J.J. Abrams confirms Portal movie is finally on track eight years after announcement

[midian182]

Something to look forward to: There were some big events in 2013: the Snowden leaks, Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration, and Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams revealing a collaboration to produce movies based on Portal and Half-Life. Eight years later and the director says the Portal adaptation is still being developed, but it seems a movie based on Gordon Freeman’s adventures is about as likely as a Half-Life 3 release.

At the 2013 DICE summit, Newell and Abrams revealed that their respective companies, Valve and Bad Robot, were looking to bring two of the gaming giant’s biggest properties to the big screen. In 2016 and 2017, both men confirmed that the projects were still in the works, but things have been pretty quiet since then.

Speaking to IGN during a press event for Super 8’s 4K Blu-ray home release, Abrams said: “We actually do have a script that’s being written for the Portal movie now at [Warner Bros.]. We’re really excited about the take and the pitch, so it feels like that thing’s finally on the rails.”

Abrams didn’t reveal much else about the Portal movie, apart from adding: “It’s got enormous potential for a lot of reasons, one of which is because of the limited narrative of the game, as ingeniously told as it is, the potential of it is so huge. It’s gonna be super fun.” He acknowledged that fans will doubtlessly be clamouring for J.K. Simmons to reprise his role as Aperture Science’s founder, Cave Johnson.

While this is good news for Portal fans, it seems Half-Life lovers will be waiting a lot longer for a movie version of the game. “The Half-Life thing, we’re not actively involved with at the moment,” said Abrams.

It’ll be interesting to see how the movie turns out. The vast majority of video game adaptations before 2013 were panned by critics, but several since then have earned praise. Let’s hope Portal turns out to be one of the genre’s better offerings.

All images: Tristan Reidford Art

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89807-jj-abrams-confirms-portal-movie-finally-track-eight.html

 

[stewi0001]

The movie is a lie

 

[ypsylon]

Jar Jar Abrams should have been locked up long time ago. For his crimes against humanity.

I don't know if there is another single person in all history of cinema which screwed more stuff.

 

[envirovore]

No. Just no.
You leave anything Valve related alone, Mr Abrams.

 

[terzaerian]

>It's bad news for the Half-Life adaptation

JJ Abrams is bad news for Portal, too

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Oh boy, I cant wait for a story packed with meaningless explosions, undeveloped characters, empty mystery boxes, and Chell both having a voice and being an overpowered badass that never struggles with anything ever.

Oh, and dont forget the cringy one liners that will permanetly date the movie.

 

[sreams]

Jar Jar Abrams should have been locked up long time ago. For his crimes against humanity.

I don't know if there is another single person in all history of cinema which screwed more stuff.

Interesting that you bring up a Lucas-created character when suggesting that Abrams screwed up cinema.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Interesting that you bring up a Lucas-created character when suggesting that Abrams screwed up cinema.

Lucas did a lot of dumb sh1t, but at the bare minimum he knew how to write characters, develop plots, and end films. As terrible as the prequels were the world building he provided allowed a ton of games, TV shows, and books to flourish in a new chapter of the world he created. And no matter how bad he screwed up a film, he never invalidated the previous works nor their character's acomplisments.

All JJ has managed with his films is milking money from nostalgic nerds then promptly bury the franchise to "popcorn while playing in the background" tier. All flashy and shiny, with the substinance of a soviet prison camp diet.

 

[terzaerian]

All JJ has managed with his films is milking money from nostalgic nerds then promptly bury the franchise to "popcorn while playing in the background" tier. All flashy and shiny, with the substinance of a soviet prison camp diet.

I'd compare it more to McDonald's: superficially resembling in appearance and taste a food product, but basically sawdust and pink goop in terms of its substance, triumphing in the market by force of marketing alone.

 

[sreams]

Lucas did a lot of dumb sh1t, but at the bare minimum he knew how to write characters, develop plots, and end films. As terrible as the prequels were the world building he provided allowed a ton of games, TV shows, and books to flourish in a new chapter of the world he created. And no matter how bad he screwed up a film, he never invalidated the previous works nor their character's acomplisments.

All JJ has managed with his films is milking money from nostalgic nerds then promptly bury the franchise to "popcorn while playing in the background" tier. All flashy and shiny, with the substinance of a soviet prison camp diet.

Lucas knew how to build worlds, but he was terrible at writing characters and authoring dialog. As an example... Han Solo was saved by Harrison Ford being bold enough to explain to Lucas on multiple occasions that the character would not have acted in a particular way or said a certain thing. The original dialog, in response to Leia's "I Love You", was "I Love You, Too". What a tragedy that would have been. If Lucas were any good at character building, he would not have destroyed Han Solo's character development with the awful changes in the Special Editions. Wanna see how Lucas writes characters/dialog when nobody pushes back and saves him from himself? Look no further than the cringe-fest that is pretty much all of the dialog between Anakin and Padme.

And I haven't even said a word about Jar Jar yet.

 

[Jennifur68]

Keep JJ Abrams away from anything you you like. I used to be a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek. To paraphrase the Hybrid in Battlestar Galactica, "You are the harbinger of death JJ Abrams. You will lead franchises to their death."

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Lucas knew how to build worlds, but he was terrible at writing characters and authoring dialog. As an example... Han Solo was saved by Harrison Ford being bold enough to explain to Lucas on multiple occasions that the character would not have acted in a particular way or said a certain thing. The original dialog, in response to Leia's "I Love You", was "I Love You, Too". What a tragedy that would have been. If Lucas were any good at character building, he would not have destroyed Han Solo's character development with the awful changes in the Special Editions. Wanna see how Lucas writes characters/dialog when nobody pushes back and saves him from himself? Look no further than the cringe-fest that is pretty much all of the dialog between Anakin and Padme.

And I haven't even said a word about Jar Jar yet.

He was attrocious at dialog, but his character ideas and how they tied into the world were decent.
Palpatine, obi wan, anakin, yoda, luke, vader, leia, han solo, these characters are all interesting, memorable, or relateable in some way.

The likes of rey, finn, poe, snoke, hux, kylo? Those characters are one note personalities that are forgotten once you leave the theater. JJ abrams is a deccent director, but he cant write worth a damn, and it is painfully obvious in anything he has creative control over. His Spider Man comic was just as vapid as his movies.

 

[sreams]

He was attrocious at dialog, but his character ideas and how they tied into the world were decent.
Palpatine, obi wan, anakin, yoda, luke, vader, leia, han solo, these characters are all interesting, memorable, or relateable in some way.

The likes of rey, finn, poe, snoke, hux, kylo? Those characters are one note personalities that are forgotten once you leave the theater. JJ abrams is a deccent director, but he cant write worth a damn, and it is painfully obvious in anything he has creative control over. His Spider Man comic was just as vapid as his movies.

Jar Jar was one of his character ideas.

 

[duckofdeath]

I can't wait for the besserwissers on the internet to overanalyse this. This movie will be the perfect storm. \o/

"The protagonist didn't fart between scene 11 and 14! Totally immersion breaking loophole!"

 

[Michiel]

JJ Abrams shitting over yet another beloved franchise is indeed "something to look forward to".

 

[Michiel]

Oh boy, I cant wait for a story packed with meaningless explosions, undeveloped characters, empty mystery boxes, and Chell both having a voice and being an overpowered badass that never struggles with anything ever.

Oh, and dont forget the cringy one liners that will permanetly date the movie.

And lens flare. Don't forget the lens flare!

 

[Michiel]

He was attrocious at dialog, but his character ideas and how they tied into the world were decent.
Palpatine, obi wan, anakin, yoda, luke, vader, leia, han solo, these characters are all interesting, memorable, or relateable in some way.

The likes of rey, finn, poe, snoke, hux, kylo? Those characters are one note personalities that are forgotten once you leave the theater. JJ abrams is a deccent director, but he cant write worth a damn, and it is painfully obvious in anything he has creative control over. His Spider Man comic was just as vapid as his movies.

Yes Lucas was a good (/great) ideas-man, and of course for his characters he drew heavily on existing archetypes (which helps make them relatable) but it seems like the only reason SW became the icon that it did was because he was still able to be influenced by those around him helping him make the movie, and they could sometimes still reigh him in or push better ideas.
Once he got free reign, unlimited budget and nobody brave enough to say no to him or "George, this is stupid", he made the prequel trilogy.

 

[herpaderp]

I'd rather have a movie based around Aperture specifically, so we can get a look at all the stuff they did with Cave at the helm while trying to 1up Black Mesa.

 

[terzaerian]

I'd rather have a movie based around Aperture specifically, so we can get a look at all the stuff they did with Cave at the helm while trying to 1up Black Mesa.

What you're likely to get instead is a 4th wave piece where Chell is this gifted prodigy that gets into the Portal program despite the antagonism of a bunch of chauvinist bros, effortlessly breezes through every challenge, meets GLADoS, and discovers that the two are not nearly so different and turn the tables on a thinly-veiled Trump-expy version of Cave Johnson, and together they defeat the patriarchy forever. A stereotypical PC gamer nerd will be thrown in for cheap Big Bang theory style laughs and to be a foil to Chell but by the end of the movie will admit she is indeed all that. Time allowing, JJ will add in references to racial politics vis a vis police brutality and gun violence to run up the Twitter critic score. Bank on it.

 

[Gezzer]

Jar Jar was one of his character ideas.

Jar Jar was one of his marketing ideas. FTFY

 

[Gezzer]

The length of time is not that unusual for the development process where movies are concerned. Projects are often shelved for years and picked up when interest increases again. Well it's not the norm it can go through 3-4 producers before there's even a script. Then 2 or 3 scripts with various rewrites. Various directors and leads until everything is nailed down. This is often referred to as development hell. Even after filming is completed the result can be shelved for years before or after editing. Deadpool is a perfect example. Development started in 2000, so it took 16 years to finally release the film to theaters.

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, JJ Abrams is overrated.

 

[PeekABo0]

The cake is a lie. where the heck is GLaDOS!!!!!!!