Michael Bay banished from Prince of Persia's court?

  • By thorsen-ink, GameSpot
  • Posted Nov 8, 2007 4:54 pm PT

At the 2004 D.I.C.E. summit, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner confirmed that a movie based on his fantasy action franchise was in the works. Since then, information about the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney project has leaked out at a steady drip. For nearly a year, online reports rumored...

At the 2004 D.I.C.E. summit, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner confirmed that a movie based on his fantasy action franchise was in the works. Since then, information about the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney project has leaked out at a steady drip. For nearly a year, online reports rumored that Michael Bay would take on the project after he completed work on Transformers.

However, now it appears that Bay--whose participation was never officially confirmed by Disney--is no longer part of Prince of Persia's court. Today's issue of Variety reports that veteran British director Mike Newell is now in talks to helm the project. Newell's first international hit was Four Weddings and Funeral in 1994, and his most recent projects include Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and the forthcoming Love in the Time of Cholera, due out this month.

Unfortunately, even if negotiations with Newell conclude quickly, Prince of Persia won't be clambering onto Cineplex roofs any time soon. Like Roger Avary's Return to Castle Wolfenstein film, the project is currently on hold until the end of the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America.

133 Comments

  • Megasus_

    Posted Sep 23, 2009 2:26 pm PT

    I liked the first Transformers movie, and it's really too bad Michael Bay's not making this movie.

  • StLucketo

    Posted Aug 12, 2009 6:30 am PT

    Michael Bay is a great director, he made really good films, like Bad Boys (1 and 2), The Rock (with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage), Armagedom. Comparing with Mike Newell, Bay make most commercial movies, and his films arrecadate more money than Newell's movies (except for Harry Potter).

    This makes us to believe that Bay didn't wanted to do Prince of Persia, because for Disney it would be (probably) more lucrative have Bay in this project.

  • bakagami

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 2:49 am PT

    Yeah, they way Micheal Bay work is that he keeps the pace of his movies so fast that you don't have time to realize that all you're watching is a long series of explosions punctuated by ppl running around shouting at each other

  • postal-1

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 3:44 pm PT

    Bay blows, I cant stand his so called direction, every time I see his movies I get motion sickness and that is the only time I get it. I went to see Transformers 2 and was let down with everyone in the theater clapping and laughing every 2 mins at all the stupid so called comedy that Bay and the script witters calls funny. I'm not hating the movie because it was ok but the direction was very very bad.

  • MarioGalaxyFan1

    Posted Dec 23, 2008 7:56 pm PT

    Bay probably would turn this into a film with explosions and robotics so im glad that hes not part of it

  • Norgavue

    Posted Jun 9, 2008 8:32 am PT

    I'm not a fan of bay so I think it's okay he isn't involved.

  • zenitram_27

    Posted Jan 7, 2008 12:23 am PT

    i dont know why everyone gets on bays back for transformers. lets face it. he wasnt trying to win an oscar. just a great movie about transforming robots kicking robot a$$. were not asking him to enlighten our existence to a revolutionary film experience

  • wearespartans

    Posted Dec 4, 2007 2:17 pm PT

    Michael Bay is an amazing director. Ya'll are fools not to want him to do the movie. Also, disney did the pirates of the carribean movies duh!! Plenty of action and violence in there. Not pg movies but pg-13. Der dah der!!

  • wearespartans

    Posted Dec 4, 2007 2:16 pm PT

    Michael Bay is an amazing director. Ya'll are fools not to want him to do the movie

  • catwisle_102

    Posted Nov 14, 2007 5:52 am PT

    unlike most video games which just has mindless action, price of persia actually has a story line and i think it will do a lot better than most video game movies simply because of that. it combines action and a compelling plot really well. i just hope the director who directs this would be able to strike a good balance between the two. heck, maybe the art director that directed the game should direct the movie.

  • hermes200

    Posted Nov 12, 2007 11:37 am PT

    Good... I was wondering how could Bay fit some super-size explosions in a movie based on ancient persia.

    I stop caring about movies based in games a long time ago, although I think PoP has potential. Maybe after they release it I will go rent the DVD, thats about the most money they will get from me...

