The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie will be shot in Morocco, as reported on Wednesday by Morocco’s Dune Films company.

The company has also revealed that scouting and casting begins on March 17.

Previous reports about the release date for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie stated that the anticipated video game to movie adaptation was to be released in July 10, 2009.

With the resolution of the writer’s strike, Disney has revised the release dates of many of its upcoming movies for 2009, including the Prince of Persia movie.

The new release date is set to be June 16, 2009.

More from Variety.

Collider reports that it has a breakdown of Hollywood movies that are due to start filming in the near future, including new synopses.

Included in this list is the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie. As far as I can see, the storyline is very similar to that of the video game.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
Scheduled Start Date - July 2008
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer - John August - Mike Stenson - Chad Oman
Director: Mike Newell
Writer: Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Passing through India en route to Azad, King Sharaman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah’s daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Sharaman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah’s treasures. But Sharaman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. So the Vizier, who wishes to harness the power of the sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince’s dagger, the Vizier’s staff, and Farah’s medallion.

Kotaku makes a pretty funny version of this synopsis based on the fact Jerry Bruckheimer, who likes to “blow stuff up” is one of the producers. It’s worth a read for the laughs.

While on the last round of press for Mike Newall’s lastest film, Love in the Time of Cholera, the newly appointed Prince of Persia director drops some hints at what the video game movie might be light.

“It’s not a video game movie, It’s a great story. If you had read the script, you would know that it wasn’t a video game. It’s very exciting and it’s immensely romantic and it’s like Lost Horizon. It takes you to somewhere you’ve never been.”

“There’s so much that will happen with that story because it’s 1300 years ago. This girl who was actually a kind of priest… I’m sorry, I’ve been on it five days. I’m full of f***ing ideas. It’ll be terrific.”

Read the full article here.

Seems like Michael Bay may not be directing the Prince of Persia movie after all. The new rumor on the block is that the director’s job has been handed to Mike Newall.

It’s been reported that the PoP movie producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, has offered Newall the directing gig and that Newall has already had meetings with studio executives to discuss the project.

Possible explanations for the deviation from Michael Bay as the director is conflicting interests, as Michael Bay is set to direct the sequel to the Transformer movie.

Mike Newall’s most recently famous movie was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. Other movies he has under his belt include Mona Lise Smile, Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Source: Variety

An interesting article by Variety about how early movies are being planned shed some light on the release date of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie. (more…)

According to IMDB.com, it looks like Michael Bay is directing the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie.

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time page on IMDB.com also has a release date for the movie, 10 July 2009. However, John August, executive producer of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, isn’t sure if there will be a film ready on that date since its still in development.

Michael Bay has directed many big name Hollywood action movies such as Bad Boys (1995), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Bad Boys II (2003), The Island (2005) and most recently, Transformers (2007).

He looks well experienced to direct action films, however, I can’t exactly say that any of the movies he’s directed makes it on my favorites list. Does this mean the movie is doomed? Probably not, but I’m not expecting anything great either.

The video game, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, will be turned into a movie by Walt Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. The movie will be written by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, produced by John August and Jerry Bruckheimer, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

The movie is in its infancy and an actor hasn’t been cast to play the Prince. Everyone’s got their opinion on who should be the Prince, we’ve gathered a list of the most popular actors who we think have a chance at playing this role. Take a look (more…)

It was reported in Variety Magazine back in March 2004 that the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time video game was going to be made into a movie.

Little is known about this movie project even though more than a year has passed since its announcement. What is known is that the movie will be produced by (more…)