Universal takes movie rights to EA's Inferno

According to this Variety report, Universal has won a bidding war to the movie rights of a new EA project based on Dante's Inferno.

From the story:

The deal -- an option fee against seven-figure purchase price -- ended an auction that pitted four studios against one another late last week (Daily Variety, Oct. 31). Paramount, New Regency and MGM were the other final bidders, after Warner Bros. dropped out Thursday.

Strike Entertainment partners Eric Newman and Marc Abraham will produce with EA. EA Entertainment veep Patrick J. O'Brien and game creator Jonathan Knight will be closely involved in the development of the film.

The property shook up a sluggish material marketplace. It was a surprise entry, because EA made past movie deals (including "The Sims" with Fox and producer John Davis and "Mass Effect" with producer Avi Arad) after the properties were already popular with gamers. This time around, EA hadn't even announced the existence of the game at the time the concept was brought to the film marketplace. EA declined to comment or confirm the game's title.

More through there.