If you're going to do this, don't even call it Castlevania anymore. Simple as that. Everyone wins!

Channing

[www.imdb.com]

Konami was beaten to the punch!

Testamonium

I am one of the few people who has consistently defended Anderson regarding this film, but a sword for a Belmont? Non-fans don't care, I get that, but there is no reason to use a Belmont if you aren't going to rely on the whip as the primary weapon. There is a ton of flexibility with the other characters, especially Alucard. The whip can make this movie distinctive and it is frankly more important than anything except for the castle itself. You don't see a lot of chain whips in movies, so why wouldn't you try to use this as an opportunity to do something different? I am not going to read a script for spoilers, so I don't know what is in there, but having daggers, holy water, crosses, and axes as alternate weapons are all canonical, and only the axe seems really out of place in someones jacket.

kingofallcosmos

New Metal Gear Movie: Now with Sword Toting Snake!
New Mario Bros Movie: Now with Sword Toting Luigi!
New Chibi Robo Movie: Now with Sword Toting Robo!
New Cooking Mama Movie: Now with Sword Toting Mama!
New Legend of Zelda Movie: Now with Mace Wielding Link?!

... time for a cold shower.

MelodyKitn

@thegreatseal: in what nightmare world are either of those movies entertaining. what's wrong with you. at least angelina jolie and david rimmer are in tomb raider. they spent money on that shit.

StratfordX

It could be worse, they could have hired Michael Bay to ruin Castlevania like he ruined Transformers.

photoboy

@Uzumaki_Kiba:

He has had 3 movies. They are called 'Blade'. or some ass name like that.

Vanguarde

This is so fucking messed up.

Castlevania MUST have the whip. Swords are for those fairy movies like Lord of the Rings.

Castlevania needs to be hardcore with the whip. I want to see him crack that son of a bitch and lash off half of a zombies face, or take off an arm.

Yes, I think the whip could work fine in the movie. It's this B.S. Anderson asshole motherfucker who wants to play the hollywood game and come in and jack off and coat his jizz all over the legacy of the Castlevania games.

Damn I am mad. I have waited since the mid 80's for a Castlevania movie. I STILL remember saying while destroying the bat on level 1 to my friends 'THIS WOULD BE A GOOD MOVIE!'

I am going to start a protest online. I am going to write the studio. I am going to write B.S. 'bullshit' Ander FUCKING son. IGA must be contacted to inform him how badly his shit is being messed up.

Vanguarde

Terance: Hehe... A fucking-sword. Nice.

Also, the movie is going to suck. Hard. That's a given. But the Ellis-scripted animated film that someone brought up earlier... I've got high hopes for that.

Oh, and Alucard should have his own movie. Lots of his own movies.

Uzumaki_Kiba

I can't decide which is worse. The total raping of the series that is the script for this movie, or the fact that Konami is allowing this to be made. Many people would argue that Konami is just doing it for the money. And they would be right. Only problem is, they would need to make a Castlevania movie that people would actually WANT TO SEE!
Although I guess the amount of fans of the series is less than the size of the average movie-going (non-gamer) population who would more than likely look at the previews and then dismiss it. Lord knows there's enough generic vampire movies out there, who would want to watch another one? Bah.....I don't know anymore. I've lost almost all hope for a good videogame movie. Maybe the Street Fighter movie can change that.

arazzor

@Lyrai:

+1 Follower for 2 Stupid Dogs. :D

Terance : Soul Calibur :: Leigh : MGS

Am I the only one who read the title and thought a giant penis blade?

Yes?

Well, damn. D:

Terance : Soul Calibur :: Leigh : MGS

Well now isn't that cute...
BUT IT'S WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG.
* Foghorn *

Lyrai

Watching a Belmont not-quite-kill Dracula with a whip on the silver screen would feel too much like reading a fetish fic off of an Anne Rice website.

I'm A-Okay with the change, especially because I don't ever intend to see this movie without riding an ethanol wave.

Testamonium

Too much whip would of made him look like a fetishist. It's true.

