If the average consumer hadn’t already wasted enough hours on Temple Run, Imangi Studios’ wildly successful endless runner, THR is now reporting that Warner Bros. is in negotiations to turn the app into a feature film, with David Heyman already attached to produce.
Though it is perfectly understandable that Warner Bros. would want to capitalize on Temple Run‘s current ubiquity (across its various incarnations, the Temple Run franchise has seen over 100 million downloads), one has to wonder how the studio plans to turn Temple Run‘s extremely simple set-up into a full-fledged motion picture. Currently, all Warner Bros. has been able to put forth is the following information:
The story would center on an explorer who, having stolen an idol from a temple, is chased by demonic forces.
Not exactly the stuff that Oscar winners are made of, to be sure, but maybe sticking to the bare-bones concept of the game will serve the project well.
Besides, Temple Run is hardly the most questionable game to get the app-to-screen treatment. I’m far more concerned about Sony Pictures’ Angry Birds adaptation, which is already set for a July 1, 2016, release date (in 3D, natch). Unless copious amounts of LSD are involved, I really don’t see how the directors tasked with that project (newcomers Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly) are going to be able to turn birds brutalizing pigs into a light-hearted, kid-friendly movie.
At least when compared to Angry Birds, it should be pretty smooth sailing for Warner Bros.’s Temple Run project. The app’s Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider vibe will likely translate well to the big screen, as long as the screenwriters can come up with a suitably charismatic protagonist.
Heyman, representing Heyday Films, is about as close to Warner Bros. royalty as anyone currently working in Hollywood, so his involvement is definitely a good sign for the Temple Run movie. He previously produced all eight Harry Potter films, comedies Yes Man and We’re the Millers and Alfonso Cuarón’s acclaimed space drama Gravity.
Are you at all interested in seeing how Temple Run translates to the big screen, or should Warner Bros. have left this property in the App Store? Let us know in the comments section!
