J.J. Abrams Confirms Half-Life Movie, Teases Official Portal Film Announcement

[Metalrocks]

so the movie will be HL3? no wonder we havent heard from valve yet.
ok, i can see HL as a movie more or less. since JJ is at it, i think there might be some hope that it may be good. at least not freaking uwe boll.
but portal.....i really dont know how this can work. and i love both series. well, time will tell i guess. certainly have no high expectations.

 

[McElroy]

Outside of game adaptations Spielberg is making Ready Player One, centered around an MMORPG.

To be fair, Ernest Cline wrote Ready Player One already with the eventual adaptation firmly in his mind. He sold the movie rights before the book was even out, and the book even literally follows a movie-like three act structure. The story is also a rather cringeworthy 80s geek fantasy, but we'll bash it when it comes out.

Oh right, there was a Hitman movie a few years ago. Did I miss any other adaptation?

The other Hitman movie.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Escape from City 17 already exists and hasn't been topped yet.

 

[Laughing Man]

I cant even imagine how a -good- Portal movie would work.

If you've seen any of the Cube movies then it could very well work like that.

All I can imagine with a HL movie is it will get 40 minutes in, leave it at a cliff hanger and then promise the follow up a year later...

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Director J.J. Abrams says that both the Half-Life and Portal movies are in development now.

Newell's sadism knows no bounds. Perhaps this is a surreptitious attempt to loot and pillage everything of value from the Half Life series before killing all interest in it forever so that they don't have to dissapoint everyone with hl3.

Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped. Those diamond screws in the new steamboxes won't pay for themselves. And its not like Valve has any kind of money to burn or anything.

Half-Life 3 will never live up to the hype now and I think Valve gets it. They'll never officially say its cancelled but it probably won't ever be released.

 

[Dango]

A Half-Life movie? Sigh, just shut up and take my money!

I just want to take this moment to say how much disdain I have for everything the Escapist posts on facebook.

Also, the thing about most non-video game stories is the protagonist has to be an actual character and not a pair of ghost arms with a crowbar. I can't see a Portal movie that maintains what people like about the game, since again, the game is mostly a robot talking to a non-existent protagonist.

 

[Fox12]

I'm for fans of the series. Maybe Abrams will get bored and quit before filming starts.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Let me get this straight... a Half Life movie is coming before episode 3. I give up. I finally give up.

 

[Rangaman]

Given that there are Sonic and Tetris movies on the horizon...actually, a Tetris trilogy (WHY?!?!), I imagine these will hardly be the most offensive videogame-related movies coming out.

EDIT: MOST! MOST OFFENSIVE! Not least offensive. That is the mother of all bugger ups.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Well at least that gives them a chance to finish the story (Orrr add more, depending on how deep the lore goes) without kicking a hornets nest of entitled gamer rage beceause it somehow wasn't absolutely perfect for some completely illogical cunting reason.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I am a little bit excited about J.J. Abrams being involved with Portal. Remember Dan Trachtenberg directed J.J. Abrams' 10 Cloverfield Lane this year. He did a great job with that movie. Also, Dan Trachtenberg did that excellent fan video of Portal.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

J.J. Abrams can suck a fat one.

He turned Original Star Trek into an action series.
He removed alot of the deeper nuances of the space opera that is Star Wars for more explosions. I swear if the Death Star didnt blow up in A New Hope, J.J. wouldnt have liked Star Wars.

He is just a nerdier Michael Bay and needs to be stopped.

I cant even imagine how a -good- Portal movie would work.

That pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Though I'm interested (if not a little excited) about the prospect of a Portal movie, I'm worried that it'll be a vapid action film solely because of its video game roots, and that's what misguided studio execs believe audiences demand from video game movies. I don't think you can do justice to the Portal franchise unless the movie is a surreal, dark, insightful comedy (think 1984 Ghostbusters) and it's difficult to imagine that a big studio would approve that type of script these days because their so-called "wisdom" insists that it wouldn't lure 13-year-old, male, game enthusiasts to the theater.

And no, I'm not slighting 13-year-olds - I'm lambasting modern-day studio practices that consistently underestimate the intellectual capacity of young people, resulting in unnecessarily dumbed-down movies whenever there's a minute possibility of a studio-funded production appealing to a single person under the age of 17. Hell, I saw Ghostbusters in the theater during its original release, and though I was seven years old at the time, I absolutely loved it. Though I didn't understand most of the adult themes until I got older (which is why I grew to love the movie even more over the years) it was still my second-favorite big-screen experience of 1984, and it didn't rely on guns, explosions, or ham-fisted poop, fart, and testicle-kicking tripe to draw in the kids.

