I’ve never read the book Generation Xbox, about video games invading Hollywood. Our columnist Superannuation (who’s on a bit of a video game vs Hollywood run at the moment) has, though, and has found something interesting tucked away inside.
https://kotaku.com/hollywoods-long-history-of-mostly-failing-to-make-video-663035349
Seems that at one point, years ago, Valve (and its agents) met with both Sony Pictures and Dreamworks over the possibility of making a Half-Life movie.
According to Valve’s agent at the time, Larry Shapiro, “the Valve kids’ jaws [dropped]” when Steven Spielberg was present at the meeting with Dreamworks.
So where’d it all go wrong? Seems a few things, mostly that Valve didn’t like what its share of the profits would be, and there were also disagreements over sequels and problems getting a production timetable together. You know, the usual stuff that kills video game movies
https://kotaku.com/a-history-of-video-game-movies-that-havent-been-made-a-5925301
Generation Xbox was published last year, and was written by Jamie Russell. You can grab a copy here (which I probably should, if it’s got fascinating stuff like this, and this, in it).
https://kotaku.com/the-halo-movie-failed-because-microsoft-didnt-understan-5903457
Superannuation [Twitter]
