Fox culturing Spore movie

The month before Spore went on sale last September, its creator, Will Wright, said the triple-platinum game might expand into films. And though the famed designer has since left Electronic Arts, the Spore movie idea apparently lived on. Today, Variety reports that 20th Century Fox is indeed making a computer-generated movie based on the evolution-civilization-space exploration sim.

The project is in development at Fox's Blue Sky Studios, the studio behind the tepidly reviewed Ice Age movies. Ice Age director Chris Wedge will direct, with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who wrote Disney's upcoming The Princess and the Frog, penning the script.

"I'm always looking for unique worlds to go to in animation," Wedge told Variety. "From every perspective--visually, thematically, and comedically--the world of Spore provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen."

Patrick O'Brien, vice president of Electronic Arts' licensing arm EA Entertainment, will produce the Spore movie, along with Lucy Bradshaw, vice president of the game's developer, Maxis. Wright, who founded Maxis, left the EA-owned studio earlier this year to form an entertainment think tank, Stupid Fun Club.

Other EA movie projects in development include The Sims, also at 20th Century Fox, and Army of Two, Dead Space, Dante's Inferno, and Mass Effect.

Worldwide, the PC edition of Spore has sold 3.2 million units to date. It has also inspired a number of expansions, such as Spore Galactic Adventures, and spin-offs, including Spore Creatures (DS), Spore Hero Arena (DS), Spore Hero (Wii), Spore Origins (mobile), and Spore Creature Keeper (PC).