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Assassin's Creed movie 'fast-tracked'

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Ubisoft teams up with New Regency to get film based on stealth-action franchise off the ground; development of screenplay beginning immediately, Ubisoft will maintain creative control.

The upcoming Assassin's Creed movie is coming sooner rather than later. Ubisoft today announced that its Ubisoft Motion Pictures outfit has "fast-tracked" the film, and partnered with production company New Regency to get the job done. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ubisoft's deal with New Regency allows the game maker to maintain control of "key elements" of the film's creative direction. Writing of the screenplay for the untitled film is beginning immediately, Ubisoft said, but did not specify who has been tapped for the job.

“Ubisoft chose to partner with New Regency because they are a talent and filmmaker-driven company, with the same independent and creative mindset that we have at Ubisoft Motion Pictures,” said Ubisoft Motion Pictures chief executive officer Jean-Julien Baronnet .

New Regency is a division of Regency Enterprises. Past projects produced by the company include Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Marly & Me. The company is producing Darren Aronofsky's upcoming biblical epic Noah, as well as Twelve Years a Slave.

The Assassin's Creed movie will star Michael Fassbender, who played major roles in Inglourious Basterds, Prometheus, and Shame. No additional cast members, director, or producers have been announced for the movie.

The Ubisoft Motion Pictures outfit was founded in January 2011 with the purpose of bringing the company's games to film, television, and the Web. On top of the Assassin's Creed movie, Ubisoft is at work on a Rabbids TV series for Nickelodeon, and full-length movies based on the Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon game franchises.

The latest game in the Assassin's Creed franchise is Assassin's Creed III, which is set during the Revolutionary War and is due out on October 30 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Releases for the PC and Wii U will follow in November. For more on Assassin's Creed III, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

151 comments
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Hurvl
Hurvl

Those Inglourious Basterds better not add this movie to the pile of mediocre game-to-movie transitions, because that would be a real Shame.

Uesugi-dono
Uesugi-dono like.author.displayName 1 Like

Oh, goodie.  Let's take a bad idea and RUSH it.

starfish75
starfish75 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@Uesugi-dono bad idea!? This is one of the best ideas I've heard since Disney bought Star Wars and are making vii, viii, and ix. I really don't want them to rush it though assassins creed in to good I don't want them to botch it up

Uesugi-dono
Uesugi-dono

 @starfish75Yes, I think it's a bad idea.  Think about the VAST majority of video game movies.  BUT, more importantly, you have alerted me to GREAT news.  Lucas actually SOLD Star Wars?  Now, at last, there is a New Hope.  Now, at last, Star Wars can be good again.

starfish75
starfish75

@Uesugi-dono Star Wars 7 is coming out in 2015 I really hope they don't rush it or I'll go phantom menace on their sorry ass!

Barrakas21
Barrakas21

lol movie based on a game and aparently being rushed. thats always a nice formula for a good movie lol 

PlatinumPaladin
PlatinumPaladin

Game to movie adaptations get a bad rap as it is, not sure how fast-tracking it will benefit its quality.

SolidTy
SolidTy

Video game movies get announced all the time, only to never come out.

 

The ones that do make it out of the gate...usually stink.

 

Of course, the AC franchise has a neat premise, so I imagine it would be good, but it probably won't get released, and if it does, the director will ensure it's not good.

Morbissus
Morbissus

If it's anything like the short films, then cool. The realist in me says "A fleshed out AC story in under 2 hours? Right...."

This comment has been deleted

starfish75
starfish75

@GamerMani you forgot the Super Mario live action film

mhmd1
mhmd1

 @GamerMani

Are you on glue? What about Super Mario bros (yeah, it was awful, but it exists), BOTH Final Fantasy movies, Doom, Tomb Raider? I could go on......

aceventura2000
aceventura2000

 @GamerMani

 Lol u were obviously speaking out of your ass when you said there has only been 4. Doom was also made into a movie....

4-Legged-Shark
4-Legged-Shark

For Michael Fassbender's sake, I hope this turns out to be a good movie. I care more about his career than I do the Assassin's creed series. He is a great actor. 

GreySeven
GreySeven

I'm sure it'll turn out the same quality as Hitman did.

EvilShabazz
EvilShabazz

I'm not surprised.  Hollywood can't write shit on it's own - it either remakes movies or makes other people's ideas into movies.  I can't even remember the last big movie that wasn't a remake or based on an already existing book, game, or comic.

The-Neon-Seal
The-Neon-Seal

It will all come down to the Director and Script writer. I would personally choose Chris Nolan, Joss Whedon or Paul Greengrass although J. J. Abrams would be perfect for all the modern day/animus/first people stuff as it's so close to fringe.

