MTV Multiplayer‘s posted a nerdgasm-inducing bit of info that could bring two awesome sci-fi visions together, if we all wish hard enough. In an interview with MTV’s Russ Frushtick, Rob Pardo–Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Game Design–offered up the following observation about moving their game franchises onto the silver screen:
“We’ve always had an interest in seeing our stuff on film or TV. It’s just tricky to find the right partners. We probably could have made a [‘StarCraft’] movie or something on TV years and years ago, but it’s really important to us that we find creative people that are really talented but also really excited about our properties. That’s always been the challenge for us. I think if Jim Cameron came to us tomorrow and said, ‘You want to make a ‘StarCraft’ movie?’ we’d probably sign that.”
Avatar‘s currently made more than $2.7 billion dollars worldwide. And, in its first 48 hours, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty sold more than 1.5 million copies. At an average guesstimate of $40 per unit, that’s nothing to sneeze at, either. It could be a dollar sign orgy. But, it could work thematically, too. When you think about Starcraft, there’s a similarity to Avatar in that both tales are conflicts driven by resources and cultural dominance. Of course, the top-down point-of-view used in the mega-popular strategy game doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a movie shoot, but Cameron could figure that one out if he needed to.
“Yeah, I’d watch that. That picture looks bad-ass.” So says Steve Snyder, Techland’s resident movie critic, after I showed him some Starcraft artwork. With Cameron behind it, a lot of people would probably agree.
(More on Techland: Avatar’s Nine New Minutes: The Best 3D of 2010?)