Thorax

@thegreatseal: "DOA (worst video game movie ever)"

How funny.. I just found that Paul W S Anderson was a producer on DOA.

All hope is lost.

thegreatseal

Maybe they'll set up for the next movie by giving him a whip?

JokesJokes

As a huge Castlevania fan, I'm a little disappointed. But I can understand the sword being the main weapon. As long as he has to get down and dirty with the chain whip when a sword doesn't work (a situation that I can't think of) is fine with me.

I can see the chainless, cheesy movie poster already :(

Sauce

First the fighting game, now this. Shame on Konami for allowing one of their best IP's to be drug through the mud like this.

holmcross

Seriously, Do they even bother to check in to the fucking games they try to turn in to movies?

Stupid ass morons. It's bad enough they can't come up with their own half way original stories that they have to come over to our world and hijack the things we love. IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT DOUCHE BAGS!

FrankxThexTank

Whips are so last-era and aren't easily acceptable. However, "fucking swords" can be purchased wherever dominatrix is available.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

@stealthpengu:

I don't know if you can compare to Indy fighting with his whip.

It's a CHAIN whip (for the most part)

thegreatseal

Oh god, Paul W.S. Anderson! The bad Paul Anderson. Everyone look away, maybe if we never speak of this again they will forget to make this movie.

goodbadorugly

It's freaking Paul W.S. Anderson, what do you expect? A quality movie? Something faithful to the series?
Ha!
I laugh in your general direction!

Blah8

hmmm.. my prediction places the end result somewhere in between Street Fighter & Mario Bros (tied for best video game movie ever) and DOA (worst video game movie ever)

thegreatseal

This backlash is ridiculous. A whip works fine as a weapon in a video game, but would not make sense to use as a primary weapon in a move. Some stuff could certainly be done with a whip, and it does say in this EARLY draft there are a few instances of it being used, however it being used as a main weapon is patently ridiculous. Not every entrenched video game convention translates into real life.

AndoCalrissian

How does hollywood screw shit up like this?

EVERYTHING is there for them, characters, story, development, plot, etc. It can't be that hard to give Belmont a god damn WHIP!

exkon

*Sigh* Oh well. Not surprising really. Hopefully Trevor will use it more in the Warren Ellis's animation.

Besides a Belmont without Vampire Killer is like a Jedi without a lightsaber.

Repsode

Someone ring up JT to sue them for DOINGITWRONG

kidko

seems like they should just change the main character to alucard then it would work fine >.> lol

demonknightinuyasha

@stealthpengu: CGI can make a whip do ANYTHING

Luke Plunkett

fuck this noise the only script i care about is warren ellis' for the animated movie (at least im pretty sure the one he's doing is an animated one).

demonknightinuyasha

Question, is it possible to whip a whip the same way the characters do in castlevania? like, it's always seemed awkward to me

stealthpengu

wtf Paul WS Anderson? seriously.. W.T.F. Hey lets make a metal gear movie without Snake while we're at it.

kitenai

This might be the one video game movie that will turn out to suck.

dowingba

Haha!

Perhaps they should have hired Uwe Boll so they could get it fucking CORRECT.

;)

Vanguarde

The Whip IS Castlevania. You guys are lucky I'm not a total Castlevania fan or I'd go apeshit.

-_- Carry on with the tradition of drastically altered Video Game Movies. -_-

Megan Fox iz Hot ^-^ -ph15h

well... as cool as a whip is, i dunno how realistic they could make all the.. whipping look. I mean, Indie doesn't use it for fighting TOO much, really... but, i imagine there is a bunch of weapon combat in castlevania.

but, yeah... kinda screws the story, just a little.

stealthpengu

The only person who should be carrying a sword should be Alucard... Or any other protangonist from the GBA/DS Games... >

nemesiscw

Eh.... to be honest I'd love a good Castlevania movie but as a fairly recent fan of the series I haven't actually played a game as Simon, so Vampire Killer while obviously important to the mythology of the world and stuff isn't a massive prerequisite for me.

