No Angry Birds movie yet, but Rovio getting closer?

When Rovio, the independent developer behind the iPhone hit Angry Birds, said it was planning a movie based on the casual game, it may have seemed like soaring expectations from a company that happened to strike a bit of gold. And while there isn't an Angry Birds movie yet... Rovio has managed to team up with 20th Century Fox and the bird-related movie RIO.

In case you're unfamiliar with RIO, it's a movie about an extremely rare bird, Blu, who finds his mate, but both are captured by an evil poacher, or something like that.

So what does all this have to do with Angry Birds? Apparently Rovio was able to do some fast-talking with the people at 20th Century Fox to create a RIO-inspired sequel to Angry Birds.

In Angry Birds RIO, our colorful group of ill-mannered feathered friends are captured by the same poachers that took the birds in RIO. Now they're angrier than ever, and must embark on a mission to save Blu and his mate before it's too late.

The story will be much deeper than the one in Angry Birds (aka..."what story?"), and has backing from Fox so the presentation itself should be crisper and smoother than ever.

So it's a step short of being an Angry Birds film, but it's a step nonetheless. Is that a good thing? Either way, it's sort of a fascinating step for the idea of 'movie games.' Here's a game based on a movie, but also based on... itself. Interesting move, Fox.

Jan 31, 2011