It looks like Universal are going to just pretend last year’s Doom: Annihilation didn’t happen. That movie was supposed to course-correct from the 2005 Doom, which was also not much cop. But hey, third time’s the charm right? Yes, it seems that the studio is finally planning to do it right, as instead of trying to crowbar the basics of the game’s setting into a crappy Aliens ripoff, they’re just going to do a big screen adaptation of the original.
Sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us a new Scream movie is in development and Han was returning in Fast & Furious 9 – have informed us that the wheels are turning on a new project based on the hit video game series that’ll be entirely separate from the previous two. My bet is that they’re also going to take some cues from the most recent entries: 2016’s Doom and 2020’s Doom: Eternal. These have succeeded because they’re ultra-violent, goofy fun. You play as the near invulnerable Doom Slayer who pinballs around the place, carving up demons in ever more creative ways to a heavy metal soundtrack.
Furthermore, we’re also hearing that Hobbs & Shaw and The Crown‘s Vanessa Kirby is being considered for a lead female role. Now, there aren’t many women in the Doom franchise, and we haven’t been told which part this is, but I think she makes sense for playing Dr. Olivia Pierce, the main villain of the 2016 reboot. Pierce is a scientific researcher studying Hell in order to solve a human energy crisis. During the course of her studies, though, she makes a deal with a demon lord: humans get to harness the power of hell and in exchange, demons get fitted with cybernetic enhancements. Everyone’s a winner, right?
Well, they are until hell begins invading our universe and cyber-enhanced demons begin pouring through portals. If only there was a certain someone with chainsaw experience hanging around…
This project is likely a few years out yet, but if they follow the recent games’ lead and go balls to the wall with the action and gore, we might finally see a good Doom movie. Fingers, claws and tentacles crossed.