According to Variety, Legendary Pictures is currently in talks buy Epic Games. Legendary, whose portfolio includes comic book films like "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," "300, and "Superman Returns," is currently in talks to buy the North Carolina-based developer, which is responsible for the Gears of War titles as well as the heralded Unreal series.

Because Legendary is already working on a Gears of War movie, the buyout offer is not a complete surprise (Legendary is also reportedly working on a World of WarCraft feature film). While Legendary has yet to comment, an Epic spokesperson all but spilled the beans on the potential come-together. "We have publicly announced that Epic and Legendary are partnering on the "Gears of War" movie," the spokesperson told Variety. "We're very excited about that project and have the highest regard for Thomas Tull and his organization."[UPDATE: An Epic spokesperson has contacted Tom's Games and stressed that Epic Vice President Mark Rein has already dismissed the rumor.]

Tull, who is Legendary Pictures' CEO, recently left the board of game company Brash Entertainment, which he founded. Brash, which released games based on licensed properties (Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jumper), was not going in the direction that Tull desired, according to Variety, so if Legendary Pictures buys Epic Games, Tull could responsible for future Epic titles as well as the Gears of War movie (Gears of War sold over five million units since 2006). Details are few and far between at this point, but Thomas Tull is certainly a driving force behind the acquisition.

Perhaps the most desirable aspect of Epic is its engine licensing. Unlike many developers who rely on games sold to drive revenue, Epic creates and licenses game engines along with creating its own intellectual property. In theory, Epic could never release another title, and would remain very profitable through its engine licensing.

Not to be outdone, Electronic Arts is also in talks with the movie industry. Yesterday, EA announced that it would be partnering with Universal Studios to release a film based on its Army of Two title. While Army of Two was a forgettable action title, the "buddy-cop" aspect of the games plot could make for a solid action-comedy movie. EA will be a producer on the project.

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