLance

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:22 pm PT

    how in the....

    unless if it's some kind of dating sim game that's usually popular in Japan, I don't see any other gaming genre that a movie like Juno could possibly be adapted in.

  • Bgrngod

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:21 pm PT

    what... the .... f?

    This has got to be the single most retarded game announcement since Napolean Dynamite.

  • o_laggy_o

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:17 pm PT

    W...T...F?!

  • kuporound

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    any chance of an Ellen Page naked hot coffee mode?

  • mysteriousminds

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:09 pm PT

    you..cannot..be..serious

    /facepalm

  • DukeEdwardI

    Posted Feb 6, 2008 11:03 pm PT

    the movie was really good, but a game?? come on...

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