A New Doom Movie is in the Works . . . But it May Not Come to Theaters

While comic books have long escaped the stigma about them being automatically terrible, video game movies are still trying to find their footing.  It says a lot that the highest rated video game movie is currently “Rampage.”  It seems like with every new movie we get closer and closer to a good video game adaptation as studios seem to learn from previous mistakes.  Maybe we can take all these lessons we’ve learned and use them to take a second attempt at a previous movie. Perhaps something like . . . DOOM.

Earlier this week it was unceremoniously revealed on Twitter that a new “Doom” is currently in production.  The news was revealed by actress/singer Nina Bergman who announced that she had signed on with Universal to be in a “Doom” movie.  She also hinted that a director was attached to the project and in a later tweet stated that it was someone with experience doing “crazy cool female characters.”

Kind of a big surprise that a new “Doom” movie has a director and actor attached to it and the first we’re hearing about it is through a random Twitter post.  The reason for that could be because this new “Doom” movie might not be going to theaters.  Variety checked into the story and heard back from a Universal representative who confirmed that a “Doom” project was in the works and that it was being handled by Universal 1440 Entertainment.  If you’re not familiar with that branch of Universal, I can guarantee you’re probably familiar with their work.  According to Variety, that division of Universal typically produces . . .

. . . live-action and animated non-theatrical productions directly for distribution in all media worldwide. That means the film may be direct-to-DVD, or it could possibly appear on a digital platform like Netflix. Universal 1440’s other projects currently include the latest “Tremors” movie, a “Death Race” sequel, and an adaptation of Bruce Coville’s sci-fi classic “Aliens Ate My Homework.”

So it sounds like Universal may be taking “Doom” to the land of direct-to-DVD releases.  It would be a bit disappointing if that’s how “Doom” went given that the most recent game reignited interest in the series and was a hit with fans.  A new “Doom” wouldn’t be a guaranteed box office success, but it would be a good time to try again now that the general opinion of the IP is pretty positive.  That being said, we know next to nothing about this “Doom” project so at this time let’s just wait and see how Universal decides to handle it.