Force Unleashed being loosed onto big screen?

  • By thorsen-ink, GameSpot
  • Posted Sep 26, 2008 2:48 pm PT

Source: The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex sci-fi and comics blog, designed "for your inner fanboy." What we heard: Ever since it was first revealed in 2006, gamers have been hearing about what a big deal The Force Unleashed is. At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, LucasArts lead designer...

Source: The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex sci-fi and comics blog, designed "for your inner fanboy."

What we heard: Ever since it was first revealed in 2006, gamers have been hearing about what a big deal The Force Unleashed is. At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, LucasArts lead designer Hayden Blackman billed the game as a seventh chapter in the Star Wars film saga, set between the third prequel, Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2006), and the first film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Though reviews of the game haven't been totally positive, most critics agree its story is cinematic in its scope. It casts players as the secret apprentice of Darth Vader, dispatched by the Sith Lord to wipe out the few remaining Jedi, which survived the post-Clone Wars purge. Later events in the game further immerse the player into palace intrigue in the court of the Galactic Emperor Palpatine, himself a Sith Lord.

If such alternately action-packed and sinister events strike you as ready-made for the big screen, you're not alone. Speaking to LAT blogger Geoff Boucher, Blackman talked about his "daydream" of seeing the Force Unleashed turned into a motion picture.

"Oh, that would be incredible," the designer told the blogger. "And it's not impossible. Never say never. George [Lucas] has looked to tell new Star Wars stories through the games and with the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, and then he has also shown a willingness to let the characters come into the films. Look at Aayla Secura, a creation in the [Dark Horse] comic books who became part of the theatrical films."

For his part, Boucher said a film is also a distinct possibility, opining that "Lucas is clearly pleased with this new entry to the broader Star Wars story, and I would not be surprised for a moment to see it on a theater marquee at a CG-animated project in the next few years, especially with the intensifying Hollywood interest in video games and toys as film properties."

The official story: But just because a Force Unleashed film is plausible, doesn't mean it's in the works just yet. When asked for comment, a LucasArts reps said, "There are no current plans to do a TFU movie, but as Haden says, nothing's impossible."

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that anything is underway just yet. However, given the fact The Force Unleashed is now the fastest-selling Star Wars game in LucasArts history--moving 1.5 million units in one week--the likelihood of the Lucas media empire further leveraging it in some form is a near-certainty. Hopefully it won't be in the form of a crass Clone Wars-type cash-in.

355 Comments

  • pickley1

    Posted Aug 22, 2009 1:30 pm PT

    it would be stupid not to make a movie

  • KinnersMUFC

    Posted Jun 5, 2009 5:23 pm PT

    "Oh and to see Sam Witwer in a movie go rent "The Mist" he plays a smaller role, but its really weird to see him in a movie after playing the video game"

    Sam Witwer is also in a canny few episodes of Smallville. He's actually a pretty good actor. He looks near enough exactly the same in real life as he does on the game. This movie could be his big break. Like Hayden Christensons (spellling?) big break was playing Anakin.

  • Superlink517

    Posted Dec 21, 2008 3:40 am PT

    That would be soo freaking sweet. As most people have said, the models look pretty much exactly like the people voice acting them, so it would be an easy transition. And in the movie maybe they could get the actual Darth Vader and Palpatine voices..

  • javellk

    Posted Dec 7, 2008 10:47 am PT

    hell naw i want to audition for starkiller i tink i be a good main character.

  • Lifeshifter

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 10:11 am PT

    I agree with Darth_Psychosis because all of those actors did the voices for them and the models for those characters actually came from the actual actors, they should make one with the exact people the game was made from and it would be awesome!!

  • richaku

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:16 pm PT

    if its animated im not watching it

  • vicboy129

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 2:58 pm PT

    i agree it would be a good movie but i hope they dont ruin it like they did with the movie: The Clone Wars ans make it animated, uit would be so much bttr if it had real actors!

  • NK2003

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 10:41 am PT

    This would be a pretty good movie, as it ties together some very key plots between Episodes 3 & 4. The only way I'd want to see it though would be if it wasn't animated like the Clone Wars. That movie definitely didn't need to be made!

