It would appear as though J.J. Abrams won't stop until he's completely dominated the science-fiction genre. Not only is he now behind both the Star Trek and Star Wars film universes, he produces a number of sci-fi television series (albeit now one less due to the end of Fringe), and is now looking to get into the video-game adaptation racket.
Polygon was present today at the 2013 DICE Summit - the annual gathering of video game executives in Las Vegas, Nevada - where Abrams and Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell shared a stage for 25 minutes and revealed that their two companies could wind up working on feature versions of Valve's biggest titles. After the filmmaker told the crowd that he and his Bad Robot label had an idea to pitch for a video game, Newell responded, "We're super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie."
The same site talked to Abrams for more details and learrned that while things are still very much still in the early stages with both projects, they are stories that he wants to see personally. "We're also aware of the cautionary tales of movies that became games and vice versa," that Star Trek director said. "Our goal here to is to treat the world Valve has created in both these properties like anyone would a book or some great story that comes from a pitch or original script — just to treat it with the respect they treat their games and their players with." He confirmed that they are going to be bringing on a writer and already "have a lot of very interesting ideas."
It sounds as though Abrams is serious about this idea, but what do you think about the potential for a Portal or Half-Life movie? If you're curious what it could end up looking like, here's a short film that director Dan Trachtenberg did a few years ago:
