Hollywood beckoning for 'Splinter Cell,' 'Watch Dogs'
Paramount Pictures is the latest in the frame to adapt Ubisoft's Splinter Cell, while the games company has been busily registering website domains related to a movie version of E3 2012 reveal Watch Dogs.
Deadline.com reports that Paramount has succeeded Warner Bros as the favorite to land the Splinter Cell gig.
The series stars special agent Sam Fisher and has generated five main games and six novels, with Splinter Cell: Blacklist due on Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 early in 2013.
Meanwhile, domain tracker Fusible noticed four registrations relating to a movie version of 2013 target Watch Dogs, one of the biggest surprises at this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo.
Viewers saw protagonist Aiden Pearce locate his mark in a crowd, just as Ezio or Connor of Assassin's Creed might do, jamming and listening in on mobile phone transmissions, and hacking a traffic light system to cause an accident as if he were the script-kiddie son of Hitman's Agent 47.
It wouldn't be the first time that Ubisoft has cut such deals with filmmakers, after 2010's Walt Disney flick Prince of Persia: Sands of Time installed Jake Gyllenhall as the titular warrior-prince.
Paramount has previous experience with both the games industry and Tom Clancy characters, sending Star Trek actors Chris Pine and Zach Quinto into the soundbooth for a 2013 video game, and with director Kenneth Branagh attached to a film project based on the exploits of Jack Ryan.
Warner Bros oversaw the production of web series Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, timed to coincide with the release of that year's Mortal Kombat.
deadline.com/2012/06/ubisoft-vidgame-tom-clancys-splinter-cell-in-play-for-film/
fusible.com/2012/06/ubisoft-may-be-planning-watch-dogs-video-game-movie-according-to-domains/