Would be nice if it got some screen time though, perhaps Simon's questing for the whip in the movie?

Kazzahdrane

oh dear god no. =_= what lousy news..making a castlevania movie is bad news enough..sigh

evilralphwiggum

will iga even allow that >.>;?

Alpha85

@Soleyu: Do you know what animation style they're aiming for? Seeing as it's a Japanese franchise, I would have assumed something anime-based, but Warren Ellis being tossed into the equation sort of confuses that instinct.

Testamonium

PAUL W.S. ANDERSON.

What movie has he ever made that's good? This is going to suck huge balls.

GreyFoxV1

@Testamonium: lol, dude you just made my night, from now on I shall do the same, the hard part would be finding a willing victim.

But you know, at least I know the animated one will be awesome, from what I read the script is done already, so lets hope that it will come out soon enough.

Soleyu

@StealthPengu:
Dude.. there's a great big video of a martial artist using a chain whip right on the page... how hard is it to take something real and make it realistic?

I just can't fathom what it is with some writers where they simply seem incapable of building something with the IP they're given. They'd rather throw it all out and invent 'their' vision than just make the damned adaptation.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

Tarislar

Paul WS Anderson.
You do NOT remove Simon Belmont's whip from Castlevania.
Just like you do NOT remove ultraviolence from Mortal Kombat. Oh wait...

TheCleaningGuy

@Soleyu: My more favorable impression likely comes from the fact that my former room mate was the one telling me everything.

I prefer to suffer by proxy when it comes to bad writing.

Testamonium

will be Van Helsing 2.0 just without Hugh Jackman...

Gremory

@Soleyu:

You are NOT wrong sir.

gique

@gique: I dont think any director with skill and technique would touch that script

Soleyu

Instead of replacing the characters skill and technique with something laughable, they should get rid of the laughable director and get someone with skill and technique.

gique

@dowingba: ahh, I see what you did there.

reecord2

@Testamonium: I think bland would be a improvement its cliched, predictable and worst of all insulting to the fans and the general public, so yeah bland would be an improvemnt.

Soleyu

@Soleyu: Isn't it just the most bland script?

Testamonium

Honestly, this is somewhat surprising, considering Paul W.S. Anderson has actually been at least somewhat faithful to video game adaptions, and was responsible for two of the three that the author mentioned as successful adaptions (Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat). That said...the only faithful/good ones to come out are the ones he actually directs, not necessarily writes or produces. I mean, in RE, he was faithful enough to get the bloody ladders right on the sewers. So maybe this is a sign that he wasn't nearly as obsessed with Castlevania as he seemed to be about RE...=/

verrius

@AndoCalrissian: While mainly I agree, the whip so engrained with the Castlevania mythos and story that it's just ridicolous to not use it, the whip and Castlevania are what the series are about. Hell I could have accepted a few changes, say put in a few couple of extra characters so we can have character development, maybe a love interest (or maybe not depends on how it is done, well most probably not), anything, ANYTHING, except to leave the whip behind, hell whats next they are going to name the Castle, Blood Manor? And Whip fighting would be awesome, just take some of those anime directors that can make even freaking writing a book the most goddamn epic thing, then whip fighting would be awesome.

@kingofallcosmos: I just read it and let me tell you, its basically Bram stoker's Dracula, with a few different names Its not Castlevania at all.

Soleyu

Castlevania fans want to see a whip.

Oh, What's that Andy? You're making it for the rest of the movie going public? The ones who have NO INTEREST IN CASTLEVANIA? I see a serious fucking flaw in the logic here.

This is like making an X-MEN movie and giving Wolverine a goddamn knife instead of his *snikt*! How about you just not make the damn movie.

liquidnumb

I find this amusing, if not only because of how overly dramatic the responses are from the fans.

SolCross

@stealthpengu: There was this small fight scene in the movie "The Rundown" in which the bad guy uses a whip and it looked really nice and thrilling. Try to look it up if you had the chance. They could at least have something similar to that and it would be acceptable.

