Andres Muschietti Directing 'Shadow of the Colossus', David Frankel Takes 'The Priority List', Morten Tyldum Helms 'Pattern Recognition'

Sony has been building an adaptation of their hit video game, Shadow of the Colossus, for the last five years and had Josh Trank (Chronicle, Fantastic Four) on board to direct since 2012. But he's far too busy for that now, and so Andres Muschietti (Mama) will take over. The classic Playstation game centers on a young man who must defeat 16 monstrous colossi to bring his dead lover back from the dead. [Deadline]

David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) has come aboard to direct The Priority List, with Jonathan Tropper (This is Where I Leave You) on board to write the script. Steve Carell is headlining the adaptation of David Menasche's life-affirming memoir about a cancer-stricken English professor who goes on a cross country journey reconnecting with all of the students he taught over 15 years. [Variety]

And Morten Tyldum, riding high on the positive festival reviews for The Imitation Game, has lined up his next project. The Scandinavian director is set to helm Pattern Recognition, based on sci-fi author William Gibson's book about a woman with a psychological sensitivity to corporate symbols reacting to events following the 9/11 attacks. Consider me intrigued and this book added to my Kindle.

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Josh Trank to direct 'Shadow of the Colossus'; Scott Waugh races to 'Need for Speed'

Ahh, video game movies. It's funny to think about, but video game movies are right now where comic book movies used to be twenty or thirty years ago. It may be hard to fathom now, but there was a time when comic book films were the Hollywood dregs, back when the technology simply wasn't there to make for a quality adaptation. That all changed with the Blade films, of course, but the video game world is still looking for their Jackie Robinson to break through. It's kind of ironic, since in just about every way that matters, video games are the size and cost of the biggest Hollywood productions.

We could be on the verge of a sea change, however, as two big names are coming aboard for a couple of promising video game films. Deadline reports that the red hot Josh Trank, still riding high after Chronicle proved to be a monster hit, is set to direct Shadow of the Colossus. We first learned of Sony's plans to adapt their hit 2005 adventure game back in 2009, but it's been totally quiet since then. The story follows a warrior named Wander who must defeat 16 massive creatures in order to restore a girl's life. Justin Marks had been tapped to pen the script, but it appears nobody is aboard anymore.

Next up is Need for Speed, the Electronic Arts racing sim which Dreamworks recently announced plans to bring to the silver screen. Scott Waugh, who just scored a surprising hit with Act of Valor, is in talks to direct, based on a story by George and John Gatins(Real Steel). The most successful racing video game ever, there have been sixteen games released up to this point. The hope is to turn this into a Fast and Furious sized franchise. [Variety]

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