Germanproduction company Boll KG has acquired theatrical and related merchandiserights to the fantasy video game Dungeon Siege from Gas Powered Games.

Executiveproducer and director Uwe Boll expects to begin filming toward the end of 2004and said the budget will be in the $50m range. Dan Sales' Interactive FilmSales International owns foreign rights and will be offering the film at MIFED.

The game wasreleased in the US in April 2002 and features an ongoing battle between goodand evil on a fantasy world.

"Dungeon Siegetranscends the video game genre and appeals to mainstream entertainmentaudiences," Boll said in a statement, adding that the game had major crossoverpotential because of its blend of action and fantasy.

"This is a veryexciting project for us and we are very enthusiastic about exploring how filmand games can come together," Gas Powered Games president and creative directorChris Taylor said.

Dungeon Siegeis the latest video gameadaptation to be set up at Boll KG. House Of The Dead opened in US theatres through Artisan inOctober and has grossed around $9.8m to date.

Alone In TheDark is in postproduction and stars Christian Slater, Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff, while Bollis preparing to shoot BloodRayne in 2004.