All video game movies suck. Don’t shoot me for saying it… it’s just the way it is. There are however 2 franchises that I’ve always thought stood a CHANCE at making decent films… Warcraft, because the world, mythology and backgrounds are so huge that a good writer with a free hand could make something pretty special out of it, and Prince of Persia.

It was announced sometime ago that mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean) was interested in producing a new series of films and got the rights to Prince of Persia. Well… it looks like things are moving ahead full steam. They’ve gota director on board, and they’re aiming to start shooting in June! Collider has this:

Question: Many video game fans have been frustrated by Hollywood’s inability to deliver the goods… and you’re going to be making Prince of Persia. What can you tell fans of that series what they can look forward to?

Jerry Bruckheimer: We hired a very interesting director – Mike Newell – who did one of the Harry Potter’s and also did Donnie Brasco and he’s a very inventive, ingenious director and I think he’s going to bring something really special to it. We’re just starting to… we have a screenplay, we’re just starting to develop the look of it. It’ll be unique and fresh.

Q: Is this one of these properties that you envision the possibility of a franchise out of and is this going to be a really big film the way a National Treasure is?

Jerry Bruckheimer: Yes. It’s a big production and if they work it’s another character that you can take on other adventures.

So barring an Actors strike, looks like things should get rolling soon, and are probably already in pre-production. With Bruckheimer involved you know the scale of the film is going to be HUGE and that he’s looking at this as a franchise instead of just a single film. Could this be the game film that breaks the streak of wretched video game movies to date? All we can do is cross our fingers.