If Mr Anderson had a fatal car accident before the beginning of production on this film...Then you all know it wasn't me who messed with his car's breaks..honest!

Dubdoob

@Megan Fox iz Hot ^-^ -ph15h: I am going apeshit....!!!!!!!! Its like making a Indiana Jones movie without... you think I'm gonna say whip, right? No, without his HAT! He always has that hat, just like in Castlevania, YOU ALWAYS HAVE A WHIP. I played the first 2 games for NES with MY MOM as a kid, and this will just ruin any memories of that if I see this movie. Sorry, but, epic fail is the only option for this movie.

Transgenic

@Testamonium: Hmmm not really but since James Jean is doing some of the concept work (check his art here, [www.jamesjean.com] and follow the other links in the Castlevania blog to see some of the other guys doing concept work too [castlevaniadraculascurse.com])

I would probably guess its a mix between anime and western animation, but with a western look and feel, but in the end it all goes down to the Animation director I dont know if they have choosen yet (I would personally go for the guys that did that Disney movie Enchanted, in terms of animation quality they are top notch), but this all just my speculation though we will have to just wait and see...

And by god if they decide to do flash animation or interpolated animation which looks like crap... blood will run.

Soleyu

it would probably be quite straining to use a whip all the time. could use cgi but, it may look bad. at least there is a whip.

basseman

If this movie gets more praise then Speed Racer did then I know being faithfully is on its way out :p

Gunloc

Simon's Quest (Castlevania 2) is my all time favorite game. Mostly just great memories. A huge part of the memories was looking for the different whips...good stuff. I feared the movie would suck, but I guess I underestimated the cock draining potential of this "creative" team.

pcypert

Boll's getting himself a bonafide rival.

kryzhal

@StratfordX:

MY nightmare world. It's a terrible dark place.

I know, they're all lame. But at least the SF movie had Raul Julia. It's a shame that movie was his last role, and thus, what he'll be remembered for :D

thegreatseal

By the Way, this comes from the animated movie which explains pretty simply how a Castlevania movie MUST be made.

"Our original conception of a videogame-derived film that was 1) a film for adults and 2) a good film first and a videogame-movie second.

Also, a film where bastards explode when they get whipped, people get set on fire, and Alucard has no clothes on. Because girls and gay men need fan service too."

That my friends is how you do a Castlevania movie.

Soleyu

Hahaha. It's not like the whip is a central part of the Castlevania games or anything...

WarlordPayne

Castlevania: The Spirits Within (Coming Soon To A Theater Near You!)

MelodyKitn

Oh come on guys! Swords make everything better!

.... Except Castlevania. Unless we're talking about Alucard or Soma.

Sugoi

Before there was Uwe Boll, Anderson was certainly the most hated guy on the internet, especially in places such as aintitcool. Now he is back competing for that top spot again by making a VG movie completely ignoring the heritage of the game. He should ask the guys at Lucasarts if they would ever release a Jedi game without a lightsabre.

Asbestos_Underwear

Just change it from Castlevania to Devil May Cry and save a classic game from being turned into a shitty movie, thanks.

DashTheHand

Not much gets me riled up, but this is a serious wtf moment for any Castlevania fan im sure.

devosion

Hey Plunkett. Dr. Henry Jones Jr. uses a whip. As far as I know Dr. Henry Jones (Indy's father) doesn't use a whip because he's too old (I haven't seen Crystal Skull so I can't make a joke here).

That said, saw this on AICN and the script from what I've gathered is atrocious. The reason people are upset is because this is a Castelvania movie. Those people that don't know the franchise won't care, but that's not the target demographic here. Why even bother using the name?

Silent Predator

...

Shad0X

Okay, if that was Alucard, I could understand the sword. But this is like doing a movie on the Civil War and arming Abraham Lincoln with a battle axe in the minds of those that started out gaming on Nintendo

Shin-san

@kitenai: exactly. i would have been totally happy not even knowing there would be a castlevania movie (this is the first i've heard about it).

kotaku, make me unknow this.

pasquinelli

How many of you read the article? I mean, not having the whip sucks, but scrapping the plot to remake Coppola's Dracula? That's a huge problem. Coppola did it right. If you liked his version, you won't like how Castlevania ripped it off, and I guarantee you they won't do it better. If you didn't like it, why would you like Castlevania?

ninjafetus

so first he screws up the RE movies now the Castlevania one? nice.

ChibiKyKiske

Oh well, at least we'll have the Warren Ellis penned animated Castlevania movie to offset the fail of this one, right?

Right?

RIGHT?!?

CommentatorHatman

@AndoCalrissian: fuck that, ITS CASTLEVANIA. its a BELMONT. the whip is like Luke's lightsaber. If its gonna be a sword, go with Alucard.

kitenai

Man, my list is getting crowded at the top :
1a)Carrot Top
1b)Uwe Boll
1c)Paul "Fucktard" anderson

Might as well scrap the numbers at this point...

Darascon

Fucked up Resident Evil, fucked up AVP, now he's fucking up Castlevania.

You know the weird thing is how *easy* it would be to make those movies and yet Anderson can't help but just castrate another movie.

Surprised it's Simon and not Simone since Anderson seems to feel obligated in putting in the kick ass female protagonist.

Absent Blue

True, I had written this movie off since the beginning. But no whip? Now I likely won't even illegally download it for free.

Quilt

@ Luke Plunkett: junior. Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.. Dr. Henry Jones (Sr.) never handled a whip (that we saw). By the way, his friends call him Indy.

Ghinn

Maybe we were expecting a side-scrolling action movie? Actually, that would be a first and might actually be kind of cool - essentially it would look like the movie was done in one big long, take.

mariospants

This just in! Dracula is now an alien! And Alucard is now female!

Judging by how much they've changed the plot according to the article, they might as well have saved themselves the money and not bought the license. The only things it even has in common is that the protagonist is named Simon Belmont and he's fighting a vampire named Dracul'a (note the apostrophe). Everything else is different, and definitely not an improvement. This is going to be a failure of epic proportions.

Hmm, so it's Dracul'a now? Wait, I figured out the secret plot twist! Dracul'a is actually an elder god!

Tiber

@Absent Blue: On the subject of predator. Why have they not just made a movie very similar to the first one in a different setting with a different hero guy. My choice would undisclosed middle eastern town with Stallone leading a small group of special forces... Hes too old for the special forces now isn't he... Well i don't know somebody tough as nails.

On the subject of Castlevania
Wow, I don't mean to be a massive conspiracy theorist, but its almost as if Hollywood hates video games and purposefully tries to sabotage their movie adaptations.

stryfehiro

I'm upset about this, but at the end of the day, it's PT Anderson. Until someone out there makes a better video game movie, all game companies are going to think "It's either Boll or Anderson" and he's gonna get to 'reinterpret' games at will.

Mostly I think it's sad that he has to slap on a video game license to his generic vampire story to get it made. In all likelihood, he's upset he has to call his tale 'Castlevania' as well. Can you imagine having to title every original (cough) idea you have with the name of someone else's work?

That's gotta blow.

burgerdog

@kitenai: Shouldn't they make the first MGS movie before doing the second game?

alzheimers

@bleeps:
Only a petition? Shit man, I'd join a letter writing campaign.

RigorMortis

This is one of those fuck up I would actually sign a petition about.

bleeps

I'll tell you where you can put your damn sword.

NeoStarr

And then Belmont is played by milla jovavich. I mean, why not?!

TheRunningboard7

@burgerdog:
Wrong Paul Anderson. Paul Thomas Anderson made Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood. Paul W.S. Anderson made Mortal Kombat (Quick fact: One of my relatives directed Mortal Kombat II, and I still had to talk my dad out of demanding a refund from the dollar theatre), Event Horizon, Soldier, AVP, and Resident Evil. I personally like the movies of both directors, but they are definitely different people. I think that Paul W.S. Anderson can make a good Castlevania, I have supported him ever since the movie was announced, especially if he personally directs it, but no whip means no Belmont.

kingofallcosmos

So... is anyone else ready for a moratorium on video game adaptation movies?

I mean, we already have too much movie in games and look where that got us... no need for badly putting games into movies.

If we must have another movie about games, how about Game Center CX: The Motion Picture?

fuchikoma

@Shin-san: You know, if Lincoln was armed with a fucking battle-axe at the theatre, Boothe might have thought twice...

I'm seeing a Street Fighter-esque movie here. At least make Alucard the main character then... A Belmont chain-whip is plenty distinct from Indy's whip. Sigh... Castlevania isn't complicated. Whip, Dracula, classic monsters. Hell, Van Helsing is going to be closer to Castlevania than this movie is.

StrikerGold

This would be like the next X-men movie taking away Wolverine's adamantium claws and replacing them with bamboo toe nails or replacing Superman's cape with a purple denim scarf. A fucking sword, indeed.

Arklop

Swords will fucking cut you wide open!

Swords will fucking slice a baby in half!

Oh, shit. I lied.

Belmont will use a whip after all.

John Laur

THIS JUST IN:
Movie based on video game may stray from source material! Also, may suck terribly!

Mansteak

My god, why do these horrible things happen...

Shiroi Kaze

Question is will it be better than Bloodrayne?

Majpain007

@Vanguarde: God, how bad is it that you're probably right in that regards. Boll's movie would have been shit, but at least it would have been somewhat visually accurate.

Way to go Anderson. Way to continue fucking up franchises and driving them so far into the ground that they'll never recover.

Anyone see AVP? Point proven. This movie will go beyond suck. Light years beyond suck. It will suck so bad that, fuck the super collider thing, will destroy the very fabric of existence and deliver the earth into purgatory. People will be in such pain that they'll pluck their own eyeballs out, tear their own ears from their heads. Children will scream in horror at the very existence of existence.

The end is nigh. Repent while you still can....

BigPanda

Er...
Sorry; writer, and producer. I could have sworn he was directing at some point as well... Either way the finished product will be nothing more than a highly polished turd.

nomadder

This should come as no surprise.

Paul W.S. Anderson made (either wrote, directed, produced, or some combination) the AVP's, DOA, and the Resident Evil "movies".

I gave up hope on this as soon as I saw his name listed as director.

nomadder

Ugh, but the Vampire Killer IS Castlevania. Bah! Damn you. Damn you all to hell!

dead_red_eyes

We should all just pretend that this movie doesn't exist, and we'll all be the better for it. That's what Konami's gonna do, so that's what we should do. We should also assassinate Paul W S Anderson before he finishes the movie and disgraces the name of the series. He needs to pay for his crimes against humanity.

Placentasaurus

Booooo!

yashichi8bit

I wonder if Anderson ever played a Castlevania game. I'm surprised they fact checked the name Simon Belmont though.

gencid

I haven't really even played any of the games- though even I know that him wielding a sword is a disgrace to the game itself. This is going to stir up an uproar to fans. However, my guess as to why its a sword is because it is cheaper and there needs not much special effects to script with it. Whereas a whip would need a lot of work to do with. Ex.) Indiana Jones grappling a lamp and swinging across to land in a car. Im sure they dont have that kind of money to create something like that- but then again, If they dont have the money to make a popular title like this, then why the hell are they even doing this to begin with? It be better if they just sell their script to a guy who has the money to make it work- because I doubt this would even gain their profit back after releasing it themselves. This could be the equivalent to Blood Rayne's movie- but I'm not guna take it that far jus' yet.

King Seafoam

Fucking thank you, Paul "What Story?" Anderson. You douche!

HT Tenrai

A fucking sword? A sword that fucks?

"No Mr. Belmont, you need to stab Vampira in the HEART!"

((boom chikka wah wah))

PlaidNinja