Gears of War movie in trouble?

Fresh rumours suggest the movie adaptation of Microsoft’s hugely popular Gears Of War has suffered severe setbacks.

Insiders from New Line Cinema, the Hollywood studio handling the project, claim that the story and budget have been scaled back and director Len Wiseman has pulled out from the film’s production, according to The LA Times.

Wiseman, who was behind Die Hard 4.0 and the Underworld films, has apparently dropped Gears in favour of upcoming apocalyptic thriller Nocturne.

New Line has allegedly cut the Gears Of War budget down from $100 million to a considerably lower figure and even scaled back the storyline. The plot is now a more simple, straight-ahead invasion story” rather than the sprawling epic” originally planned.

Producers are said to be looking for a new writer to handle the simplified storyline, but have yet to find one.