Gaming creator Hideo Kojima is partnering with Barbarian executive producer Alex Lebovici to adapt the popular PlayStation game, Death Stranding, for the big screen.
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Deadline is reporting that Lebovici’s production company, Hammerstone Studios, is fully financing the endeavor. In the video game, which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide since its debut in 2019, players follow Sam Bridges (voiced by Norman Reedus, pictured above) as he works to bring hope to a United States where a “Death Stranding” event opened the doorway between the living and the dead, causing ghouls, ghosts, and other creatures from the land of the unliving to wreak havoc in our mortal realm.
The plot for the feature adaptation is currently unknown, though Deadline reports that it “will introduce new elements and characters within the Death Stranding universe.” There’s no director or writer officially attached to the adaptation either, though the project is reportedly already in development and on the “fast track.” This news also comes on the heels of Hideo Kojima’s announcement that a sequel to the first game is in the works for PlayStation 5, with Kojima serving as writer, director, producer, and designer.
“We are thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to partner with brilliant and iconic Hideo Kojima on his first film adaptation,” Lebovici said in a statement to Deadline. “Unlike other big budget tentpole video game adaptations, this will be something far more intimate and grounded. Our goal is to redefine what a video game adaptation could be when you have creative and artistic freedom. This film will be an authentic ‘Hideo Kojima’ production.”
We don’t have any casting news, but here’s to hoping that some of the cast for the game—which in addition to Reedus includes Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro(!), and Margaret Qualley—will make their way to the live-action feature.
