"The Da Vinci Code," Ron Howard's film adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, is not content to limit itself to two media.
Besides the upcoming Sony Pictures movie, the mystery thriller also will be available as a video game from 2K Games and several mobile games from Kayak Interactive.
2K Games, sister company to Rockstar Games of "Grand Theft Auto" fame, said the console titles are expected to ship in May 2006 to coincide with the film's release.
Los Angeles developer Foundation 9, which also is working with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on the upcoming Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" video game, is developing "Da Vinci" for 2K Games.
Produced by Brian Grazer and John Calley, the film begins with a murder in the Louvre Museum that sends Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) on a European hunt to unlock the mysteries behind the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci. The game is expected to place players in the role of Langdon. The companies involved declined to disclose if Hanks or any other talent from the movie will participate in the game.
The console video game announcement comes on the heels of Kayak Interactive's mobile video game deal with Sony Pictures Digital. As part of a wider deal that includes multiple licensed properties, Kayak is developing two games based on "Da Vinci" which also will be released close to the theatrical release.
"'The Da Vinci Code' has sold tens of millions of books in over 40 different languages — so it has a very large global audience," said Kayak Interactive President and CEO Keith McCurdy. "The 'Da Vinci Code' story engages the audience and makes them think both through the ongoing story itself and through a variety of puzzles that are solved by the characters throughout. In terms of a game design, these are all great features to base game play on."
2K Games has become more active in the Hollywood licensing game during the past two years. The publisher just shipped a PS2 and Xbox game based on the Sony Pictures' "Zathura" film and also will release a PS2 game based on the Fox TV hit "24." In the summer, 2K Games released an Xbox and PS2 game based on Warner. Bros.' "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Even sibling company Rockstar Games, which just shipped a PS2 and Xbox game based on the Paramount Pictures classic, "The Warriors," has gotten the licensing bug.