As some may recall, the 2013 DICE Summit was attended by some of entertainment’s biggest icons, including Valve’s Gabe Newell, andStar Wars: The Force Awakensdirector JJ Abrams. It was during their appearance at DICE that the pair announced plans to collaborate on potential video game projects together, in addition to Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions creating film adaptations of Valve’sHalf-LifeandPortalfranchises.
Since then, little has been said about the projects.Abrams gave a brief update on the filmswhen discussing how 2013’s poorly receivedStar Trekmovie tie-in potentially hurt his reboot film series of the franchise, but otherwise there has been no mention ofPortalorHalf-Lifeby either Abrams or Newell.
Well, Abrams is finally ready to give fans a new update. He has confirmed that both theHalf-LifeandPortalfilms are still in development, and, furthermore, that both films have writers attached to them. While it may seem like a rather small update for anyone that has been anticipating these movies since their announcement in 2013, it’s still a lot more than we’ve heard aboutHalf-Life 3, so fans of the Valve’s work will probably still appreciate the heads-up.
Abrams made these comments to IGN while doing media interviews for a recently released film he produced,10 Cloverfield Lane. Critically-acclaimed,10 Cloverfield Lanemarks the feature film directorial debut of Dan Trachtenberg, who some may recognize as the director of thePortal: No Escapefan filmthat released five years ago.
Considering Trachtenberg’s connection with JJ Abrams and his previous work adapting thePortalfranchise into a short movie, he seems like the perfect fit to direct thePortalfeature film. Of course, we will have to actually see some more substantial progress on the project before we get to that point, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trachtenberg helm the picture when Bad Robot Productions finds its director.
Perhaps if some upcoming video game film adaptations perform well both at the box office and with critics, we will see theHalf-LifeandPortalfilm adaptations be given higher priority. Some Hollywood executives have even predicted that the video game movie will be the next comic book movie in terms of audience popularity, but it will take movies like theRatchet & Clankfilmand theAssassin’s Creedfilmbeing successes for that to happen.
Would you see aPortalorHalf-Lifemovie created by JJ Abrams? Would you like to see Abrams himself direct one of the films? Do you have any faith that either of the movies will actually see release some day? Would you rather see a movie based on one of the franchises, or for Valve to finally develop and releaseHalf-Life 3? Sound off in the comments below and let us know your thoughts on JJ Abrams and his plans to create film adaptation of two of Valve’s most iconic gaming properties.
