Last summer, New Line Cinema announced that superstar Dwayne Johnson will headline “Rampage,” based on the 1980s arcade game about three giant monsters under attack by the military as they stomp their way across North America. It’s perhaps not the most obvious choice for an adaptation, but director Brad Peyton and screenwriters Ryan Condal and Carlton Cuse believe they can make a better video game movie.
Although plot details are, of course, being kept under wraps, Condal spoke with SPINOFF about his love for 'Rampage,' the challenges of bringing an action game to the big screen, and working with the Rock.
"The issue that 'Rampage' faces is it’s an action game; it’s a world. It’s based on an idea and doesn’t have a central, three-dimensional character at the center of it. In that case, the trick is to find the story within that world that’s compelling, and love the game – that source material it’s based on – and be willing to dismiss the things that don’t make a great movie and embrace the things that do help make a great movie out of it. But, don’t be slavish to the underlying IP. In any adaptation, even in the great comic-book adaptations like 'Spider-Man,' 'Batman' and 'Iron Man,' there were concessions that had to be made and things that had to be dismissed out of the canon in order to properly service the movies. Video games are the same way. All of those begin with what anybody should begin with when they are writing or creating a movie, which is make a good movie."
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Not sure how anything he says is that far off from every other writer on a video game movie adaptation, but if it means more giant monsters and the possibility of a good movie, I'm in. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.