CountZurich
CountZurich

 @The-Neon-Seal There would be no way in hell any of those directors would take the job. Video game movies will remain under the creative control of the studios, so why hire an expensive director. And why, as a director, would I want to helm a movie I have little control over?

splinter10
splinter10

You have to be careful when making a film adaption of a game. Infact 9/10 you have to write more or less a completely new story around the same characters and  the same general plot. The thing is you can't turn gameplay into a film, and the story elements will need to beefed up. It can work, so we'll have to wait and see. I think Doom has been the only Game film i've liked.

avatarIVN
avatarIVN

This game-become-movie tendency is annoying me since the movies always omit key elements just to sell a vague idea of why we love the game. Anyway, after the Prince of Persia movie, Ubisoft should better be watching the process like a hawk, ready to intervene at any moment. I am hopeful however, because the AC trailers are always very enjoyable, including that ACII movie that was used as a prologue of the game. 

69ingChimpmunks
69ingChimpmunks

WIll be seeing this no matter what because I am a huge Michael Fassbender fan. Only thing they really have to worry about is having a solid script and a good supporting cast.

shivR
shivR

It will be interesting to see how this is handled. If made properly it could be the beginning of a great franchise.  I'm sure some optimist said the same thing when the Price of Persia movie was announced.

 

The plot of the games... the past part anyway is good. I don't know how well the future stuff will translate onto the big screen. Especially because it was made to be a series and not a stand alone game.

mav_destroyer
mav_destroyer

Awesome! I'm so excited about this. This movie is gonna rock like all the previous video game movies that came out...

/sarcasm

Scorpion1813
Scorpion1813

"film based on stealth-action franchise"

 

AC1 was a stealth-action game.... but none of the others are - they are straight action games.

 

If Michael Fassbender is playing Altair I will boycott the AC franchise altogether (I'm still unsure if I want to buy AC3 at this point). I'm kind of OK with him playing Desmond, but at the same time I don't want the movie to be all about him.

AmericanDadd
AmericanDadd

 @Scorpion1813 you're gonna boycott the AC franchise altogether if assbender plays Altair?? that's ignorant, the games won't be less good/bad, no matter what the movie's outcome is going to be. BTW it's pretty safe to say he won't be playing Altair as Altair is middle-eastern ....

Scorpion1813
Scorpion1813

 @AmericanDadd 

No. As I pointed out, I may not even get the next game, because the quality of the games have been decreasing and they have gone too far away from what got me interested in the game in the first place - the stealth. It's practically been non-existent since AC2 went in a more action-oriented direction.

 

My interest in the series has been dwindling since AC2, getting worse with every new title. And so has my faith in the AC dev team.

 

As for this movie, I'm not expecting anything great but I at least hope they stay somewhat true to the (original) game and the characters (mostly Altair). Which isn't looking good since Ubisoft can't even stay true to their own game anyway.

 

As for Fassbender - Who could he play? He doesn't really fit well with ANY AC character so far. Yeah, Altair is middle-eastern. But Desmond is American, with native-American, Italian, and middle-Eastern ancestry. Fassbender is German. The model that they based Desmond and Altair's likeness off is French-Canadian with Spanish heritage.

 

But who's to say they won't use Fassbender for Altair. Hollywood is willing (and capable) of screwing things over like that. They were planning on giving Nathan Drake (from Uncharted) an Italian/American father and uncle for the simple fact of having Al Pacino and Robert De Niro star in a movie together. And this is a character who claims to be descended from Sir Francis Drake.

AlexFili
AlexFili like.author.displayName 1 Like

I think it's about time to get rid of the whole "Videogame movies are always bad" cliche. We're at the age when it is possible to make good quality films about game concepts.

Saketume
Saketume like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @AlexFili 

It should be possible to make good movies but all I see from hollywood these days is increased amounts of formula scripts.

They get more and more dumbed down. I can predict every scene, plot twist and ending simply because they keep reusing everything.

(Real Steel is a good example of this)

 

Good movies are few and far between these days. Even bad movies from the 80s hold more entertainment value for me than then majority of new hollywood movies.

 

When it comes to video game movies it's usually a cash in deal.

They (read: Uwe Boll) hope to make a quick buck off of brand recognition.

 

A big problem is that they take games with little to no story.

Games like Super Mario Bros, Street Figher & Doom. There's not much you can do with those.

 

 

That said. I think there are some decent video game movies.

Names that come to mind are: Resident Evil (the first one anyway),

Silent Hill & Pirates of the Caribbean (which is pretty much "The Secret of Monkey Island")

 

 

AlexFili
AlexFili

 @Saketume Well that happens with films in general. It's up to the director to step up to the plate and deliver something new like Casino Royale, Inception or The Avengers.

