News

Impact Pictures and Constantin Films will bring Tecmo's Dead or Alive fighting video game franchise to the big screen in association with Mindfire Entertainment. Impact concurrently has video game-to-movie titles Driver and Resident Evil 2 in the works. Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, founding partners of Impact Pictures, will produce DOA as part of their existing deal with Constantin Films. Robert Kulzer, head of production at Constantin, and Dan Kletzky, through his company Entertainment Licensing Associates, will be executive producers. Kletzky is concurrently executive vp business development at video game publisher TDK Mediactive. Mindfire president and chief operating officer Mark Altman also is producing, while Mindfire chairman Mark Gottwald is co-producing. The DOA script is being written by J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege). Bolt said the film, described as Charlie's Angels meets Enter the Dragon, will go into preproduction this year and is targeted for a fall 2004 release, which is expected to coincide with the video game release of the latest title in the game franchise, Dead or Alive 4. No director has been named. Anderson, who directed the original Resident Evil, is not available because of his previous commitment for the other two Impact titles.