GTA Company Take-Two Will Be "Very Selective, And Very Careful" With Film Adaptations

While a GTA or Red Dead Redemption movie sounds like a no-brainer, parent company Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick wants "be very, very selective, and very careful" with film adaptations. That's apparently because Zelnick knows how hard it is to make a good flick after previously working at 20th Century Fox, among other factors.

Zelnick (via VGC) talked about turning Take-Two's franchises into films at its quarterly earnings call this week. "We have licensed two properties," he said. "We've licensed Borderlands to Lionsgate; there's a picture coming. We've licensed BioShock; we're looking forward to that as well. And we have other titles in discussions, not anything ready to announce. But we're going to be very, very selective, and very careful."

The CEO then elaborated on the risk/reward business of licensing one of Take-Two's franchises--say perhaps GTA--to a studio. Even if the movie hits big, the video game company only gets a fraction of the profits, he said. And if it bombs, Zelnick explained "we run the risk of compromising the underlying intellectual property, so it's a high bar."

The Borderlands movie is planned to premiere August 9, 2024, in theaters. It's been a long road for the project, as Borderlands finished filming in 2021 but ended up having reshoots with Deadpool director Tim Miller earlier this year. Borderlands will star Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart.

Meanwhile, the BioShock film isn't anywhere close to as far along as Borderlands. Netflix revealed the BioShock movie in early 2022, with writer Michael Green stating last month he's excited to dig into the "great big sprawling nightmare."

Video game movies have become some of the biggest blockbusters at the box office the past couple of years. For example, Five Nights at Freddy's has already made over $200 million on just a reported $20 million budget. Nintendo recently unveiled a live-action Zelda film is in the works, after The Super Mario Bros. Movie made over $1 billion globally.

As for Take-Two, the next GTA game will get an official trailer next month.