Shadow of the Colossus movie in development
One of the most critically beloved games of all time has started its path to the big screen.
"Shadow of the Colossus" is being set up at Sony Pictures by producer Kevin Misher ("The Interpeter," "The Rundown"), sources have confirmed (news first broke at the Hollywood Reporter).
"Shadow" was published by Sony Computer Entertainment, making this a rare example of content cross pollinating between the conglomerate's studio and games division.
The movie will be written by Justin Marks (Disney's in-development "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li'), who, I should admit, is a friend (as is Misher's development executive Kevin Chang, who played a key role in putting the project together).
Though it sold decently -- enough to keep the development team behind it, which also made "Ico," at work on a new title -- "Shadow" is best known for devoted praise by critics and fans of "games as art" (including me. It's one of my all time favorites). It's arguably the most emotional video game ever made.
It's also not an obvious candidate for a film. The game is an extremely solitary experience, as the main character, a young man named Wander (though you'd never know his name from playing the game) rides through a mysterious land on his horse Agro, slaying 16 colossi in hopes of bring the girl he loves back to life. As anyone who has played "Shadow" knows, it ends on a truly tragic note.
I understand the folks working on the project are planning to have some of the characters who appear only momentarily in the game, such as those who try to track down and stop Wander, play bigger roles in the film. And despite the game's somewhat "artsy" cred, they're hoping "Shadow" will be a "Lord of the Rings"-style fantasy tentpole.
As always, I do want to remind excitable gamers that getting set up a studio is still very far from actually making it to the big screen. Nonetheless, this is a pretty exciting first step for a not-too-obvious candidate for videogame-to-movie translation
Chris Morris reports on the business and culture of video games and offers analysis of recent events and industry trends.
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I just loved this game, and i have to agree, i really hope they will make a good movie! There as been a few very good "game to movie", but there have been a lot of bad ones! It was a fresh game idea, hopefully the movie will be as good!
Posted by: strategy games | October 05, 2009 at 12:01 PM
If they screw this up, I will be insanely pissed. Which they probably will. But I'll see it anyway with my best friend just so we can bitch TOGETHER if we want to, if the movie fails, which it probably will.
Posted by: LOL | June 15, 2009 at 10:44 AM
i dont care if the movie turns out to be a fail i will still love the game
Posted by: aowik | April 23, 2009 at 05:15 PM
I don't see how SOTC could possibly be made into a film at all, much less by Justin Marks. ps.I wonder who they're going to get to play Wander.
Posted by: emma | April 22, 2009 at 07:09 PM
someone has to stop them !
Posted by: kiril | April 21, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Uuuh...
Well, I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I don't know if I have much faith that the way will be found.
I keep seeing visions of Beowulf, for some reason... D: D: D:
...What the heck is a "fantasy tentpole"?
Posted by: j | April 18, 2009 at 03:48 PM
Still hoping that this is a belated April fools joke. It is just insane and anyone who thinks that this movie could be anything other than mediocre is in denial. Doesn't even make commercial sense to slap the name of a game that sold only 1 million copies onto the generic fantasy this will end up being. Just make a mediocre Uncharted/Killzone/Dead Space/Resistance/Call of Duty/Gears of War/Halo movie and idiots will clamour to give you their money. Also you won't piss of as many fans becuse lets face it these franchises are pure mindless fun and have no artistic merit.
Posted by: Appalled | April 12, 2009 at 09:25 PM
Never played the game... Just a demo version in a shop... And it's wonderful.
To choose someone as Justin Marks who made a bad movie like "Legend of Chun Li" to script this movie sounds like a blasphemy to me. A big one. Games like this should be directed only by people who understands the game concept very well like Guillermino del Toro (Labyrinth of the Faun) who said he played ICO and SotC and consider them as Art. If not, at least Peter Jackson (from what I've seen in King Kong).
Posted by: Ahrun | April 11, 2009 at 07:10 PM
this is going to kill sotc.
Posted by: Nelson | April 11, 2009 at 09:55 AM
It's not impossible for SoTC to be adapted, just plain difficult....but yeap....this whole thing smells like FAIL
Posted by: Rasvelg | April 11, 2009 at 01:56 AM
I could imagine a movie loosely based on the shadow of the colossus which is probably what they should have made clear from the beginning.
Either way without an actual talented director/production crew this is destined to fail (if it ever gets off the ground).
Posted by: qwea | April 09, 2009 at 12:49 PM
First of all, I knew that one day this game would be turned into a movie, but I sort of dreaded the idea souly because I love this game, I don't want it to be ruined and the core of the story is one man, his horse, a dead (or never-waking) woman and 16 colossi to kill in order to save her. My best idea to make this work is to fill the blanks of the story: Who is the "Wanderer"? What's his village like? Why did the woman die? Was it a ritual for something? How did the "Wanderer" steal the woman back and the sword of light? This things are the perfect backstory to fill the quietness in the journey. Another thing, I don't think is a good idea to show the battle of all 16 colossi because it would be too much. They should, at least, show in between of the movie several of the battles in a row, a scene of a couple of minutes. And an important thing, which is half of the experience, DO NOT CHANGE THE MUSIC! The wonderfully orchestred music sells itself.
I am a tiny hopefull that it would be a good movie. (All of us lost hope with the thousang Hollywood-version game-based movies they threw up on everyone {*cough*Resident Evil} And out of all of those adaptations, one should be bound to be great, hopefully. PLEASE! In the end, it is a bad idea to make this into a movie, but they allready agreed to do it. So, there is, sadly, nothing we can do.
