Woo Options Metroid

Face/Off and Paycheck director John Woo has optioned the popular Nintendo Metroid video-game franchise with an eye toward a big-screen adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The trade paper added that Metroid would focus on the origins of the game's lady protagonist, the bounty hunter Samus Aran, and chronicle her epic clashes with the life-sucking Metroids and their master, Mother Brain.

"We are very fortunate that there is such an extensive amount of material to draw upon for the film due to there being so many iterations of the game over the years," Woo told The Hollywood Reporter. Added Brad Foxhoven, who will co-produce the film, "We have to assume the mainstream audience is unfamiliar with the property. As for the rest of the film, we will stay true to the game and have Samus battling the Metroids and Mother Brain in a fight for control of the galaxy."

The trade paper went on to note that Woo is seriously committed to interactive properties, as he's currently developing three projects at his Tiger Hill video-game studio. The first game will be out in 2005, with the other two to follow in 2006, and Woo will direct the cinematics, oversee the voice talent and stories, manage the character designs and supervise the motion capture elements.