Quantic Dream’s interactive thriller game Heavy Rain broke hit store shelves this past February as a  PlayStation 3 exclusive. Since then, the title has broken the one million sales mark and has its multi-character based plot, which revolves around fictional serial killer dubbed the Origami Killer, primed for a silver screen adaptation.

As of the time this was written, former New Line Cinema co-founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were digging deep into their own personal cash reserves to buy the movie rights for the game, with one report stating that the two possessed the high bid in a screen rights auction that was about to close. Warner Bros will apparently have “first look” rights to back the project though Shaye and Lynne fronted their own money in an effort to make sure the film was one of the first creations attributed to their newly formed studio, Unique Features.

This should come as no surprise to those who’ve played the game, as it makes nearly every effort possible to be cinematic in its approach to story telling. The big question that needs to be asked here, is how well will a video game based movie like Rain translate?

Once stripped of its interactive elements, will the story of a group of individuals and their quest to prevent further killings by a mad man who uses the forces of nature to take the lives of his victims be appealing enough on its own to capture audiences, or will it be destined to a live in mediocrity?

Comparisons are already being made to the New Line release of Seven, which hit theaters fifteen years ago and grossed over 300 million. Will Heavy Rain be the next Seven, or will the adaptation be so bad that it gives New Line legend Freddy Kruger nightmares of his own?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline

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With Warner Bros. announcing that they are exclusively supporting Blu-ray, one of their sister studios, New Line Cinema, was apparently not on the cards. However, it has been revealed that they will also follow.

When you think of New Line Cinema, certain films should come to mind; Lord of the Rings, Dumb and Dumber, Nightmare on Elm Street, Se7en, Austin Powers, and most recently The Golden Compass. Even though they are a part of Time Warner, this is not an insignificant studio.

Although Warner Bros. decided to move to Blu-ray, it was not known whether New Line Cinema would follow. Warner’s President, Kevin Tsujihara, stated that their announcement did not stretch to New Line, HBO, or the BBC (which Warner distributes in American). Tsujihara did, however, say that

They’ll be making whatever decision they’re going to make, I assume they’ll let people know very quickly.

Today Variety confirm that New Line Cinema are doing just that, and in reality this was the only rational move.

Warner sister company New Line confirmed it will shift allegiance to Blu-ray only as well.

HBO, another Time Warner company, has not yet revealed it’s direction, but we presume that they will fall in line.

Things aren’t looking great for Toshiba, Universal and Paramount. Expect this High Definition Format war to transpire towards a conclusion very soon.

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