Legendary Pictures, a film financing company responsible for the in development Gears of War movie, is reportedly in talks with Epic Games to acquire the North Carolina based developer and creator of the Gears of War franchise.

This news comes from Variety, which cites a number of sources close to the two companies for the report, although neither organisation has officially commented on the supposed venture at this time.

Although film studios such as Warner Bros. (which Legendary has a co-financing and co-production agreement with for 25 films) have invested in game developers before, this would be the first example of a film financer investing in the industry.

Thomas Tull, Legendary Pictures' President, was previously on the board of developer Brash Entertainment (which has developed two film licensed games including Alvin and the Chpimunks), although he resigned less than a fortnight ago having originally co-founded the studio.

While Superman Returns, 300, and the new Batman movies are amongst the movies Legendary has previously funded, the financer also has World of Warcraft and Watchmen movies in production, while a Gears of War movie is in development under the company's awnings.

Len Wiseman was brought on board to direct the Gears film project earlier this year, having previously directed the Underworld movies, while Chris Morgan was also employed to re-write the project's script that was originally penned by Stuart Beattie.

With the added development time that this entails, the Gears of War film is now expected to miss its originally slated summer 2009 release window.