Popular Xbox game to be turned into a movie

Los Angelels - A Gears of War movie is in development.

Microsoft has confirmed that a film based on its hugely popular third-person shooter Xbox video game franchise is being created with the rights optioned by Universal.

Scott Stuber - whose previous credits include Ted and Central Intelligence - and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes co-producer Dylan Clark are set to produce through their Universal-based Bluegrass Films.

So far, there is no director or screenwriter attached to the project and little plot details, however, Rod Fergusson - head of Microsoft subsidiary The Coalition the developers that create the Gears of War franchise - has revealed that the film will not be based on one particular game but will a new story set in the universe.

Fergusson told Variety: "As a way to support the franchise the next logical step was to make the movie. We'd done comics and novels in the past but the opportunity to work with Universal to bring the movie to life was perfect.

"I think you have to let the movies be the movies. They're two different mediums, and two different audiences in some cases, and I think some video game movies in the past have failed because they tried to make a movie for gamers. If you have this great IP with a deep backstory and lots of lore that you can make interesting stories out of it's great, but if you just go after the gaming audience then it isn't going to be a successful movie."

The Coalition boss also revealed that the studio will be working very closely with Universal to ensure the cannon of Gears of War is accurately represented.

He added: "That's one of the great things about working with Universal. We're finding that line where we can say it has enough lore and canon that it feels genuine to the game while at the same time going beyond that and asking 'OK what makes a great movie?'"

Gears of War originally followed the battles of commando Marcus Fenix and his team of soldiers on the planet Sera in his fight against alien race the Locust.

The first game in the series was released in 2006 and has spawned three proper sequels, including the just released Gears Of War 4 which focuses on Marcus' son J.D. Fenix's fight to save humanity from The Locust.

The franchise has so far grossed $1bn since 2007.