ICE ROAD TRUCKERS movie in 3-D!!!

By Arvindh / June 30, 2011

Because of it's timing (i.e. - a couple of days after a Mafia Wars film was announced), this news doesn't seem as absurd as it probably should. According to Deadline, Max Payne director John Moore will helm a film based on the crazy History Channel reality show, Ice Road Truckers. And it'll be in 3-D, by golly! The movie (which still needs a studio pick-up & a screenplay) will revolve around a group of truckers who drive 18-wheelers over a 350-mile highway made of ice, in an attempt to haul equipment and supplies to diamond miners working in North West Canada. Here's the pitch :

"It is very much a tough guy movie," Moore said. "Here's a bunch of characters who tackle problems by getting in there and getting things done. We'll turn it into a mission movie that harkens back to Towering Inferno, Jaws, or The Guns of Navarone. You got a problem, go solve it."

Wait a minute... isn't that The Wages of Fear, or even Sorcerer? Not that Moore is capable of turning a movie in half as good as those mentioned. I've seen a few episodes of the show and I have an immense respect for these people and their near-insane work description but I can't see how anyone would have looked at it and said, "Hey, lets make this into a movie!"However, natural disasters working as potential antagonists in a movie have usually fared well at the box office; from meteors (Armageddon/Deep Impact), to volcano's (Dante's Peak), to hurricanes (Twister) and of course the ultimate disaster film 2012 made $769 million worldwide last year. But I think the idea loses some of its steam when the villain in the plot is "ice, snow, and slippery roads". Maybe they'll go J.J. Abrams on us and throw in snow-beasts and mythological creatures just for the sake of making things a lil' more interesting, but right now this all seems pretty unnecessary and mundane, so I'll stick to my low-levels of enthusiasm for the time being.