MTV Films, a division of Viacom Inc., today announced that it has acquired an option on the worldwide film rights to the award-winning, action-horror videogame property The Suffering from Surreal Software, a subsidiary of Midway Games Inc., a leading interactive entertainment industry publisher and developer.
In The Suffering, which was released in April 2004, the player controls the prisoner Torque, a hardened inmate sentenced to die for a murder he may or may not have actually committed. A sequel, The Suffering: Ties That Bind is scheduled to ship in September 2005 and lets players delve into the perverse world of Torque's sanity to discover his past and struggle to control his future. Both games were developed by Midway's internal studio, Surreal Software.
MTV Films is working in conjunction with Stan Winston and Brian Gilbert from Stan Winston Productions and Jason Lust and Rick Jacobs from Circle of Confusion on The Suffering's development as a feature film project. MTV Films' Senior Director Jason Weiss, who brought the project to the company, Gregg Goldin and David Gale will be developing on behalf of MTV Films.
"We are very excited to be working hand in hand with Midway to translate this innovative game into an edge-of-your-seat film," said David Gale, Executive Vice President, MTV Films. "Gaming is such a huge part of the culture for MTV's audience it makes perfect sense for us to work with Midway, Stan Winston and Circle of Confusion on bringing The Suffering to life as a feature film."
"The Suffering is a true action-horror experience with plenty of disturbing and twisted creatures," said Alan Patmore, president, Surreal Software. "We are extremely happy to be working with MTV Films to bring the terror to the big screen in what promises to be a groundbreaking horror film."
This film agreement with Midway closely follows a June announcement that MTV and Midway will jointly market three upcoming Midway games. L.A. RUSH, which will feature MTV branding throughout the game world with the crew from the hit MTV show, "Pimp My Ride," West Coast Customs, will be the first title shipping under this deal.
