The Last of Us may see a jump from Silicon Valley to Tinsel Town thanks to Sony’s recent initiative that seems to be pushing their video game IPs on to the silver screen. The game sits among their most cinematic exclusive properties so it’s not terribly surprising that Sony would consider a feature film version. Deadline broke the story yesterday.
Screen Gems, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has signed on to distribute the film alongside Ghost House Pictures, the production company founded by Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi and responsible for the Evil Dead remake as well as the upcoming Army of Darkness 2. Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper released a statement saying:
“Screen Gems’ Brian Dukes and Eric Ling brought this game to my attention insisting we go after it, and when I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay, I am thrilled that SCEA’s Riley Russell was able to get me in front of Neil and Evan Wells to plead my case. Sam and his team at Ghost House round out the perfect team to help realize Neil’s vision.”
Details are scarce right now, just that Last of Us scribe Neil Druckmann will also pen the screenplay for the movie. A production company hiring someone to work on a script is quite common, so there’s no guarantee of a completed film just yet. Once talent and a director are attached (none have been announced as of the writing of this article) it will give us a stronger indication this project is on its way to being a full fledged movie. Naughty Dog Co-Presidents Evan Wells, Christophe Baelstra and Last of Us’s game director Bruce Straley will have some kind of involvement with the film’s development, though it was vague what said involvement will be. Screen Gems has released a logline:
Hardened survivor Joel teams with young and capable companion Ellie to journey through a radically transformed world some 20 years after an infectious pandemic ravages humanity. The game has won numerous awards and has been a big seller since its release last summer.
Sounds like The Last of Us alright. As more details are announced and it congeals into a more movie-ish form we’ll give you the skinny here on Enemy Slime.
Source: Deadline.