On an unrelated note, my first-place theater experience of 1984 went to Nightmare on Elm Street. Third place was a special screening of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I love my mom for raising me on horror.

 

[Archilochus]

Given that there are Sonic and Tetris movies on the horizon...actually, a Tetris trilogy (WHY?!?!), I imagine these will hardly be the least offensive videogame-related movies coming out.

In terms of movie quality, I second this opinion. In terms of fan dissapointment with the film however I'm not so sure.

On the topic of a possible portal movie, I honestly don't understand how it might work. From my experience playing Portal a lot of the humour and atmosphere came from embodying a constantly dying crash-test dummy that recieved nothing but quips for its failures. Nihilastic humour mixed with that special kind of lonliness that you get from being completely cut off from all contact apart from a computer that hates you (A science fiction classic) are the experiences that I personally associate with the game, which are ones that I would think are very difficult to replicate in cinema form. But maybe I am thinking too literally.

 

[Archilochus]

I don't think you can do justice to the Portal franchise unless the movie is a surreal, dark, insightful comedy (think 1984 Ghostbusters) and it's difficult to imagine that a big studio would approve that type of script these days because their so-called "wisdom" insists that it wouldn't lure 13-year-old, male, game enthusiasts to the theater.

I share your skepticism. Considering the status of games in the film world its really hard to believe that someone would buy the film rights to a game as popular as Portal or Half Life and not look to wring as much money out of its pores as concievably possible. And where there are people wringing money out of beloved franchises you can be sure there are going to be focus groups aimed at the "target demographic".

I have to say though, your description of what the Portal movie could have been does make me sad to think of the potential that very likely will be missed.

Edit: This came out as two posts when it should have been one, apologies.

 

[Archilochus]

Half-Life 3 will never live up to the hype now and I think Valve gets it. They'll never officially say its cancelled but it probably won't ever be released.

That's the smart way to go, but it simply emphasises how Valve are rubbing salt into the wound by releasing films that I imagine won't immediately follow after the end of the HL series thus far.

Edit: Christ, now three posts, apologies again.

 

[Rangaman]

Given that there are Sonic and Tetris movies on the horizon...actually, a Tetris trilogy (WHY?!?!), I imagine these will hardly be the least offensive videogame-related movies coming out.

In terms of movie quality, I second this opinion. In terms of fan dissapointment with the film however I'm not so sure.

On the topic of a possible portal movie, I honestly don't understand how it might work. From my experience playing Portal a lot of the humour and atmosphere came from embodying a constantly dying crash-test dummy that recieved nothing but quips for its failures. Nihilastic humour mixed with that special kind of lonliness that you get from being completely cut off from all contact apart from a computer that hates you (A science fiction classic) are the experiences that I personally associate with the game, which are ones that I would think are very difficult to replicate in cinema form. But maybe I am thinking too literally.

I hate to disappoint you, but re-read my original comment (I edited it).

 

[FalloutJack]

The only Half-Life I'm interested in is Freeman's Mind. Hilariously entertaining, completes the whole game, and completely free from start to finish.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

I hope they're going to name the Half-Life movie h[sup]3[/sup]

 

[CaitSeith]

So far this year we've had an Angry Birds movie, a Warcraft movie and a Ratchet and Clank movie.
Around the corner is Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider and a TV series based on Mirror's Edge.
There will at some point be a live action Pok?mon movie, and The Division is in the talks.
Outside of game adaptations Spielberg is making Ready Player One, centred around an MMORPG, and Hardcore Henry was released earlier this year, whose plot can be comparable to that of a first person game(as can be expected from its chosen camera perspective).

In conclusion, my initial reaction of staring in utter disbelief upon reading this headline was unfounded. Movies based on or around video games are apparently a thing now. Whether JJ Abrams is the right person for the job is what ought to be discussed; between The Force Awakens and the Star Trek reboot I'd say he's good at making crowd pleasers. Does that fit with Half Life? Dunno, I've never played.

Oh right, there was a Hitman movie a few years ago. Did I miss any other adaptation?

Dead Rising: Watchtower. Released last year.

 

[Frezzato]

J.J. Abrams can suck a fat one.

He turned Original Star Trek into an action series.
He removed alot of the deeper nuances of the space opera that is Star Wars for more explosions. I swear if the Death Star didnt blow up in A New Hope, J.J. wouldnt have liked Star Wars.

He is just a nerdier Michael Bay and needs to be stopped.

I cant even imagine how a -good- Portal movie would work.

Agreed. That's another +1 to you.

-

A very secluded part of my brain is wishing and hoping that one if not both of those movies will manage to have a completely silent protagonist. Hell, the first 30 minutes or so of WALL-E pulled it off.