Universal Is Starting Work On A New Doom Movie

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Actress/singer Nina Bergman has signed up for Universal’s new Doom adaptation. Doom is a video game series that needs no introduction and is responsible for making first-person shooters one of the biggest genres on the planet. The setup of most of the games finds a marine stranded on Mars when a gate to Hell opens up and spews out demons; it’s up to the player to rip and tear through them and survive. The most recent entry was 2016’s Doom, which was critically acclaimed due to its focus on constant, fast-paced combat.

Doom also received a movie adaptation in 2005, which starred Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban. Somewhat bafflingly, the movie dropped the whole Hell angle, and instead focused on scientists accidentally creating monsters on Mars. While the movie had some fun action and creature effects, it was lumbered with a terrible script and painfully slow first hour, where mostly consists of the cast wandering around dark corridors with flashlights. The movie went the way of many video game adaptations of the era, receiving poor reviews and underperforming at the box-office.

Video game movies seem to back in vogue right now. Johnson recently took a second swing at the genre with Rampage, which was critically and commercially much better received. The Alicia Vikander Tomb Raider reboot was also a solid earner. It was also recently confirmed David Leitch had signed up to direct a movie based on Ubisoft’s The Division, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain.

Hopefully, Universal’s next attempt at Doom will do a much better job of capturing the tone of the games. Given the praise heaped on the 2016 game, the film will likely draw inspiration from that version. While the 2005 take is far from beloved, it still has some fans drawn to its simple B-movie charms, though star Johnson has happily been throwing the movie under the bus while promoting Rampage in recent interviews.

In fact, Doom’s official account gave a tongue in cheek response to Johnson bashing the movie on Twitter, which soon went viral. Given his past with the series, Johnson seems unlikely to return for any future Doom movies.