Stan Winston Prods. has secured the exclusive motion picture rights to the sci-fi action shooter video game AREA 51 which Midway Games is relaunching on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube in 2004.
Stan Winston is also working with Midway on the video game, serving in a lead capacity in the development of its main alien enemies as well as working with Midway on a separate original horror video game franchise. This marks the first time that the four-time Oscar-winning special effects artist has entered the burgeoning interactive entertainment field.
"Video games rank among today's most dynamic entertainment forms and are an exciting new platform to be exploited by the creative minds of the Stan Winston organization," Winston said. "The video game industry represents another arena that allows us to bring new fantasy characters and creatures to life and is a natural transition in our expansion."
While the classic AREA 51 arcade game -- which was launched in 1995 by Atari Games and had a pair of sequels, MAXIMUM FORCE in 1997 and AREA 51: SITE 4 in 1998 -- revolved around light-gun shooting (in which a plastic gun connected to the arcade screen is used to shoot at onscreen characters), the next-generation console game will take an action-adventure route.
Players will take three distinct characters on individual and cooperative missions in an attempt to unlock the extraterrestrial mystery behind the secret military base in the Nevada desert. The game will feature precision sniper attacks, Uzi strafing action and hand-to-hand combat as players take out the various alien enemies and infected humans who have infiltrated the storied U.S. government facility.
This marks the second video game from Midway to be optioned in two weeks. SPY HUNTER was picked up by Universal Studios last week with the Rock attached to star in the big-budget movie version of the classic spy car combat game. Midway also relaunched that arcade game for next-generation systems. It will ship a new version of the classic DEFENDER video game this year across all platforms.
"In addition to 'SPY HUNTER, DEFENDER and AREA 51, we have a great library of classic games, and our plan is to reinvent a classic franchise each year," Midway vp marketing Helene Sheeler said. "Bringing Stan Winston aboard for the AREA 51 video game and our new horror video game will help bring a tremendous amount of talent and ingenuity to these games."
While New Line Cinema once held the rights to AREA 51 through a 1997 licensing agreement with Atari Games, a feature film based on the original arcade game never got off the ground.
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