Castlevania Movie Receives Backing

Despite the recent delay and potential cancellation of the Halo movie, another lower profile video games property appears to have received a boost in its journey towards the silver screen. A report by industry news source Variety suggests that Universal Pictures genre label Rogue has given $50 million worth of backing to the proposed Castlevania movie. The film, based on Konami’s long running series, will use a script by Paul W.S. Anderson, who may also direct. Anderson has previously worked on video game adaptations such as Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil, as well as the forthcoming Driver. The movie will also be co-financed by Crystal Sky Entertainment, suggesting a significant overall budget. Anderson and fellow producer Jeremy Bolt are currently scouting locations in Hungary and Romania with the intention of beginning shooting next spring. A movie version of the franchise, which is most famous for involving the vampire hunting Belmont family in their war against Dracula, was first planned as coming from movie company Dimension Films. According to Variety, though, Dimension were unimpressed with Anderson’s script, which apparently spans multiple time periods, with a focus on 15th century Transylvania. "You could almost call this movie Dracula Begins," Anderson is quoted as saying. "Ever since I made Event Horizon, I've been obsessed with the idea of a location that's a character in the story, of being trapped in an environment that's out to get you.”