'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell' movie in the works?

The popular video game series "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" could soon be sneaking its way into movie theaters.

The fist game was released in 2002.

Deadline is reporting that a number of studios are hovering around the project, including Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, which may be the current frontrunner.

The Ubisoft video game series consists of five installments (plus a PSP edition), the first of which was released in 2002. The games follow protagonist Sam Fisher, a highly-trained agent of Third Echelon, a fiction black-ops division inside the NSA. A sixth game, "Splinter Cell: Blacklist" is set for release in 2013.

As of June 2010, the series had sold more than 22 million copies. It has also spawns a series of novels which currently stands at six.

The video game company launched Ubisoft Motion Pictures in January to handle film and TV productions, and "Splinter Cell" was among the properties targeted for a film adaptation. The others were "Assassin's Creed" and "Ghost Recon," also endorsed by Clancy.

'Ninja Turtles' delayed to 2014 over budget concerns

Paramount Pictures' planned "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot has run into new trouble, pushing both the production's start date and the film's release date.

The new film is now targeting 2014.

Deadline is reporting the studio is pushing back the production's start date 10 weeks in an effort to trim the budget by $10 million or $20 million. The film, which was slated for a Dec. 25, 2013, release is now targeting May 16, 2014.

According to the report, the studio is looking to get the budget down to $125 million.

This isn't the first trouble for the reboot. Producer Michael Bay courted fan outrage earlier this year when he mentioned that the Turtles' origin story would be more alien in nature than in the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comics, cartoon series and movies. This was compounded when Paramount Studios announced the title for the upcoming movie was being shortened to "Ninja Turtles."

The new film will be directed by Jonathan Liebesman ("Wrath of the Titans") based on a screenplay from Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec ("Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol").

Joe Cornish to adapt Neal Stephenson's 'Snow Crash'

Neal Stephenson's cyber-punk novel "Snow Crash" is once again in the sights of Paramount Pictures for a feature film adaptation.

The novel was published in 1992.

Deadline reports "Attack the Block" director Joe Cornish is set to write and direct the adaptation.

According to the report, Paramount had the rights to the novel when it was first published in 1992, but dropped it. Disney then acquired it with Kennedy/Marshall producing, but again it went nowhere. The production company then got Cornish involved and brought the project back to Paramount.

In addition to the sci-fi comedy "Attack the Block," Cornish also helped write Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" and is attached to the forthcoming Marvel adaptation, "Ant-Man."

The official synopsis of "Snow Crash" describe the book as follows: "In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse. "Snow Crash" is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately."

Paramount grabs 'Wunderkind' for Abrams, Bad Robot

Paramount Pictures is continuing its shopping spree, picking up the spec script "Wunderkind" for J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot.

J.J. Abrams

According to Comingsoon.net, the script is from writer Patrick Aison and is set in 1979, following a CIA Nazi hunter who becomes entangled with an older Massad agent also on the hunt.

Aison's most recent project is "Echo Station," a sci-fi thriller which he co-wrote with Brad Kean and is being directed by the Spirig brothers.

Paramount's option on "Wunderkind" comes on the heels of the news that the studio picked up "God Particle," a script from Oren Uziel, also for Bad Robot.

Paramount, Abrams seeking 'God Particle'

Paramount Pictures has found the "God Particle," a script from Oren Uziel that it hopes to develop on a small budget.

J.J. Abrams

Vulture reports the studio has picked up the script for J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot. Uziel wrote the action comedy "The Kitchen Sink."

According to the report, the new script's synopsis is as follows: "After a physics experiment with a large hadron accelerator causes the Earth to seemingly vanish completely, the terrified crew of an orbiting American space station is left floating in the middle of now-even-more-empty space. When a European spacecraft appears on their radar, the Americans must determine whether it’s their salvation, or a harbinger of doom."

The projected budget for the project is $5 million, which would put it definitely on the low end of the spectrum.