‘Fast And Furious’ Producer Neal Moritz To Develop A Movie Based On South Korean Developer Smilegate’s Online Game ‘Crossfire’
Franchise specialist and film producer Neal Moritz expressed his interest on working with South Korean game developer Smilegate Inc. to create a movie based on the developer's first person online shooting game "Crossfire," reported Empire Oct. 14.
In 2007, "Crossfire" was developed and launched for Microsoft Windows and has gradually become available in various formats, with over 400 million registered users and an average of six million simultaneous players at any given time.
Smilegate has been approached by several American studios and producers offering to make a film out of the world's top grossing game, but selected Moritz instead because of the producer's ability to create smashing action movies, such as the "Fast & Furious" franchise.
"We will make the best film out of Crossfire, the world's largest FPS game, with Smilegate," said Moritz. "We highly appreciate the potential in the Crossfire brand, and are honored to be chosen to spread this strong content to all movie fans around the world."
According to Variety Oct. 14, Smilegate made the official announcement in Seoul on Monday that it has chosen Moritz to produce the film after a year of weighing their Hollywood options.
"I'm very pleased to announce Smilegate is collaborating with Neal Moritz for a Movie," announced Smilegate's Brand Marketing Vice President Baek Min Jung. "'Crossfire' has become one of the world's most popular FPS brands and I'm looking forward to working with Original to further build out the world of 'Crossfire' and gain many more fans around the globe."
"I believe this partnership will showcase the power of the Korean online game IP," added Jung.
No details on the scriptwriter, distributor, director and cast have been released by both parties yet.
Smilegate was established in Korea in 2002 and has released several other games, including "Tales Runner," "AZERA," "Dragon Fate" and "SKY SAGA: Infinite Isles," which is already planned for 2016.
