As part of Digital Bits #3, GamesToFilm will be compiling a progress report of each video game adaptation - next up is Fallout which is currently searching for a production company.

Back in 2000, Interplay Films was formed by Interplay Entertainment to develop movies based on the company's game properties. Fallout was one of seven properties that were being considered for the big screen, along with Descent and Redneck Rampage.

The story by Variety put Interplay in negotiations with Dark Horse Entertainment to develop the Fallout movie. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation screenwriter Brent Freeman was also attached to the project, though it's unclear whether or not a script was completed. Eventually, no Interplay property was ever made into a film and Interplay Films was disbanded.

The Fallout franchise sat on the shelf at Interplay for a few years until Bethesda Softworks acquired the property in 2004. Bethesda Game Studios developed Fallout 3 and released the game on October 28, 2008. In April of the following year, Bethesda filed trademarks with the US Patent Office for television and motion picture rights for a "post-nuclear apocalyptic world."

Fallout 3 is set in the year 2277, 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the world in an alternate post-WWII timeline. The game puts the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect humans from the nuclear fallout. When the main character's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the son is forced to escape and journey into the ruins of Washington DC.

Obsidian Entertainment is currently developing Fallout: New Vegas, a standalone title that will take place in the same world. Bethesda Softworks is publishing the title.

The above trademark means that a movie about the franchise could be developed at some point, but nothing else has been reported in the year since. Any science fiction property in a post-apocalyptic world is ripe for a big screen adaptation with recent sci-fi films topping the box office - Avatar and Star Trek to name a couple. Perhaps Fallout isn't too far away.

Joystiq is reporting that Bethesda Softworks has has filed a trademark for theatrical rights to their game, Fallout 3.

Spotted on the US Patent and Trademark Office website recently were two suspicious trademarks filed by Bethesda Softworks, the folks behind the Elder Scrolls series and, most recently, Fallout 3. The trademarks claim the Fallout name for "entertainment services in the nature of an on-going television program." Another filing secures the trademark for "motion picture films about a post-nuclear apocalyptic world."

Joystiq's report is very speculative and the fact that Bethesda is filing for a trademark is only an extremely early indication that it may one day be possible that we'll see a Fallout 3 movie. For those unfamiliar with the game, Fallout 3 is set in the year 2277, 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the world in an alternate post-WWII timeline. The game puts the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape and journey into the ruins of Washington DC.

Thanks to First Showing for the update.

According to a print issue of Variety, Interplay Films will be developing movies based on Interplay Entertainment's games, including Fallout.

A Post-apocalyptic action game. Interplay was said to be partnering with Dark Horse Entertainment on the project. The trade also reported that Brent Freeman (Dark Skies, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) wrote the script.

Thanks to the archives at NMA-Fallout for the news.

Other properties that Interplay Films was adapting for the screen are Descent and Redneck Rampage. The president of the division was Tom Reed. Eventually, no Interplay property was ever made into a film and the division was disbanded.

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