ROTTEN TOMATOES: Newell's Prince of Persia Ruling Moroccan Sands

Newell's Prince of Persia Ruling Moroccan Sands

Ayatollah presumably not interested in boosting Iranian film industry.

by Jeff Giles | March 10, 2008

Tell the truth: Do you think you could look at a picture of the desert and tell whether it was taken in Iran or Morocco?

Mike Newell, director of the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, is betting you couldn't -- Variety reports that his production has settled on Morocco as a stand-in for the country formerly known as Persia. From the article:

Epic project is a live-action feature based on the videogame. "Prince of Persia" has a script by Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("The Day After Tomorrow") and vidgame creator Jordan Mechner. The vidgame spawned six installments and numerous spin-offs, boosting Disney execs' hopes for a lucrative new tentpole.

Jimmy Abounouom, whose Dune Films is handling the Moroccan shoot for Disney, breaks it down for Variety, saying "Producers are always looking for cheap places to shoot, and Morocco is one of them." Newell follows Ridley Scott and Paul Greengrass into the North African country; Scott's Body of Lies recently wrapped a shoot there, as did Greengrass' "untitled Iraq war thriller." Dune also handled the Moroccan shoots for Charlie Wilson's War and Stop-Loss.

According to Abounouom, Prince of Persia should start rolling in Morocco by mid-June -- providing, of course, a SAG strike doesn't bring everything grinding to a halt.

Source: Variety

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(1-20 of 21 posts) | Reply

Ruckas356 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:17 AM

this is going to be a great film. they need to get crackin on that bioshock movie as well!

(Reply to this)

Bob* writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:45 AM

Probably the only movie-based-on-a-videogame that I really want to watch ^^

(Reply to this)

Shatter24 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:06 AM

I think Castlevania could be a good film as well, depending on actors cast, tone, and director. But it could also go the other way, if they got Uwe Boll to direct. Disney put a big name director in the chair for Prince of Persia, so there is some realistic hope this will be good.

(Reply to this)

witherwings writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:17 AM

I'll try to pretend the screenwriter is any good, but his credit there... yikes.

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:01 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624797)
Looks are often deceiving when it comes a screenwriter's name being attached to a film you didn't like. More often than not, their work gets shafted by the studio and/or the director, watered down and ultimately diminished in quality. Considering that Jeffrey Nachmanoff is relatively new, that was probably the case where The Day After Tomorrow is concerned. Nonetheless, it certainly wasn't the worst of Emmerich's films.

As far as Prince of Persia is concerned, and after the underwhelming Transformers, I'm just glad Michael Bay is off the project.

(Reply to this)

iggybumtastic writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:57 AM

This sounds good, never seen much of the game myself, but i know they are good games from friends. The concept is definately good and if they get it right, it could well be a great new franchise.

talks movies at itsfilmtastic.co.uk

(Reply to this)

the mike...man writes:
on Mar 10 2008 11:05 AM

Disney??? C'mon......

(Reply to this)

smi1ey writes:
on Mar 10 2008 11:14 AM

it sucks that it's disney... but prince of persia is a pretty awesome series of games as far as story goes. maybe they're do it justice? hard to say.

(Reply to this)

ShopS-Mart writes:
on Mar 10 2008 01:09 PM

morocco or iraq this movie will suck just like all video game movies, video games are a source of entertainment for their interactive aspect, not their story lines...

(Reply to this)

ClearlyBlind2568 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 03:09 PM

The game that should be made into a movie next is "Metal Gear Solid". It has a great storyline, great characters and great action, and i already have the perfect cast:
Solid Snake-Hugh Jackman
Liquid Snake- Nicholas Cage
Meryl- Elisha Cuthbert
Vulcan Raven- Ving Rhames
Revolver Ocelot- Bruce Willis
Grey Fox/Cyborg Ninja- Jaquin Phoenix
Sniper Wolf- Naomi Watts

(Reply to this)

IMAmoose24 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 04:16 PM

Watch them make some type of National Treasure out of this series...

Hope to God not.

(Reply to this)

lilrummagesalecoat writes:
on Mar 10 2008 04:29 PM

YES!!! a bioshock movie would be great.

(Reply to this)

MarioHilario writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:23 PM

Wow, that has to be the worst cast list for a Metal Gear Solid adaptation. Do me a favor and don't make that movie.

(Reply to this)

POPCORNLUMPY writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:25 PM

OMG NWHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE FREKIN HALO MOVIE????
IS IT STILL IN PRODUCTION???????
WTF HAPPENED TO IT???????????

(Reply to this)

u1sart writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:58 PM

Why call it prince or persia: sands of time, why not just call it prince of persia. and then after sub title the movie since they looking at sequels. well lets just hope they have a good writer and director for this, i think they should use the same writer and director for pirates of the caribbean, cause is truly has that field.

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:59 PM

Prince of Persia could be an awesome film series IF done right. Otherwise it could just turn into another Tomb Raider film series. I seriously hope they can do it right but really history is against them, video game films never turn out great.

(Reply to this)

u1sart writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:59 PM

In reply to this comment (#1625542)
Sorry dude! HALo is no more, aint that a ***** right yup, peter jackson gave up on it and so he rest of bitches.. we should have had a big protest for that..

(Reply to this)

CMPunk>you writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:35 PM

In reply to this comment (#1625204)
Clearly you haven't played many video games in your life time. Prince of Persia has a very good storyline and if done right/not butchered to all hell/watered down could become an awesome franchise.

Need proof video games can have an awesome storyline, check out Indigo Prophecy. One of the greatest games ever. Minus the ending.

(Reply to this)

Paul777 writes:
on Mar 11 2008 01:27 AM

"Need proof video games can have an awesome storyline, check out Indigo Prophecy."

Agreed. Greatest video game of all time (well, close to it anyway).

(Reply to this)

Paul777 writes:
on Mar 11 2008 01:34 AM

"Need proof video games can have an awesome storyline, check out Indigo Prophecy."

Agreed. Greatest video game of all time (well, close to it anyway).

(Reply to this)