Sony are planning on using their new production studio PlayStation Productions to turn some of the biggest original PlayStation properties into feature-length movies and television series.
Head of PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash and Shawn Layden (chairman of Worldwide Studios) are particularly interested in developing projects based on the hugely successful catalogue of video games on the PS4.
Qizilbash stated in a recent interview that ‘instead of licensing our IP out to studios, we felt the better approach was for us to develop and produce it ourselves.’
Films based on successful video games are fairly common, as they often follow much-loved characters and tell stories filled with fast-paced action. Something that often translates into commercial success. However, adaptions of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Assassins Creed recently hit theatres with mixed to poor receptions.
On the other hand, Pokémon Detective Pikachu launched to much warmer reviews this month and even knocked superhero behemoth Avengers Endgame off the box office top spot in several territories.
Could PlayStation Productions and their future output increase the popularity of video game films even further?
As Layden himself said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, ‘We’ve got 25 years of game development experience and that’s created 25 years of great games, franchises and stories.’ That’s certainly a lot of content to draw from.
Qizilbash went on to talk about why they think they can make the initiative work, saying, ‘One, because we’re more familiar [with the franchises in question], but also because we know what the PlayStation community loves.’
But which well-known franchises can gamers expect to see adapted into film and TV shows in the coming years?
Well, it seems that a Twisted Metal TV adaptation is already in the works, as confirmed by CEO of Sony Pictures, Tony Vinciquerra.
Twisted Metal is a franchise of vehicular combat games which sees players engaging in fights to the death using weaponised cars. David Jaffe (one of the lead designers on Twisted Metal) has offered to help with the production, citing his excitement for the project in a recent tweet.
Could this adaptation perhaps be riffing on the 2015 car combat smash hit Mad Max: Fury Road? With nothing else out of that franchise four years later there is certainly a gap in the market.
Speaking to investors, Vinciquerra also mentioned the Uncharted adaptation which has been known about for a while. The film is reported to star Tom Holland (star of Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Vinciquerra described it as in ‘advanced development for a film.’
There was no word on the possible The Last of Us adaptation that we have heard Naughty Dog speak cryptically about before, but there is certainly a strong contingent of fans hoping that it will happen one day.
Because Sony is not attending E3 this year we might hear more about the Twisted Metal adaptation as well as future plans for PlayStation Productions during an upcoming State of Play live stream.
Stay tuned to Daily Star Gaming for any PlayStation Productions developments as they’re announced.
A new Sony initiative dubbed ‘PlayStation Productions’ aims to adapt fan favourite PlayStation games into film and television programmes.
