- Guy Walks Into a Bar ("Starship Dave") has decided to go to purgatory, acquiring feature rights to the videogame "Painkiller" from DreamCatcher Interactive.

Game centers on a character stranded between heaven and hell who's forced to become a pawn in the battle between good and evil.

"Painkiller" first bowed for play on PCs as a first-person-shooter game in 2004, and was followed up by "Painkiller: Hell Wars" for the Xbox in 2006. DreamCatcher's planning to release a sequel to the original soon.

Guy Walks Into a Bar principals Jon Berg and Todd Komarnicki will produce the project, which carries the tagline "Heaven's Got a Hit Man." Matthew Weinberg will also produce.

Berg began pursuing "Painkiller" rights after seeing the game featured on a "60 Minutes" segment last year about competitive gaming.

It's the first time DreamCatcher's sold off feature rights to one of its titles. VP George Chastain told Daily Variety the company opted for making a deal with Guy Walks Into a Bar partly because of the shingle's plans to blend the fast-paced action, the wide array of weaponry and cast of demonic characters in the feature adaptation.

Guy Walks has hired Ben McCaw to adapt. His credits include "Gideon's Vault," a finalist in the Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition; "Art of the Fake"; and "Class of the Living Dead."

Guy Walks and Deep River Prods. recently wrapped "Starship Dave," starring Eddie Murphy. The shingle also produced "Elf."

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