Grand Theft Auto makers have turned down 'many' Hollywood offers

Don't expect Liberty City or San Andreas to be hitting the big screen any time soon.

The makers of 'Grand Theft Auto' have revealed that they have turned down many offers from Hollywood to turn the record-breaking game franchise into a movie.

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has said that entering into the movie system in the US would mean losing control.

“We've been offered, many times, and it's never appealed,” Houser told The Guardian. “The money's never been close to be worth risking one's crown jewels.

“Our small dabblings with Hollywood have always left us running back to games. The freedom we have to do what we want creatively is of enormous value.

“The second you go near Hollywood, people seem willing, or have been forced, to lose a lot of that control. That sort of amorphous 'that won't test well' attitude is exactly how we don't work.

“We've always tried to think of stuff that's innovative and new, and to go into a world where that's not encouraged would be horrible.”

And it appears that he has stuck to his guns.

Houser had much the same thing to say when he was asked by the Hollywood Reporter in 2011 whether there were plans to make movies of the series.

“No one has done it very successfully yet,” he said, of video game adaptations. “Virtually all movies made from games are awful, while many games made from movies are also pretty horrible.

“This will change, but with an ever more discerning audience, the goals of taking something from film-to-games or game-to-film have to be more than financial.

“If you feel the property has something about it that is universal or could work in another medium, and it is not simply about making easy money, then that is something worthwhile.

“Too often, however, the aim appears to be to cash-in on the success of a particular game, book, pop singer, website, etc., and that usually produces mediocre results.”

However, it's never stopped them using Hollywood stars as voice actors, with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Burt Reynolds, Ice-T, Gary Busey, Robert Loggia and Ray Liotta among those lending their talents to the series.

The latest game, 'Grand Theft Auto V', is due out next week, and is the most expensively-made video game of all time.

It's cost £170 million to make, more than the budget of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'.

But it's expected to make the company more than £1 billion in revenue over the next year.