Warner Bros. thinks Lollipop Chainsaw might make a good movie

Lollipop Chainsaw writer James Gunn has let slip that Warner Bros. has expressed potential interest in a film based on the game, should the title perform well at retail.

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According to Lollipop Chainsaw's lead writer James Gunn, Grasshopper Manufacture's upcoming game about a cheerleader ridding her high school of zombies with a chainsaw has some silver-screen potential. The quirky and violent concept doesn't exactly seem like mainstream movie material, but Gunn asserts that publisher Warner Bros. approached him about just such a cross-over project during the game's early development stages.

"It would be hard to make a Lollipop Chainsaw movie without people knowing the game," Gunn told Edge in an interview at GDC. Gunn, whose screenwriting credits include films Super and Slither, understands that "these mixed genre movies have a hard time making money."

"If Lollipop Chainsaw has a big enough audience, which we hope it does, then I think a movie would be a great thing," Gunn noted. He also points out the rather ironic notion that though a successful game could pave the way for a Lollipop Chainsaw movie, it'd be much more difficult to get a stand-alone screenplay approved for production without the game coming first.

"Gamers are just way more open to different kinds of storytelling," Gunn said. "Movie-goers just aren't; they want just one of five genres."

Gunn also has an idea for why this might be.

"Because games are first and foremost a form of fun, [gamers] are open to more crazy ideas," he said.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 15, 2012 2:30 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Warner Bros. thinks Lollipop Chainsaw might make a good movie.

    Lollipop Chainsaw writer James Gunn has let slip that Warner Bros. has expressed potential interest in a film based on the game, should the title perform well at retail.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 3:30 PM

      sounds a little too much like buffy

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      March 15, 2012 3:33 PM

      "Warner Bros. thinks Lollipop Chainsaw might make a good PORN movie"

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      March 15, 2012 4:13 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 15, 2012 4:39 PM

      I smell Jace Hall.

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      March 15, 2012 4:47 PM

      Let's not forget they made a movie based on:
      Super Mario (flop)
      Street Fighter (flop)
      Doom (flop, but actually made money)
      Double Dragon (mega flop)
      Wing Commander (flop)
      Max Payne (kinda did OK)
      Postal (best not ask)

      And the forthcoming, most bizarre concept for a movie...
      Battleships
      What nest, the Tiddly Winks movie?

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        March 15, 2012 5:35 PM

        Is that Battleships and the "Battleship" movie I have seen advertised on TV of late one and the same?

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        March 15, 2012 8:13 PM

        The first Street Fighter wasn't a flop.

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        March 15, 2012 8:19 PM

        Asteroid: the movie.
        the asteroid belt, a small mining firm runs 12 ships to and from the belt harvesting Obtainium, blue stuff.
        a newbie is sent up on rotation and meets the old grey nomad on the way back in quarrantine. a DIRE WARNING is given.
        newbie gets introduced to protocol, safety and procedure. gets to know the main technical mechanic who goes over the ship.
        he does some mining stuff, quite boring, but then ALIENS ATTACK! and start throwing rocks at people.
        the mining team has to harpoon the incomming asteroids to save the mining facility.
        newbie gets damaged saving someone by ramming an asteroid. he/she goes back to base and gets outfitted with mini harpoons that fire like a gatling cannon. goes back out, saves day. but not humanity..

        pitch film as cross between titanic/avatar and something else.

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      March 15, 2012 5:35 PM

      SUCKERPUNCH!

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