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3D Realms founder and Max Payne game producer Scott Miller has aired his grievances, 16 years later, about the 2008 movie starring Mark Wahlberg – but thinks Hollywood should give the series another shot.
"When the Max Payne film was released and I saw it day one in 2008, I was instantly disappointed and super upset," Miller wrote in a lengthy post on Twitter, which you can read in full below. "The story had changed dramatically from the original script we sold to FOX. The issue was that the film's director revised the script such that it no longer resembled the game's story."
Miller added that he let "everyone around [him]" know that the film was a "disaster." That even included emailing the studio with a "dozen" key things wrong about the adaptation of the 2001 shooter that helped put Remedy on the map.
Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Ludacris, was a loose adaptation of the first Max Payne game. It grossed $85 million from a $35 million budget, but fared poorly with critics and audiences alike. The 2008 noir movie currently sits at 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.
When the Max Payne film was released and I saw it day one in 2008, I was instantly disappointed and super upset. The story had changed dramatically from the original script we sold to FOX. The issue was that the film's director revised the script such that it no longer resembled… pic.twitter.com/95fFRXjcwbAugust 17, 2024
Despite the experience, Miller believes Hollywood's current track record of video game movies and shows – perhaps ignoring the Borderlands-shaped elephant in the room – gives him hope that things could go much better the second time around.
"I think current Hollywood has reached a point of getting things right more often than not, so they'd likely be able to do Max Payne right if they tried again (trust me, go back to the original script)," Miller wrote. "And brought in people like me and Sam Lake as consultants."
Sam Lake – for those unfamiliar – is a creative director and writer at Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment. He, along with his team, helped bring to life several video games that now make up the 'Remedy Connected Universe' – including Alan Wake, Control, and Quantum Break. Hilariously, Lake is also the face model for Max Payne in the first two games.
Even if another Max Payne movie doesn't come to pass, the future is still bright for the series. A full remake of the first two games is currently in the works, with Remedy announcing earlier this year that it's "increased development pace" on the project.
For more, check out the upcoming video game movies in the works and all the new PS5 games and new Xbox Series X games just over the horizon.
