JJ Abrams' studio is working on movies based on Half-Life and Portal

JJ Abrams' production company Bad Robot continues to work on movies that would build on influential video games Half-Life and Portal.  Speaking as 10 Cloverfield Lane debuted in the US, writer, producer and director J.J. Abrams told IGN that movies based on Half-Life and Portal were "in development."

Both games pushed standards in storytelling, player agency, and world building. The Half-Life franchise centers around a secretive government laboratory and an adventurous scientist, Gordon Freeman, that worked there, while the Portal games take place inside a private company where human test subject Chell does her best to outwit a malevolent AI named GLaDOS.

Both games have been the subject of numerous homages and fan films, including 2011's Portal: No Escape, helmed by eventual 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg. "We've got writers, and we're working on both those stories," Abrams commented, though cautioned that he had "nothing that would be an exciting update."