Cold Fear Optioned For Movie Treatment

According to a report by Hollywood trade paper Variety, Avatar Films and Sekretagent Productions have optioned the movie rights to Ubisoft’s survival horror title Cold Fear. The game, originally released on PlayStation2, Xbox and PC seems a peculiar choice for movie treatment, since it was neither a critical nor a commercial hit when it was released last year. The game was developed by Darkworks, who also produced Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare for Infogrames/Atari in 2001, and involved a U.S. Coast Guard officer trapped on a whaling ship infested with zombie like beings. The movie is to be produced by Avatar’s Mohit Ramchandani and Jorg Ihle, who currently have three production credits between them. They will be joined by Sekretagent’s Corey May and Michael Dooma Wendschuh, both of whom are also relatively new to movie producing but have writing credits on Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia series. The producers claim that the basic story of the game will translate well as a horror film and are currently looking to attach a director before pitching the concept to studios. The news recalls the recent signing of Siren by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, which was also not a significant commercial hit but which was described as having a plot ideal for translation as a movie.