  • Nostradennis

    Posted Nov 12, 2007 10:06 am PT

    I'd like to see Gore Verbinski direct this movie. He proved his metal with Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series.

  • Kbs64

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 11:49 pm PT

    I don't care who does it, just as long as it doesn't stray too far from what is already established.

  • starcutter20000

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 9:21 pm PT

    Well it better be R or at least have a mture story line like Harry Potter 4 unlike those crappy Pirate movies

  • rockstar_88

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 8:59 pm PT

    I could picture Michael Bay directing this movie. "Okay, when the Prince jumps off this horse, I want the horse to lose control, ram into a group of bad guys, and explode."

  • grimboy

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 11:58 am PT

    thank god. micheal bay is a master of stupid pretty action but prince of persia actually has a good story and it just wouldve been way out of his league. plus i dont know if he wouldve been able to handle not having any semitrucks full of gasoline sliding sideways off a freeway and crashing into the side of a glass skyscraper

  • brain_slug

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 10:10 am PT

    "Goblet of fire was the second worst Harry Potter movie in terms of keeping to the plot. Sure it looked good, but they changed too much for me to like the director. Therefore this movie's gonna fail."

    i_like_pie what the hell? The movie is going to fail because a book to movie adaption he did was changed quite a lot and you didn't like it? Lets forget about the fact Four Weddings and a Funeral was the highest-grossing British film in cinema history worldwide. And the fact he isn't stuck to too many specifics for story with Prince of Persia, its obviously not going to follow the game through. Therefore your comment fails.

  • PS360Fanboy

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 3:38 am PT

    Mike Newell Made Goblet of Fire, The prince of persia movie would be good if he directed it

  • thestickman

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 6:50 pm PT

    Yeah I wish the strike would hurry up and be over so we can see this movie sooner! I think it'll be a nice bit, usually the movies and shows that Jerry Bruckheimer is involved with turn out to be pretty good (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, all the CSI shows, etc...)

  • bernieberry

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 6:12 pm PT

    I think Newell is a better choice.

  • Voltaire_Tmpntr

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 11:47 am PT

    the prince of persia movie will be a disney flick?that will suck all the blood and awesomeness out of it.

  • bluedragonarmor

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 10:17 am PT

    so many michael bay haters.... keep doing doing what you do best....been the greastest director EVER! TRANSFORMERS ROCKED HARD!

  • Col-Neil

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 5:39 am PT

    This movie may just have a chance now bay cant get his hands on it

  • serbsta69

    Posted Nov 10, 2007 1:29 am PT

    Michael Bay should stick to his own thing.

  • cigsmokingman

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:50 pm PT

    thank god. the studios probably got sick of him wasting so much money and still making horrible movies with the dumbest one-liners in the history of cinema.

  • Galzakian

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:27 pm PT

    I'd say this was a good thing, but that would be stating the obvious.

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 7:56 pm PT

    Micheal Bay would have been a great director for the project but for Prince of Purshia I would have to go with Jerry Bruckheimmer I see him nailing the character, story, and settings more perectly than Bay.

  • SimuLord

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 7:43 pm PT

    Michael Bay's movies are crap, and that's an insult to perfectly good fecal matter.

  • jakob_187

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 2:39 pm PT

    I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean...when we're talking about acrobatic combat work like the games feature, as well as the deep storyline that this whole franchise featured, Mike Newell doesn't seem like the right guy for the job. He's not much of an action director. Michael Bay is, but he loses focus of story in favor of blowing stuff up...which is all fine, and he's an EXCELLENT director when it comes to ACTION.

    I think, honestly, that Bruckheimer should've used this as an opportunity to work with John Woo...because I'm sure he could've made this a TRULY awesome film.

  • crithon

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 2:24 pm PT

    wait, why did you believe Bay was going to direct Prince of Persia? Didn't you notice how he's handling production company?

  • Zoryuken

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:41 pm PT

    "gah, bad naming michael bay - he did a fine job at transformers (which is by far my favourite movie of all time), meaning hes one of my favourite directors.

    you guys just have no taste"

    Um, no. Transformers sucked, miserably, and this is coming from a long-time fan. It's not even Transformers. It's Michael Bay's idiotic & absolutely no character development movie, about alien robots who look like vector sigma somehow produced a cross between tribal tattoo's and metallic vagina's, coming to earth.

