Warner Bros. plans to release a film adaptation of the classic Midway arcade hit
Spy Hunter, a game Midway itself unsuccessfully attempted to bring to the silver screen several times.
Warner took control of
Spy Hunter and numerous other Midway properties last year when the media conglomerate acquired most of the ailing publisher's assets for $33 million. The new owner quickly signaled its intention to
make full use of Midway IP across all forms of entertainment media.
According to a
Variety report, the film will be written by Chat St. John, whose credits include the films Days Before, Sgt. Rock, and Motor City, none of which have yet been released. It will be produced by The Invention of Lying and Sherlock Holmes producer Dan Lin and The Lake House producer Roy Lee.
Midway had originally intended the Terminal Reality-developed 2006 multiplatform game
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run to be a direct tie-in to a Universal-produced
Spy Hunter movie. The game featured voice acting by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who was to star in the accompanying film.
Universal began the motion picture development process in 2003, planning to release a $90 million-budgeted film in 2005, but the project ended up cycling through a growing list of screenwriters and directors, including Pirates of the Caribbean franchise writer Stuart Beattie, Resident Evil series director Paul W.S. Anderson, and Hong Kong action legend John Woo.
After years of postponements and attempted restarts by Universal, the project faded from the public eye a year after the game had already been released.
