Way back in November 2011, GR caught wind that New Line Cinema was eying a Hollywood adaptation of the Rampage video game franchise (read: Lord of the Rings studio wants to turn Rampage into a movie). Umpteen months later and it appears the project is still alive with Ryan Engle set to write the script.
Ryan who? Engle what? Turns out New Line Cinema is pinning its Rampage film on a relative newcomer, whose past writing credits include a rewrite of Killing on Carnival Row, and a script called On a Clear Day. The former is a futuristic detective movie slated for 2013, while the latter drummed up attention for Engle after debuting on the industry’s “Black List”; a collection of Hollywood’s hottest scripts without a home. It has since been picked up for development.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, New Line Cinema wants Rampage to resemble Independence Day on an indie film project budget. John Rickard, co-producer of Final Destination 5 and the upcoming Jack the Giant Killer, is pegged to produce.
It is yet unknown how Rickard and Engle will translate the bare bones plot of Rampage – one which tells the emotional tale of humans turning into monsters and smashing the crap out of everything and everyone around them – into a full-fledged movie. Then again, that sounds infinitely more complex than the proposed Space Invaders flick (see: Space Invaders movie on the way, because Hollywood is where dreams are made), so who are we to judge. Oh! let’s hope it’s in 3D!