Video game movies suck. Tis a universal law… like the sun rising, the changing of the seasons and women rejecting my advances (since when did “Hey baby. What will $20 get me?” stop being an effective pick up line?). But if one were to put a proverbial gun to my head and ask me what video game property had the best chance of delivering enough quantity and quality narrative to make a decent flick… I’d probably have to say Prince of Persia.
Originally the film was slated to come out July 19th 2009 (next summer), but for one reason or another the powers that be have deemed it wiser to push the release of the film back nearly a full year to May 28th 2010. It does get the movie away from the next Transformers movie, but it puts it smack dab in the middle of Shrek 4 just before it, and Thor just after it. I’m sure we’ll see some more date shuffling between now and then.
The synopsis of Prince of Persia looks like this:
Prince of Persia is an action adventure video game which follows an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) must join forces with Tamina (Gemma Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time. Alfed Molina and Ben Kingsley co-star. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helmer Mike Newell is directing under producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Persia began filming at the beginning of July in Morocco.
Lots of potential here for a decent summer flick… but being a video game adaptation I’d have to put my money on it sucking like a $5 whore… that’s not me, that’s just the law of the universe. But it one story MIGHT break that curse, it could be this one. We’ll have to wait and see… a year longer than we thought.
