Comic-Con Movies 2011: Mass Effect!

It might not have a finished script or a director, but Legendary Pictures must be dedicated to making a film based on the hit game Mass Effect if they're prepared to talk about it at Comic-Con. Game creator Casey Hudson of BioWare and screenwriter Mark Protosevich (Thor) came on stage to discuss their plans for bringing the game to the big screen.

Thomas Tull, founder and head of Legendary, began by addressing that video game adaptations don't exactly have the greatest reputation, but they want to prove otherwise with this film. The panel began with a playing of the trailer for next spring's Mass Effect 3 to illustrate the cinematic quality of the story and depth and richness of the world and mythology.

Hudson spoke to the game's strengths, which he defined as characters and story and not so much the moment-to-moment action. Protosevich was then asked what will set this apart from failed adaptations. He cited that other adaptations were more interested in bringing the game's visual world to life than focusing on the quality of the story. He vows Mass Effect will not be that way.



At present, the movie will focus solely on the material from the first game. Most of the talk was simply promises to why this film would right the video game movie ship. Hudson concluded commending Legendary for making big projects "unapologetically." He said interest in developing the game into a film started before the first game even came out in 2006.

Although all the details on this project are vague because they've barely gotten it off the ground, they did hand out free copies of Mass Effect 2 to appease, well, the masses. 

Tull also teased that there will be a big announcement regarding Legendary's Godzilla film sometime soon. All we know about that film right now is that David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) is working on a draft of the script and the film will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters).