With Universal, DreamWorks and Legendary all laying claim to "fast car" franchises, Sony is wheeling its own onto the track, putting a feature adaptation of the bestselling video game "Gran Turismo" into development, TheWrap has learned.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" producers Mike De Luca and Dana Brunetti will steer the action movie, which is based on the popular Sony PlayStation game by Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Studios.
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"Gran Turismo" is the single biggest franchise for PlayStation, having sold 70 million copies worldwide. Sony execs Elizabeth Cantillon, DeVon Franklin and Hannah Minghella will oversee the project for the studio.
With "The Fast and the Furious" becoming Universal's biggest franchise, other studios are waving the green flag. DreamWorks' "Need for Speed" stars Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" fame, while Legendary is eyeing Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Simon Crane to direct "Hot Wheels."
Like those movies, "Gran Turismo" also has name-brand recognition and will seek to distinguish itself from competitors in the marketplace. The newest game in the series, "Gran Turismo 6," is expected to be available for the PlayStation 3 later this year.
For an idea of what a "Gran Turismo" movie could look like, check out this YouTube video of Spanish racecar driver Lucas Ordonez, who started racing virtual cars in "Gran Turismo" before graduating to the real thing. As a student working towards his MBA, Ordonez beat out 25,000 gamers for one of 22 spots in PlayStation 3's "Gran Turismo" competition, which served as a racing boot camp of sorts. Talk about wish fulfillment …