Legendary Pictures In Talks To Buy Epic?

According to Ben Fritz at Variety, Epic Games--the Gears of War and Unreal people, in case you forgot--are in talks with Legendary Picutres, a company that provides financial backing for films.

There aren't really any hard details out there about this, through Fritz cites "multiple sources" as confirming the news.

Burbank-based Legendary has been responsible for films like The Dark Knight, 300, Beerfest, and Superman Returns. The company also has more films in production, including the World of Warcraft movie. The company will also be co-financing the Gears of War movie.

Considering that Epic is practically printing money via its licensing deals for the Unreal Engine and is on the verge of shipping an hotly-anticipated sequel in Gears of War 2, I can't imagine they're cheap. Either way, it'll be interesting to watch this unfold, if it's happening. The last time a major engine licensor was purchased was EA's 2004 buy of Criterion, which internalized the popular RenderWare engine and, in the process, probably helped pave the way for Epic's current success with UE3.

[UPDATE] Shacknews ran the concept past Epic's VP, Mark Rein, who called the report "just another rumor." Sure seems like Epic's getting caught up in a lot of buyout rumors lately.