  • ODST-Spartan_X1

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 11:09 pm PT

    if it would become a movie it would def be my favorite movie

  • Qwickilller117

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:03 pm PT

    only time will tell for this movie

  • nightcall14

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 3:31 pm PT

    If they were to make a movie it probably would come out really good.

  • jadefury27

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 10:31 am PT

    typical lucasarts. release an overhyped game then build a new movie around it. anything to get the 40yr old that's still wearing yoda ears to come out of his mothers basement and fork over more dough.

  • Darth_Psychosis

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 4:32 pm PT

    "Who would they get to play Galen Marek? They could use the guy who did the voice for the game I suppose." - jnjenfield

    The best thing about the Force Unleashed is that all the character models are actually based off of real actors. Sam Witwer(Star Killer) has already expressed interest in making either a movie or a mini series television show based off of the video game. Juno Eclipse is Nathalie Cox, if you've seen Jumper she's the british chick Hayden Christianson hooks up with for the night. Same with Kota he could be played by the actor they went off of Cully Fredricksen. It could be the best Star Wars movie ever if its as action packed as the game was. As for Vader's voice Earl Jones is not dead and he did the voice for Vader at the end of RotS, so they would probably ask him to do it for this movie too, they probably just didnt go after him to get the voice for the game which I wish they would of. Oh and to see Sam Witwer in a movie go rent "The Mist" he plays a smaller role, but its really weird to see him in a movie after playing the video game

  • octosquidulam

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 2:21 am PT

    "I hope they don't use the guy who did the voice in the game. He wasn't very good. Maybe they could get the guy who does Chad Vader on those You Tube videos instead. His voice was better." - jnjenfield

    just so you know it was the guy that did the chad vader voice.

  • krystians

    Posted Oct 8, 2008 2:11 pm PT

    If they are making it then great. That way I wont need to fit in a huge Blu-ray player in my room, instead it will just be hopefully like the HDDVD player size.

  • GhostStalkerX1

    Posted Oct 8, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    @ SS3 Vegeta. Yeah they are based on real live people thus a good thing. Hopefully they they dont make the movie like SW: The Clone wars. But if they do make it animated, I hope they do it like FF7: AC.

  • tudyniuz

    Posted Oct 8, 2008 5:59 am PT

    It would be great

  • lamepunk

    Posted Oct 7, 2008 8:46 pm PT

    sounds like it could be worthwhile...

  • Eko_Eko_Azarak

    Posted Oct 7, 2008 7:23 am PT

    I hope that if they do a movie of this they just use the exact same story that was in the game because it was amaazzziinngg. If they do make a movie of this, it should indeed be live action. It might make up for Episode 2!

  • necronaux

    Posted Oct 6, 2008 11:47 am PT

    Will there be a whole new story? Will it be taken directly from the game? Will the movie script follow the new Novel (by Sean Williams) just written / released?

  • coruscant

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 3:21 pm PT

    I agree wholeheartedly with jnjenfield.

  • coruscant

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 3:21 pm PT

    I agree wholeheartedly with jnjenfield.

  • gozyaj

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 7:08 am PT

    A year ago, I heard a rumor before that there's a live action star wars tv-series planning in 2009. The story revolved the time lined between episode 3 and 4. After that it happen that the star wars they talking about is actually the star wars force unleashed. I dunno, maybe in 2009. Maybe we actually see a live action star wars tv series next year. fingers cross...

