According to Variety, film studio Legendary Pictures are in talks to buy Gears of War creators Epic Games. Serious talks. The pair have been working together for over a year now on the upcoming Gears of War film adaptation, meaning at least one of them is impressed with what they’ve seen so far. Movie studios buying their way into the games business is of course nothing new, but buying a studio on the scale of Epic – which besides its work on Gears of War and Unreal Tournament also dominates the business with their Unreal Engine – certainly is.

Of course, just being in discussions doesn’t guarantee that this is a done deal. But the influence of Legendary Chairman Thomas Tull on the deal is telling. Tull recently quit the board of movie-focused Brash Entertainment, so it’s clear he’s interested in getting into the games business. The statement Epic released to Variety is hardly a “no comment”, either:

We have publicly announced that Epic and Legendary are partnering on the “Gears of War” movie. Were very excited about that project and have the highest regard for Thomas Tull and his organization.

Hopefully now that the talks are in the open we’ll hear more about it in the coming days.

Legendary Films in talks to buy Epic Games [Variety]