Movie financier and production house Legendary Pictures is in negotiations to acquire
Gears of War developer Epic Games, according to a story by Hollywood
trade paper Variety.
Variety reports that multiple, unnamed, sources close to both companies have confirmed that talks are underway, but implied that no deal has yet been struck.
Neither firm has yet commented directly on the rumors, although Epic did
release a statement explaining: "We have publicly announced that Epic and Legendary ae partnering on the 'Gears of War' movie. We’re very excited about that project and have the highest regard for Thomas Tull and his organization."
The story follows
the exit of Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull from movie-focused game publisher Brash Entertainment (
Jumper, Saw) earlier last week.
If an acquisition did occur, it would not only give Legendary control of Epic franchises such as
Gears of War and
Unreal Tournament, but also the industry-leading Unreal Engine middleware technology. Variety suggests that the consistent revenues gained from Unreal Engine have been key to Legendary’s interest in Epic.
