Fresh from the success of not mapped and Sonic the hedgehog 2 Sony and Sega, respectively, are planning film adaptations of even more of their franchises. Deadline reports that Sony is developing Days gone by for the big screen, while Sega says it’s developing tweaks to Room channel 5 and comix zone.
These join a dizzying array of customizations currently developed or produced only by Sony, including: Gran Turismo, Ghost of Tsushima, Jak and Daxter, The last of us and god of war. As it stands, the number of upcoming projects from other studios on the Wikipedia page for movies adapted from video games is almost half of the total number of films ever historically released within the genre. Notable upcoming projects also include films based on Minecraft, Five nights at Freddy’s and Metal Gear Solid.
The The day is over adaptation of Sheldon Turner is reportedly in development within the film division of Sony Playstation Productions (other than Sony Pictures), with Foreigner star Sam Heughan currently being considered for the lead role of Deacon St. John.
Meanwhile, Barry Battles and Nir Paniry are credited with writing the story for Room channel 5which relates to “the story of a hapless fast food worker who is recruited by a freedom reporter from the future to save the world from aliens using the one thing that unites all humans on the planet: our love of crazy viral dances.”
Mae Catt, credited for writing young justice and the How To Train Your Dragon spin-off series Dragons: The Nine Realms is attached to writing comix zone. Currently, the plot follows a “jaded comic book artist and a young, odd-looking writer of color who, when sucked into the final issue of his hit series, must put aside their differences to stop a dangerous super-villain from sowing complete destruction.”
It should be noted here that the fact that these changes are “in development” does not guarantee that they will happen, only that Sony and Sega would like them. There has been no mention of a possible release date for any of the three projects.
It’s unclear how big the audience is for movies and TV shows based on more obscure video games. Neither Room channel 5 nor comix zone are well-known names in the same way that: Sonic the hedgehog is and Days Gone’s sales pale in comparison to Uncharted’s four entries.
Still, it seems that video game adaptations are getting a lot of extra love these days. If these projects actually get released and are well received, we may be on the cusp of a video game movie revival. Let’s hope the upcoming (and currently untitled) Mario movie does better than the 1993 Super Mario Bros monstrosity.