  • SS3_Vegeta

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 8:28 pm PT

    I think the story line is definitely worth telling, as it's probably the most enthralling and epic in a story line to date that I have played. Its length is easily adaptable to the big screen without needing to cut out any of the storyline seen, and I'm sure we would get a lot more dialogue and depth to the characters than previously seen. Plus it would be lovely to see proper Star Destroyers and Tie Fighters in full 3D - as mentioned in previous posts, it could become the best new Star Wars movie with more Lightsaber-on-Lightsaber battles that all the movies combined and bridging the large time gap between III and IV. I'm not too sure how they would get around the nicely planned out numbering... Episode III.V hardly has the same ring to it. And I'm eager to see which ending they choose to go with (although I have only seen the 'light' ending, so perhaps the Dark one does not tie in with the real story... but I will answer that question myself in due time, while struggling on the hardest difficulty available to me).
    As also mentioned, I would only possibly accept this as a promising idea if it were live-action. All the character models were based off real people, so if they can properly act as well as they can mo-cap, then the movie will look very authentic indeed. I found the voice to be very good in the game for all the characters, whether the original or not, so I would have no problem with that. With voice manipulation technology today you could probably get a teenage girl to voice Darth Vader and it would sound the same.

    That being said, I would definitely look forward to knowing a little more about how Starkiller was trained by Vader and I think this story deserves to be told to a wider audience than just the gamer market. They could probably achieve this with a graphic novel series, but nowadays the movie audience is a much larger target. The whole idea makes sense, and will undoubtedly make LucasArts millions more than they already have. I generally give the idea a thumbs-up, as long as it is done right - and by right, I mean perfectly. Hopefully Mr.Lucas as learnt his mistake from Episode I.

  • GasFirebelly

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 6:14 pm PT

    ah jnjenfield? James Earl Jones aint dead, apparently he did the voice of a giant in a version of jack & the beanstalk which came out this year, plus hes currently doing pre production on a film atm thast not due out til 2010! Called "Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey" HE CAN DO IT!

  • GSgirl

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 8:07 am PT

    I agree in every word that gamereric4 post. They should make this

  • jnjenfield

    Posted Oct 1, 2008 9:20 am PT

    If it is made as a movie, I really hope that they do it live action and not with CG. The CG Clone Wars movie was terrible. If they feel they must do it with animation, I hope they do it with traditional cell art with maybe some CG ships thrown in like the Clone Wars mini-series on TV was done. That version, done by the guys who brought us the excellent Samauri Jack series was actually good. I could see the Samauri Jack crew doing The Force Unleashed but I sure hope they don't make the characters CG. That looked terrible. They looked like they were carved from wood.

    If they do manage to do the movie with real-life actors, I don't see why they couldn't get Carrie Fischer to play Princess Leia and work some digital magic to make her look younger and just do long shots of her with no close ups. She isn't the main character anyway. They could probably get Jimmy Smits to play Senator Organa since he did the voice in the game. I think he was the only actor from the movies to even be in the game. I don't know what they would do with Darth Vader since James Earl Jones isn't around anymore. I hope they don't use the guy who did the voice in the game. He wasn't very good. Maybe they could get the guy who does Chad Vader on those You Tube videos instead. His voice was better.

    Who would they get to play Galen Marek? They could use the guy who did the voice for the game I suppose. He was better than Hayden Christenson by far. They'd need some big name classic actor to play blind Jedi general though. Ian Mackellen would be good if he would be up to doing it. Christopher Lee would have been great but they've already killed him off as Count Dooku. Juno Eclipse could be played by just about any hot blonde actress I suppose. I'd like to see Katie Sackoff from Battlestar Galactica fame do it. She'd give the character the right mix of beauty and toughness that is hinted at in the game. The voice actor for the game was ok, but the movie would really need some star power to get people to go see it after they have been disapointed by Episodes I, II and III. Episode III was a little better than I and II but still not as good as it could have been. If they could find a director who would treat the movie as a stand alone movie and who would not try to make it fit in with the mood and tone of Episodes I, II and III, it might be a great movie. That was what made Episode V so great. The director of that film used a style of film making that was really superior to what Lucas had done as director in Episode IV. He got some great performances out of the actors and mixed the humor, romance and action just right. Lucas is a talented guy when it comes to imagining things and designing things but he's not very good at getting good performances out of his actors. I think the main problem people have with the acting in Star Wars movies is caused by the film makers spending so much time and energy trying to get the cutting edge special effects right, that they forget to make the acting great. I imagine it's hard to give your best performance as an actor over and over again when you are made to do the same take a whole bunch of times so they can get all the shots they want for the effects. Plus, the real-life actors had to talk to a lot of imaginary creatures that either weren't there at all or were a stand in wearing green screen colored tights or something. It's no wonder so many of the scenes have wooden acting. They'll need a director who puts the story and the acting first and worries about the effects later to really make it impressive and redeem audiences' opinion of Star Wars movies. It's getting to the point that the games and comic books are becoming better than the movies instead of the other way around.

