Hitman Absolution goes Hollywood in 2012 - Report

Earlier this week, Square Enix made Hitman Absolution official following trademark speculation. Few details on the project were included with the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 game's announcement, but now new intelligence has trickled out.

According to a report from the Hollywood Reporter, Hitman Absolution is tapping a dozen Hollywood actors and a noted performance capture studio for Io Interactive's new series entry.

Among the list of Hollywood acting talent named for Absolution is Keith Carradine (Cowboys & Aliens), who will play new villain Blake Dexter, and Marsha Thomason (White Collar), who will play Diana Bradwood, protagonist Agent 47's "handler." Other actors were not mentioned in the report.

According to the report, Square Enix enlisted the help of Hollywood talent because the new game "places more emphasis on the emotional human stories that evolve."

"There are more central characters in this game than we've ever dealt with before and they all have names and an important role in the story, so working with Hollywood talent was crucial to us," said game director Tore Blystad. "It's important within the framework of the game for players to be able to connect with these characters."

Absolution will also benefit from Hollywood performance capture firm Giant Studios, the team that brought the Na'vi to life in James Cameron's Avatar and Gollum from Lord of the Rings on the silver screen. Additionally, Giant Studios has worked on various game projects.

Further, the report offered sales statistics for the franchise, saying the series has sold over 10 million copies since debuting in 2000, with the latest entry--2006's Blood Money--selling 2.1 million units.

The report also mentioned the upcoming Hitman movie, which is currently in production at Fox, with Adrian Askarieh (Hitman) and Chuck Gordon (Die Hard) producing. The latest draft of the movie's script was penned by Daniel Casey (Jimmy Six).

The report closes by stating that Square Enix is hoping to ship both the Hitman game and movie in 2012, though more specific dates were not offered.