Dimension added to Dead or Alive film
Genre film distributors gets rights to Corey Yuen's game-based martial arts flick; fall release planned.
While survival horror games, first-person shooters, and action games seem to be all the rage when it comes to subject matter for movies these days, the fighting game might be gaining some ground on those genres. Variety is reporting today that the genre-based arm of Miramax, Dimension Films, has picked up the rights to distribute director Corey Yuen's upcoming film take on Tecmo's Dead or Alive series in North America next fall. Tekken and Mortal Kombat are also scheduled to get new film adaptations next year.
Yuen's resume seems tailor-made for a movie based on a fighting game. His career as a fight choreographer in films has spanned several decades, from old-school martial arts classics like The Instant Kung Fu Man and Drunken Master, to more recent fare like Lethal Weapon 4 and The One, both of which were made with longtime collaborator Jet Li.
The film was shot in China and boasts a number of recognizable faces in its lineup. Devon Aoki (Sin City, Fast and the Furious) will star as Kasumi, with Shane Kosugi (son of '80s ninja film mainstay Sho Kosugi) taking the role of Ninja Gaiden star Ryu Hyabusa. Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl, Joe Dirt) takes the role of wrestling vixen Tina Armstrong, while actual pro wrestler Kevin Nash (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze, the Adam Sandler remake of The Longest Yard) will play her disapproving father, Bass.
The cast is rounded out by Sarah Carter (Final Destination 2, K-9: P.I.), Natassia Malthe (Elektra, K-9: P.I.), Matthew Marsden (Black Hawk Down, Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid), Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, The Specialist), and Mortal Kombat's own Liu Kang, Robin Shou.
Earlier this month, Variety reported that Dimension Films had signed an agreement with Crystal Sky Pictures to distribute the film based on Konami's Castlevania in North America.
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