Los Angeles-based development and production company, Collision Entertainment, has acquired the film and television rights to MAX PAYNE, one of the most highly anticipated video game releases of the last several years, from game producer 3D Realms. Dimension Films will distribute the property in the U.S., with Abandon Entertainment handling international distribution. Max Payne is a DEA operative deep undercover, torn between avenging the mafia murders of his wife and child and being framed for the murder of a fellow agent. The PC game debuted in July with an impressive preorder of more than 420,000 units worldwide. The Remedy Entertainment-produced game, which sold out instantly at stores in PC format, will be released this fall on Sony's PlayStation 2, with a Microsoft Xbox version due later in 2002. "We are excited to have the opportunity to craft the next successful video game icon into a larger-than-life film icon," said Scott Faye, founder of Collision. "We are extremely fortunate to have a great creative partnership on this project with the game's creators, 3D Realms and Remedy Entertainment. We hope this will be the first of many creative collaborations." Scott Miller, chief executive officer of 3D Realms Entertainment, said, "Everything was tailored for MAX to hit the big time. Most developers and game publishers don't put a strong focus on characters like they should, but we took a different tack with MAX. We feel that, with Collision's creativity and expertise, we have the next great movie anti-hero on our hands." Andrew Rona, co-head of production, Michael Helfant, senior executive vice president and Michael Zoumas, senior vice president, development and production, are overseeing the project for Dimension. Co-founders Faye and Paul Rosenberg will produce for Collision. Marcus Ticotin, president and CEO, and Karen Lauder, president, will oversee the project for Abandon.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