  • sonic5678

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:16 pm PT

    STEPHEN SOMMERS!!!!

  • ajcali08

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:10 pm PT

    As long as ILM does most of the CG it will a decent movie.

  • glitterkill

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:03 pm PT

    What?! Transformers was a really good movie... Now I am not sure he would be a good match for Prince of Persia but he is still a very good action director.

  • ElectrolightSH

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:02 pm PT

    Michael Bay is the greatest director ever!!! Why would they go with a different director when they could have the guy that directed The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island (best movie ever), and Transformers (second best movie ever) and the announced Transformers 2? If you want a good action movie then you will want Michael Bay.

  • Alacard_Omalley

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:58 am PT

    dual_barrel
    you realise that medieval Persia is modern day Iran correct?No? oh

  • n07h1n6

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:46 am PT

    we seem to forget that the reason tranformers was ever made was to sell toys. how can you say that movie is good there is a mountain dew machine transformer. plus hollywood has done a good job programming the public into watching mediocre garbage. plus the original animated movie is way better than that stinkin pile. oh yeah and the prince of persia movie is still gonna suck.

  • TruthSeeker777

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:40 am PT

    Good. If Michael Bay did the film there would be some uninspired, contrived, and cliche romantic storyline that would take too much focus away from the most important elements of the film. Bay can direct some good action scenes, but he is very weak in other areas of film making. Just watch Pearl Harbor or Armageddon and you would know what I mean.

  • samchaosboy

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:31 am PT

    Transformers was the best movie to come out this summer. however he should stick to brainless movies like transformers. prince of persia is not his style

  • caflash

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:16 am PT

    "hannify

    gah, bad naming michael bay - he did a fine job at transformers (which is by far my favourite movie of all time), meaning hes one of my favourite directors.

    you guys just have no taste"

    ---------

    you nullified your entire statement when you said transformers is one of your favorite movies of all time. And you say WE have no taste. Bay makes the same movie over and over again - go watch his stuff, and see how he reuses the same plot devices and shots in each. Hey, how 'bout a slow-motion silhouetted shot of the hero walking towards the camera as something blows up!..... in every movie he does. Every. Single. One. He's like the rich kid that goes to film school, learns one trick, and does that over and over again. He's a paint-by-numbers director, pandering to the average, brain-dead movie-goer who just wants to see stuff blow up. As someone else here said, he should just stick to special effects, and leave the actual directing to people who understand how to actually make a film.

  • caflash

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 11:07 am PT

    While I'm glad Bay isn't directing this movie (I loved Southpark's parody of him - "Those aren't ideas, Mr. Bay, they're special effects" Bay: "I don't understand the difference."), the fact that it's written by Jeffrey Nachmanoff scares me a little. He is, after all, the one who penned the script for The Day After Tomorrow..... I like this director, but if he's working with a terrible script, there's not much that can be done.

  • jazilla

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 10:24 am PT

    I am stoked that Bay ain't making this. How anyone can spend the type of money he spends on a film, and have a story suck as much as the stories in his films suck, is beyond me.

  • advocacy

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:59 am PT

    Why is everybody hoping that a movie based on a videogame will turn out good? Street Fighter, Mario, Resident Evil... not a single one of them has risen above the level of banality and mediocrity. Even a talented director cannot turn rubbish into rubies.

  • zaokamura

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:53 am PT

    michale bay is a retard

  • n07h1n6

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:50 am PT

    tranformers sucked the big one and micheal bay couldnt direct his way out of a box. plus if you look at the history of game to movies you would see that all game based movies suck if you have played the games. example: resident evil,doom,double dragon, mario bros,tomb raider they all sucked. i think their is more but none come to mind. oh yeah this movie is gonna suck too.

  • hannify

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:42 am PT

    gah, bad naming michael bay - he did a fine job at transformers (which is by far my favourite movie of all time), meaning hes one of my favourite directors.

    you guys just have no taste

  • Zoryuken

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:30 am PT

    Thankfully. Michael Bay's stuff is garbage.

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