Back in 2006, Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run was released for the original Xbox and PlayStation 2. The game was supposed to be a movie tie-in but the film fell victim to developmental hell and was never released.
The game starred Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as government agent and spy hunter Alex Decker. The game was first installment in the Spy Hunter series to let players take control of Decker and not just the vehicle.
But filmmakers have not lost interest in propriety just yet. In a recent interview with ComingSoon, "Zombieland" and "Gangster Squad "director Ruben Fleischer discussed why an adaptation of Spy Hunter would be a launch pad for a brand new franchise and a protagonist that could rival European super spy James Bond.
"If I can make any movie, it would be a James Bond movie," Fleischer told ComingSoon."I've always loved the genre but I don't think they'll hire an American to direct a James Bond movie, I've been told, so for me, Spy Hunter is an opportunity to create a new spy franchise."
Fleischer told the website that the game was his favorite as a kid and that the original game's lack of playable hero provides plenty of room for character development outside of the game's theme of vehicular combat.
"It sounds silly but that was my favorite video game when I was a kid," Fleischer said. "It had a great title and a great theme song, but there's no real other associations that people have with it other than a cool car, so I feel like there's a lot of room for us to invent a new character and a new series. I think just the Spy Hunter that is the most bad-ass spy who hunts down rogue spies is a really cool launch pad for an idea and I hope that we can bring it to life."
The latest video game reboot of Spy Hunter, is a vehicular combat racing game developed by TT Fusion and published by Warner Bros. Interactive. The game was released in Oct. for the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS and features a New G-6155 Interceptor, which looks similar to a Saleen S5S Raptor Lamborghini Aventador.
So what do you think about Fleischer's comments? Do you think the director could faithfully bring the Spy Hunter franchise to the big screen? Comment in the section below...