The-Neon-Seal
The-Neon-Seal

 @AlexFili  @Saketume The Avengers is a very good example of adapting source material for a diffrent medium. In Avengers #1, it does involve Loki using Hulk as a scape goat but it's to lure Thor into a trap. As it goes, bunch of heros get pulled into it, they find Hulk innocent and Thor wails on in adopted brother. Captain america isn't even in it, (I think it was issue #6 where they find him in ice). The line up was Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant man and Wasp... Huge changes from the original story... Yet it was SO FREAKIN' EPIC!!!

Lance_Kalzas
Lance_Kalzas

Exactly.  Whether anyone likes movies based off of video games or not isn't relevant.  If they make money, then that's relevant.  I really liked the Silent Hill movie.  Other people won't but that is one that was pretty true to the source material; it made a profit and a sequel is coming out.

scarletsnake
scarletsnake

 @AlexFili The best they can do is develop another storyline set in the same universe. What makes videogames fun is the experience of becoming the main character. When you take that away, there's hardly anything left to salvage. Fact; there are no good videogame movies that have been loyal to the source reference.

Lance_Kalzas
Lance_Kalzas

 @scarletsnake  @AlexFili

 That's not a fact.  That's an opinion and a very subjective one at that.  Even if you say all other movies based on video games that were true to the source material were horrible, that's also an opinion.  You're making very subjective statements and calling them a fact.  You're wrong.

AlexFili
AlexFili

 @ExtremePhobia  @Lance_Kalzas I would have to disagree there, if any game could be translated into a film easily, it would be Metal Gear Solid. Have you seen a Let's Play of Metal Gear Solid 4? That game is 95% movie already. Plus the action is like James Bond / Jason Bourne.

 

Another point I'm making in general is that, if you're doing a carbon-copy of a game without making changes to suit the medium, then you aren't doing a good job as a film director.

 

Take most of Stephen King's film adaptations, most are adapted from very short stories and a lot of the films have got high acclaim due to the amount of changes and elements changed to make the film flow better. "Shawshank Redemption", "Carrie", and "The Green Mile" to name a few.

 

Then we also have the TV series The Walking Dead which not only follows its own path regarding narration but is now being turned into videogames which at this moment in time, seem to be high quality.

 

In the same way that Halo and Mass Effect books are different to the games, so are films and animated movies. Each medium is different, so adapt, don't copy.

ExtremePhobia
ExtremePhobia

 @AlexFili  @Lance_Kalzas And what was wrong with Super Mario Bros and Double Dragon!?

 

All that aside, I agree for the most part that making a good video game movie is do-able but you even said yourself that...

"-Plot, they don't have to stick to any of the game timelines or characters, they can make their own narrative loosely based on the games."

 

Which was exactly his point. I'm not even saying that it can't be done. I think it can BUT some genres are not conducive to that. Metal Gear Solid? No way. The sections of gameplay just can't be translated to a big screen and the story is not the same without them.

 

Assassin's Creed might actually be able to do that though. My major concern is that Ubisoft is only retaining control of "Key plot points". That worries me a little because all of the best things come when the people making the movie have a respect for the source material. That's why the Nolan Batman movies worked. You respect the source, it respects you. It depends on who they give it to of course but we certainly haven't got any idea who is going to be doing it so I'm going to remain skeptical.

AlexFili
AlexFili

 @Lance_Kalzas  Lance is right, there are several examples of Videogame Movies which made substantial revenue and generated a cult following.

 

Mortal Kombat, who can forget the "Mortal Kombat Theme" and despite it's cheesiness, was reasonably good.

 

Tomb Raider. Not only did it make a decent amount of money but it generated a sequel, also giving Angelina Jolie a chance at more action-orientated roles.

 

Resident Evil. Regardless of how good the later movies were, the first one actually captured the tone of the games pretty well. Also they've generated HUGE revenues. How many other videogame franchises get 5 films?

 

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Regardless how true it was to the original plot, the parkour and the combat was there, along with the basic idea to rewind time. In my opinion it's the best videogame movie and just shows what a dedicated team can create.

 

Some reasons why Assassin's Creed will work:- Parkour, look at all the recent Action-Movies which featured parkour, the 007 movies, Marvel superhero films, Bourne... To my knowledge I've never seen a bad example of parkour.

- Plot, they don't have to stick to any of the game timelines or characters, they can make their own narrative loosely based on the games.

 

I'm not guaranteeing that the film will be a success, but at the same time it's far too early to discount it as another "cheesy game movie".

 

We've moved beyond the days of Super Mario Bros and Double Dragon. 

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