In April, BioWare and Funimation announced an animated Mass Effect movie. That news led to the question, Whatever happened to the live-action Mass Effect feature film? According to Legendary Pictures, we'll find out at ComicCon in San Diego later this month.

Announcing its lineup for ComicCon, Legendary Pictures revealed that I Am Legend writer Mark Protosevich and Mass Effect creative director Casey Hudson will be on hand to discuss how they plan to adapt the video game to film. The Q&A panel is set for July 22.


In May 2010 Legendary acquired the Mass Effect movie rights and immediately asked Protosevich to pen the script. According to the film's producers (via subscription-based IMDB Pro), the film will tell the backstory of the Mass Effect games and mankind's discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars. Based on the game's lore, humans will in turn discover FTL travel and the Mass Relays, leading to their initial encounter with the Turians and sparking the First Contact War.

The movie is expected sometime in 2012. ComicCon kicks off on July 21 and runs through the 24th in San Diego.


Sharkey says: I've got high hopes for this one. Cliff Bleszinski called Mass Effect the Star Wars of this generation. A successful film franchise, done right, would certainly help elevate Mass Effect toward that status. The potential is there. But it sounds like Legendary is already tinkering with the lore, because I don't think Shepard was alive when the First Contact War started. We'll learn more in a few weeks.