  • jedicw

    Posted Oct 1, 2008 3:24 am PT

    That would be awsome if it was released as a movie!

  • sid123456789

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 11:36 pm PT

    the cutscenes in the game were great (the only bad part was you couldnt skip them util u were half way through them!) If a movie was made it would be the best of all modern star wars movies! (the acting in the cutscenes were better than hayden christiansens whole career!)

  • gamereric4

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 3:45 pm PT

    Let me see, episode 1 and 2 sucked! 3 was good, but if this were a movie, it would be the best modern star wars film ever!

  • Darkblyth

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:47 pm PT

    I was thinking this will Happen and i'm glad it may

  • GhostyMcboo

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 11:43 am PT

    hey fanboys... if there's three doesn't that mean one of 'em has to DIE???? OH SNAP! STORYTELLING!

  • coruscant

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 8:55 am PT

    I PM'd the author of this story and he changed it from 'Revenge Of The Jedi' to 'Revenge Of The Sith' but I forgot to mention it was released in 2005, not 2006

  • Werner1812

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 12:09 am PT

    what inomyabcs said is wrong, thats why darth vader says to starkiller that he must remain in the shadows, hidden from the emperor, because, and this you said well,"Always two [Sith] there are"

  • lostn

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:37 pm PT

    Take away the gameplay portion of TFU and you actually have something good.

  • inomyabcs

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:33 pm PT

    Ummm... how would this be cool? Have we forgetten what Yoda said, "Always two [Sith] there are"? I don't know about you but this would make three. Kinda' hard to believe George Lucas would want to make this a movie with that glaring error.

  • eryk1

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:53 pm PT

    It would be nice to see this story fully flushed-out and to have a new Star Wars movie to watch. Also, I think with a little polish this game could be a great avenue into the the Star War's universe. You could plug any one into this model (like Luke or Obione) and make the game around them. They would have all of the ground work already done.

  • Peteyson

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:22 pm PT

    A TFU movie would be cool but another set of movies based on the KOTOR series would be amazing.

  • GC4ever

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:02 pm PT

    i hope it does make it into a movie
    but if its part of the tv series i would be cool with it
    the story was great, it needs to be told some other way!!!!

  • ill_flow

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 10:34 am PT

    StarKiller would make a good "Sylar" like character if that SW TV series ever gets off the ground.

  • shadow105gaara

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 10:17 am PT

    starwars episode 3.5: The force unleashed!
    xD

  • dentedskillet

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 10:14 am PT

    I always thought they should have made a movie out of the "Shadows of the Empire" game/book, and they never did, so I won't hold my breath for this one either...

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 10:04 am PT

    I am totaly down for this beoming a movie, just not a cartoon movie like some of these untold stories have been showing up as. Lets see some Live action Star Wars again!

  • zeusbark

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:57 am PT

    Lucas wouldn't miss the opportunity to cash in a few extra bucks. They'll make it into a movie for sure.

  • LordImperius

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:54 am PT

    "and I would not be surprised for a moment to see it on a theater marquee at a CG-animated project in the next few years, especially with the intensifying Hollywood interest in video games and toys as film properties." If they make the movie it better not be in CG. I personally dont like the way CG looks, MUCH to childish and that animation would'nt fit TFU's story...And since I played the game, I better see Sam Witwer as Starkiller as he is the assasin.

  • necronaux

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:11 am PT

    Like no one saw this coming.

  • calvinfoo

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:08 am PT

    Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Jedi?!? Hello??

  • LostSoul1974

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:03 am PT

    The idea has potential......however, I'd be thoroughly surprised if something came out of it though.

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