Since DICE 2013, very little have been reported about the movie adaptations for Portal and Half-Life, giving the impression that both movies are stuck in an infinite development cycle that usually happens in Hollywood. This latest news, however, may shed light to the mystery behind the long production time.
In a dialogue with IGN during the Westworld red carpet, film director JJ Abrams confirms that Portal and Half-Life are still currently in the works and will be stepping in to the big screen. On top of that, Portal will be officially announced to quote: 'fairly soon.'
When questioned about whether the video game inspired films would follow the already-established storylines, Abrams revealed very little:
"We are having some really interesting discussions with writers, many of whom...once you said you're doing a movie or show about a specific thing that is a known quantity you start to find people who are rabid about these things. As someone who loves playing Half-Life and Portal, what's the movie of this, it's incredible when you talk to someone who just 'gets' it, it's like, oh my god, it's really the seed for this incredible tree you're growing."
If the official announcement for the Portal movie indeed comes, it will be a milestone for the project and at the same time refreshes the fans' excitement about the much awaited Hollywood movie. It's still too early to tell on who could direct the Portal film but it would seem that Bad Robot may have a solid candidate - Dan Trachtenberg. Initially impressing everyone with his short film for Portal, and a healthy working relationship with Bad Robot on 10 Cloverfield Lane, Trachtenberg is the leading bet to land the gig, as reported by Game Rant.
Videogame-turned-movies have a really bad reputation when it comes to ratings and expectations. Given Bad Robot and Valve's awesome record history in films and videogames respectively, Portal may have a solid chance for it to be a good Hollywood film.
Check out the interview video below courtesy of IGN:
