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Classic giant-monster game Rampage will get its own movie

Well, one thing’s for sure about the news that classic ’80s video game Rampage is being adapted into a movie: it makes a lot more sense than Battleship.

New Line Cinema announced this week that it plans to adapt Midway Games’ popular monster mash-up into a feature film, with A Nightmare on Elm Street and Final Destination co-producer John Rickard producing the film and meeting with potential writers now.

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In the game, players controlled one of three people transformed into giant monsters — an ape, a lizard, and a werewolf — as they destroy a city and fend off military attacks. In order to advance to the next level, players were required to smash buildings, eat civilians, and attack the helicopters, tanks, and other military vehicles trying to stop their, well… rampage.

The game spawned several sequels and spin-off titles, with the most recent being 2006’s Rampage: Total Destruction, released for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and later ported to the Wii.

In the announcement of project at The Hollywood Reporter, it’s indicated that the studio plans to make a film inspired by the “title and the visuals of the game” in “the vein and tone of Ghostbusters and Independence Day” — which could mean a very loose adaptation at best.

But really, as long as there are giant monsters destroying things, will anyone really care?

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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