Given the current state of world affairs, Iran is probably not the most ideal setting for a family-friendly, big-screen blockbuster. But refer to it, instead, as "Persia" (its former name), set it back 2,500 years or so, and base it on a popular video game brand, and what have you got? Exactly the sort of creation producer Jerry Bruckheimer might envision as his next major project.

Indeed, Bruckheimer intends to release Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in the summer of 2009, and he has aboard Jordan Mechner, the creator of the 11-SKU Prince of Persia franchise that first took the gaming world by storm back in 1989.

But why flying carpets and palaces which, after all, haven't been seen on the silver screen since Disney's Aladdin in 1992?

That's exactly the point, says Bruckheimer. "Pirate movies had been dead for a long time when we came out with Pirates of the Caribbean and did it in a different way than people were expecting. I like to look at arenas that haven't been exposed to audiences for quite a while and then surprise moviegoers with the way we're doing it. The Prince of Persia characters are wonderful and they exist in a period of time and a venue that's interesting."

All that needed to be done, he says, was "flesh out the characters and create the drama and the themes that turn this into a viable movie experience. It's always about the characters and the story; the action is just icing on the cake."

But so few movies-from-video games have been successful that surely Bruckheimer recognizes the risk. Nevertheless, he says, "It's a good idea. Why would I make National Treasure versus whatever other people are making? When something hits you and excites you, that's what you do. I've played the game ... it's a great game ... and I believe the movie is one people will want to go see."

Especially if Jordan Mechner's original screenplay appeals to moviegoers the way his franchise has appealed to gamers for 18 years.

The very first Prince of Persia (POP) came at a time when the video game industry was still in the "garage phase," Mechner recalls, "when it was still possible for someone like me to work on an Apple II computer for three years and build a 2-D side-scrolling action game single-handedly -- meaning the artwork, the animation, the story, the sound effects, the level design, the programming, everything -- with practically no budget."

While Mechner had started out as a programmer and animator, he confesses he never developed those skills beyond "just good enough. For me," he says, "those talents were a means to an end. What appealed to me most was the challenge of creating an imaginary world, with characters and a story that could fascinate and absorb players the way a movie or a novel could."

Indeed, in 1993, he first got the itch to turn his creation into a big-screen movie. But it was a hard sell, ironically, in part, because of the similarities between POP and Disney's Aladdin, Mechner remembers. That changed when, in 2003, he teamed up with video game publisher Ubisoft to create Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, a 3-D sequel that sold more than 3 million units worldwide and brought the POP franchise roaring back to life.

"The timing was perfect," explains Mechner. "Movie studios were showing interest in video games, POP was suddenly at the top of the video game charts, and we had a game with great characters and a storyline that cried out to be made into an epic, romantic action-adventure film."

Under his deal with Ubisoft, Mechner kept the film rights to POP. Which meant that it was on his shoulders to find the right film partner and create something that wouldn't damage the value of what had become one of the game publisher's most important brands.