Brad Pitt company buys film rights to Redmond-based Airtight Games' 'Dark Void'

Redmond-based Airtight Games' debut video-game title, "Dark Void," doesn't go on sale until January, but it just hit one out of the park.

Capcom, which will publish the game, just announced movie star Brad Pitt's production company bought "Dark Void's" film rights and is developing it "as a sci-fi action franchise and potential starring vehicle for Pitt."

It won't take much to turn "Dark Void" into a movie. The game features a 1950s pilot who crashes into the Bermuda Triangle and enters a realm where survivors are assembling weapons and jetpacks from salvaged parts and battling aliens and flying saucers.

Developer Airtight was started by a group of mostly ex-Microsoft game developers in 2004 and backed by former Microsoft Game Studios boss Ed Fries.

The film rights were acquired by Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and its partner, Reliance BIG Entertainment, part of the Indian Reliance conglomerate.

"As a game, 'Dark Void' was developed with a widescreen mentality — a world full of adventure presented in cinematic scope and scale," Germaine Gioia, senior vice president of licensing at Capcom, said in a news release.

Airtight held its "Dark Void" shipping party Wednesday night at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle, Fries said, and "everyone is happy and excited to see where things go from here."

Fries said he didn't have more details about the movie deal, which was handled by Capcom, "but it sure will be cool if it happens."

The $60 game is being released Jan. 19 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com