While watching television last night (might've been during the college basketball game), I spotted this new Pontiac commercial; one that utilizes the old school Spy Hunter game. Once it ended, my friend and I looked at each other and were like, "Dude, let's check that out again." The commercial starts out on that classic video game screen before transforming into this sort of half real, half CGI realm -- with the Pontiac car as the hero (of course), as well as all our favorite villains from the game (damn that guy with the spikes coming from his wheels).

As far as the actual Spy Hunter movie goes, that thing has been up in the air for, like, ever now. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was supposed to star in the lead role with Paul W.S. Anderson directing -- but that was before the strike happened and I'm not sure what the current status is. Based on this commercial, though, I think I'd want to see that movie. You?

GamePro recently spoke with 30 Days of Night scribe Stuart Beattie and scored some news about his upcoming Gears of War adaptation. Based on the bestselling Epic game, the story centers on an elite military unit called Delta Squad fighting off an alien invasion by something called the Locust Hoard. But, Gears of War was never about story, it was all about firepower. So, how do you capture all that carnage on the screen? Why with green screen, of course. Beattie told GamePro, "There's no way to build that world any other way, really...That's a huge world. It's a planet and it's a bubble and it's a building. It's an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a sound stage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely".

The rights to Gears were purchased by New Line back in March, and there were rumblings of a treatment floating around a few weeks later. There is still no word on a director yet, but New Line has promised that they will start looking for one as soon as Beattie finishes his script. Beattie is probably most famous for his work on The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but he is also responsible for Collateral and Australia, so you can't deny the man likes to make diverse choices. He has even worked on video games in the past; writing the script for an installment of the crime game, The Getaway. Beattie has yet to turn in a finished script for War, but he seems to be in a collaborative mood and has been working closely with Epic Games on the project. Gears of War is set for release in 2009.

I'm actually fine with this, because who cares about Spy Hunter? Yes, I hung around enough bowling alleys when I was a kid to have played Spy Hunter many times. I remember the oil slick, the smokescreen, and that's pretty much it. It seems almost appropriate that the only person they could find to turn that into a movie is the auteur who brought us Alien vs. Predator and Resident Evil. Variety reports that in addition to directing the re-launched project for Universal, Paul Anderson will also be tackling writing duties along with another scribe. This move comes after many bumps in the road for the property -- among the writers who have already come and gone from Spy Hunter are Zak Penn, Derek Haas, Stuart Beattie and Michael Brandt. Director John Woo was also set to make a Spy Hunter film in 2004, but that deal fell through. The Rock has long been attached to play the lead role in the film, but there's currently no word on whether or not he's still on board.

Up next for Anderson is Death Race, a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000, starring Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe and David Carradine as Frankstein. Jason Stratham is currently attached to that one. Anderson is also attached to direct Man With the Football, a film about a group of terrorists who steal the President's nuclear football -- a briefcase he can use to send nukes wherever. That one actually sounds more promising to me than this Spy Hunter business -- maybe Anderson will be too busy with Spy Hunter and a good director will take over the Football project.

It's starting to look like Eidos Interactive is looking to flood the market with big screen video game remakes. Now that Hitman finally has its...well, Hitman. Eidos has already struck another deal with Lionsgate for their new action title Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a game that hasn't even been released. Eidos made the deal with Hitman producers Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter. Askarieh and Alter are also on board to produce the big screen adaptation of the horror comic Hack/Slash for Rogue Pictures, and Askarieh is working on a Spy Hunter project with Universal.

The game centers on a mercenary named Kane and a heavily medicated psychopath named Lynch on their way to Death Row. The pair are kidnapped by Kane's former gang and forced to retrieve a stolen fortune. The game was first announced at a Microsoft conference in September and is set for release some time this year. The game is a co-operative action story and Xbox is hoping it will be a hit among online players. Game developers even promised that the characters' personalities would influence the game play. If the video game is promising a sophisticated story line and fleshed-out characters, we can only hope that the movie version does the same.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It always amazes me where some movie news comes from and how fast said news travels around the internet. According to CanMag.com via a tip from a guy named "Black Belt Hopeful," two of director John Woo's upcoming projects have been shelved ... for now.

Supposedly the tipster was working out alongside a casting agent in his karate class when he was told Woo's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run projects are no longer moving ahead as planned. Now, we're not sure if one led to the other or if both happened at the same time but, apparently, the studio got cold feet and John Woo decided to pursue other projects (see: The Battle of Red Cliff and The Red Circle).

Not long after the story broke, Spy Hunter producer Adrian Askarieh popped in to Coming Soon and let folks know the film was indeed alive and well, saying Woo had been off the project for more than a year. Askarieh also noted they're real close to attaching a new writer/director, with an announcement expected soon. Right now, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is still signed on to play the lead role in the film.

As far as He-Man goes, well, that one is up in the air. Everyone from Paul Walker to professional wrestler Triple H were reported to have been up for the role of 80's superhero. Personally, I could do without another He-Man flick. Besides the fact that it does not, at all, seem like John Woo material, the last He-Man film was, well, bad. Real bad. As bad as they come. On the other hand, a Spy Hunter movie sounds cool, so I'm happy to hear its still got legs. 

[via AICN]