Hollywood producer Adrian Askarieh divulged some juicy information on the coming Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) movie. It's practically set in stone: Bruce Willis will be portraying Kane.

Disney Interactive Studios recently voiced its stance regarding video games, but what about the other movie studios out there? Are they just as enthusiastic about licensing out their movie rights? Or do they actually publish video games themselves?

More on the status quo in the full article, right after the jump.

Now that we're in the movie-to-game mood in the meantime, here's one for turning tables: news coming in from Hollywood has Lionsgate's movie adaptation of Eidos Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) starring no other than Bruce Willis of Die Hard fame and Billy Bob Thornton of Pushing Tin and Armageddon fame.

Eidos and IO Interactive's latest franchise seems to be picking up much hype in Tinsel Town, but will it match up to that of Eidos' own Lara Croft Tomb Raider? Find out in the full article.

 

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men has officially been signed on to make the transition to the big screen. The producers are so excited about it that shooting for the movie will begin this Fall.

Kyle Ward's script must be really something to have inspired so much activity. Not only did it win out against another script but the movie has also attracted a lot of heavy hitters in Hollywood although no names have been revealed. According to IGN, an A-lister has his eye on one of the roles.

The new movie from Lionsgate will follow the video game's story about the violent journey of two men who meet, and escape, from death row. The game will be released this October for the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the PC.

According to a report by Game Daily, Brash Entertainment LLC has been pooling a hefty amount of resources to push out its first title since its recent establishment in Hollywood, California. The company, headed by former Massive Inc. executives, also backed by movie producer and co-founder Thomas Tull, is already at work on a title based on the movie "SAW" by Lionsgate Films.

 

FromUS$ 150 million in its pockets from its March debut, the company has now announced a step up in finances through ABRY Partners LLC, New York Life Capital Partners III, LP, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, and PPM America Private Equity Fund II, LLP to around US$ 400 million in total.

With these funds, Brash hopes to "transform the way great film creativity is brought to life in games." Thomas Tull, producer of the movie "300," is expected to keynote the 2007 Hollywood and Games Summit regarding simultaneous movie and game production issues and a likely positive trend. He also said:

To me, great movies and great video games, if well-made, can be two equally dynamic mediums. Both are immersive: both offer pure escapism. As a lover of films and an avid gamer, I find the opportunity to more closely align these two art forms very exciting.

The company has also announced that it has more than 40 licenses from five major film studios, ranging from upcoming children's animated movies to action-packed thrillers and horror films. Apart from their announced "SAW" project title, they have also reported to be working on 11 other games.

While there has been no official announcement on what platforms the "SAW" title is targeted for as of press time, we're thinking it's a safe be that it will come out on major console platforms.

Brash's producers have worked on titles like God of War, Twisted Metal, SOCOM II, and Medal of Honor.

Codemasters Online Gaming has recently announced that it's working on a casual puzzle action video game that is flavored to with the hot themes of a 20-year old film. Yes, they're working on bringing Dirty Dancing to the PC.

Why Dirty Dancing? Well aside from the fact that it's the 20th anniversary of the film, Anne Parduci, Executive Vice President of the film studio Lionsgate had this to say:

For two decades, girls and women have identified with Baby, and through this wonderful game from Codemasters, they will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in her world like never before.

Other than the the odd mix of genres - a casual action puzzle game, little is known about the game. We do know though, that Lionsgate is confident that the game will be "an instant hit online". Given that the movie is still airing on cable, and that people are still empathizing with Patrick Swayze, that confidence seems apt.

It's safe to say that the particular target audience of this game shouldn't be a mystery to anyone. A game for each taste then - only fair, right?

   

With more consoles getting into more households, Hollywood is now picking up on the gaming industry. Thanks to the ever improving technology and game developers learning new tricks, games have been able to deliver cinematic experiences. This only means we can expect more game-to-movie conversions (or the other way around).

A few months back, Lionsgate Studios acquired the movie rights for Kane & Lynch. Now, Hollywood is also putting Broken Sword and Onimusha in the works, by CastleBright Studios and Davis Films respectively.

The Broken Sword movie will pick up where the first game, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (Circle of Blood in the U.S.), left off. Series creator Charles Cecil with his team in Revolution Software will be deeply involved in creating the movie, while Producers Jay Douglas and Nav Gupta from the fame of "Level 7" and "Quantum Heist" will be spearheading their CastleBright Studios company.

Capcom's demon-slaying franchise will be coming to Hollywood led by director Christopher Gans of "Silent Hill" fame, with a whopping US$ 70 million budget. The thing is, the story will be about a "samurai warrior who embarks on a quest to save the woman he loves and the entire world from long prophesied demons." Looks like series fans will have to decide if Onimusha and love stories work well together...

Kane & Lynch may be a few steps ahead, but it's safe to say that all these titles won't be coming out 'til next year.