Posted by: Jon | April 09, 2009 at 08:37 AM
Those who know about the game know also that one of the game's fundamental concepts was to overcome the restrictions of the medium called film. It creates emotional stimulation that can come only through playing it yourself, not even watching someone play it.
The whole idea is ridiculous and must be stopped by all means!
Posted by: weissgold | April 09, 2009 at 07:14 AM
http://www.petitiononline.com/SOTCFLM/petition.html
please help me spread the petition around to try and stop this from happening!!
http://www.petitiononline.com/SOTCFLM/petition.html
Posted by: James McCreddie | April 09, 2009 at 05:27 AM
Shadow is the only game that I can honestly consider a work of art. People who have played the game will not be happy about a movie. There is about 3 minutes of plot over the entire game, leaving most of it up to the imagination. For instance, you never find out what Wander's connection is to the girl or why he is really trying to save her. If any details are made up and added just to fit in the movie, many fans of the game will see it as blasphemy. This is a lose-lose for hollywood. They will alienate fans of the game, and will not be able to reach a mainstream audience.
A lot of times I'd be willing to give game-movies a chance, and a few liberties to make it work. But SotC was such a complete vision, and such a masterful work of art that I do not want it touched. I feel the same way if they suddenly announced they were going to re-make the Godfather movies.
PLEASE STOP MAKING THIS MOVIE.
Posted by: Nick | April 08, 2009 at 09:57 AM
There is no hope if the ass who wrote Legend of Chun-li is writing the script. I saw Chun-li and I hated every second of it. Truly atrocious. How dare they give this guy a such beautiful property to work on.
Posted by: Drew | April 08, 2009 at 09:13 AM
Well, I've give your friends some credit: they're at least picking a really beautiful game to adapt.
But you've played Shadow of the Colossus. There's no way they're going to be able to represent the sensation stealing over the player that they're murdering innocent creatures. They're not going to be able to preserve the ambiguity of the setting that game players will readily accept and moviegoers will see as the movie being lazy, and it's critical to making it work, as well. It's unfilmable.
It doesn't make business sense either. It's a wonderful game, but it's not got the name recognition most other video game movies have, and from what I'm hearing the sort of people who would go and see a SotC movie are reacting in almost universal horror. There's no reason for this movie to have the license, and I can't help but feel the license is going to get in the way of delivering a good movie. No-one's going to be too upset if Marks and the eventual director borrow liberally from the game's aesthetic and tone but ultimately make their own thing that's not supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus.
Posted by: Merus | April 08, 2009 at 06:25 AM
Wow, they haven't starting writing the script and you guys are already condemning the project.
If this is to be a mainstream adaptation, why the hell would they stick to the game's story bible? Of course they'll mold the fiction for the big screen.
At some point, the bar for game-based movies will be raised, and who's to say this one doesn't stand a chance of being great?
I'll hold my barbs for now, thanks.
Posted by: Noonan | April 08, 2009 at 06:04 AM
This is a disaster.
Posted by: P-hocto | April 08, 2009 at 05:04 AM
Are you guys kidding? The game is beautiful and there are a million reasons why I would love to go see this movie.
Posted by: Nancy Pants | April 08, 2009 at 01:03 AM
SotC? Really? Couldn't they have just ruined a jock-slop game like Halo or Gears of War with a crappy movie translation, helmed by a crappy director? Hollywood lost its vision of artistry long ago, and now it looks like they intend to poison the video game well also. Uwe Bol was only the warning shot...
Posted by: Wiggles | April 08, 2009 at 12:36 AM
@ Mike Brothers
I guess someone in Hollywood thinks it can be adapted.
Let's see - Justin Marks has been chosen to write the screenplay. His credits include Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
This is not going to end well.
Oh well, we'll always have the game.
Posted by: Boothe | April 07, 2009 at 07:07 PM
@Boothe
But SotC, the core essence and character of it, cannot be adapted for film. It can changed, chopped and butchered. But adapted? Eh...
This is just a bad idea. Have they run out of huge-selling game franchises to make big, dumb movies out of? Sigh.
Posted by: Mike Brothers | April 07, 2009 at 06:50 PM
@TheGameCritique
You're right, it wouldn't make sense for the filmmakers to try to emulate the story from the game. Hopefully we've all learned from the Watchmen debacle.
If you're going to bring a property to the big screen, adapt the story so that it fits with the medium (film).
Posted by: Boothe | April 07, 2009 at 05:18 PM
mmm the Rundown was a high point for my personal hero Dwayne the rock Johnson. Let's hope this guy can make lightning strike twice.
Posted by: iroquois pliskin | April 07, 2009 at 04:51 PM
I will be spitting venom all over this production. Shadow of the Colossus is a masterpiece as a game and can only go downwards when constricted into an inferior medium.
Posted by: SpikeDelight | April 07, 2009 at 04:20 PM
No offence to your friend, but he is clearly not the right kind of person for this.
I eman, I am completely against a film int he first place, but it kind of rubbing salt in the wound, that the director of other 'lets-pass-them-off-on-the-second-rate-director' films, is directing this adaptation.
It's kind of the last thing I would have hoped for. Much less cross with your friend and much more cross with Sony for selling the IP as a movie.
Posted by: Kyle Barrett | April 07, 2009 at 03:36 PM
I don't see how this could work while keeping any of the feeling or core of the game. The game's story was crafted so thourally for the video game medium that it doesn't fit for any other medium. Only in video games do we accept that we spend half of the game running around not really advancing anything. Movies require a constant moving forward in the story. There is a reason we don't see characters performing repetative actions without something unique happening at the same time, a conversation or epiphany for example, or them happening in a montage. However, we find this perfectly accpetable in video games. