LOS ANGELES --- Mindfire Entertainment, which is developing feature films based on Sega's "House of the Dead" games and begins shooting on the first one in May, has acquired film and TV rights for the best-selling "Dead or Alive" video game franchise from Japanese game publisher Tecmo.  
 
The live-action "DOA -- The Movie," which will have a budget in the $30 million range, will begin filming late this year for an expected theatrical release next year in conjunction with the next game's release.  
 
Mindfire also is developing a live-action television series projected for launch in fall 2004. Producing the film are Mindfire partners Dan Bates, Mark Altman and Mark Gottwald, along with Entertainment Licensing Associates president Daniel Kletzky. Mindfire is taking pitches from writers and may develop two scripts simultaneously, choosing the best one or possibly using the second for a sequel or TV pilot.  
 
"Even though it's a fighting game, there's a complex story behind it all," said Altman, Mindfire's chief operating officer. " 'DOA' and Tecmo have set the standard for this genre of video game, so we plan to do a studio picture with an A-level cast and have cutting-edge Hong Kong-type fight choreography for the film, which respects the high standard and quality of the game and its martial arts action. With the vast array of locales featured in the games, I expect we'll do some globe-trotting for locations."  
 
"I believe that the future of digital entertainment is a marriage between interactive and passive entertainment, and the 'Dead or Alive' movie deal with Mindfire Entertainment is a great example of this," said Tecmo marketing director John Inada, who engineered the film deal. "From a marketing perspective, this movie deal will open up many co-marketing opportunities that were not previously available to a video game publisher. The rapid growth of the game industry is often compared with the movie industry as though we're rivals, but the truth is more and more game publishers and movie studios are looking for ways to work together to create a powerful synergy which can lead to the creation of a profitable model for multimedia entertainment."  
 
Altman said Mindfire will work closely with Tecmo to blend elements of additional games into the feature film and TV series. The film will take an "X-Men" approach to the array of 16-20 characters from the games by introducing several heroes in the first film.  
 
"We'll focus on four or five of the most popular characters, like Jann Lee, teasing some other popular characters in smaller roles," Altman said. "Because there are so many characters in this universe, each with his or her own back story, it would be possible to develop a film and TV series concurrently." "