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Die Hard director to do Gears film

That’s according to Variety, which reports that studio New Line has been in talks with Wiseman for several months.

We’re also told that The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift writer Chris Morgan has been added to the roster to help redraft the script Stuart Beattie (of Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean fame) originally produced.

The report also confirmed that the project had been pushed back and is now expected to hit cinemas in summer 2010.

Epic boss Mark Rein doesn’t seem too bothered, though, as long as the right talent is on board.

"It’s like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now," Rein told Variety.

"We want to get it right. There’s no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think [Wiseman’s] the guy who will do it."

We caught up with Mark Rein earlier this year to talk about the film, among other things, and he told us he wouldn’t blame people for being extra sceptical about it.

But he was impressed with the early Beattie script - we hope he likes this new draft - and with Cliff Bleszinski on board to ensure nothing is lost in translation, he feels his goal of not harming the franchise will be successful.

"We came very close to saying ’not this time’, but the studio gave us some really good assurances in the contractual stage that they’ve got some really good people together with this," Rein told Eurogamer.

"I mean, this is the studio behind Lord of the Rings - they’re not afraid to spend a lot of money, and to do something good and artistic, so we just felt we stacked the deck with the people we’re working with and, if there’s a chance for this to be a good movie, we’re dealing with the guys who can do it."

Meanwhile, Epic will be concentrating all of its efforts on Gears of War 2, which is scheduled to arrive this November.