Over two years ago, it was revealed that director George Miller would be making a new Mad Max movie, and that God of War 2 director Cory Barlog would be making the accompanying game. And we've heard almost nothing since!
There may be a very good reason for this.
See, the film and the game are intertwined. As we told you back in 2008, Barlog's title isn't planned as run-of-the-mill action game; he's had access to the film crew during pre-production, and all parties involved - the film crew, the game crew, even the crew working on the accompanying anime (which Barlog says is still in development)- are supposed to be working on the story together, so everyone's on the same page.
Which would be great if the film project was full steam ahead. Problem is, it's not.
While work began on the movie a little while ago at the old Carriageworks in Redfern, in Sydney's inner west, it's since come to a halt, Tom Hardy - the man who is playing Max - telling MTV today that the studio has "pushed it back a little".
Why? We've heard from sources close to the project that it's because what was originally one movie has since become two, causing filming to be delayed until 2011. This has thrown the cast and crew's scheduling into chaos, and many key personnel - including Hardy - have been spotted pursuing other roles to fill the time.
This kind of thing is common in Hollywood. Delays and shifts in schedule happen all the time. But the game team isn't the film team, and any radical changes to the movie are exponentially more significant for them.
If Miller and Barlog have stuck to their original plans, then major changes to the film means major changes to the game, and those aren't as easy to work around. That could definitely explain why, nearly two years on from Barlog's last comment about the Mad Max title, the game is yet to see the light of day, or even pop its head up and reveal it's found a publisher to release it.
Hopefully the delays in filming and additions to the story a second movie would bring prove to be just a challenge to Barlog and his team, and not something big enough to kill it. We've seen that happen with Batman recently, and damnit, we don't want to see it happen to Mad Max.
We reached out to both Miller's studio in Sydney and Cory Barlog for comment; we've yet to hear back from either, but will update if we do.