Universal Pictures has purchased screen rights to the Electronic Arts video game "Army of Two", a project being fast-tracked for a 2009 production start.
Screenplay is from writer Scott Z. "The Bourne Ultimatum" Burns who sees the storyline as a 'buddy' film..
Scott Stuber will produce with EA, the first time the games publisher has taken on a film production role.
"Army of Two" has sold more than 1 million units since its debut in March 2008.
The twoplayer game follows a pair of private military contractors who fight their way through a 'web of intrigue'.
"The ambiguity of private military corporations lends weight to an intelligent thriller with relevance to what’s going on in the world right now," said Burns.
"You have contractors with their own agendas, but friendship supersedes all the politics..."
This is the third EA game to be developed into a film property, with "The Sims" being developed at 20th Century Fox, "Mass Effect" optioned by Avi Arad Prods and Gore Verbinski to direct "BioShock"...
