Producer updates status of Max Payne, Alice movies

While most of the talk of game-to-movie adaptations of late has been focused on projects like Halo, Silent Hill, or the oeuvre of Uwe Boll, a pair of big-screen translations have been taking shape somewhat under the radar. It may be years before producer Scott Faye's Collision Entertainment manages to bring Max Payne and American McGee's Alice to movie theaters, but Yahoo Games' John Gaudiosi gives progress reports of the projects in his latest Hollywood Byte column.

Alice is set to make the transition first, with a completed script and a budget somewhere between $40 million and $50 million, reports Gaudiosi. Sarah Michelle Gellar (the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, Scooby Doo) emerged as the choice to play the lead in the Alice movie last June, with Marcus Nispel (2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) attached as the film's director. Faye told Gaudiosi that Nispel has "a very visceral sense of how this game world should look on the big screen" and that filming could start this summer with a release in 2007.

As for Max Payne, there's no script as yet, but Faye is expecting one by May, with shooting to start late this year or early next. The film's budget is similarly up in the air; Faye said it could land anywhere in the $10 million to $100 million range. Gaudiosi also reports that Faye is working on a third game-to-movie project but did not specify what it was. If all goes according to plan, the film version of Max Payne could also see release in 2007.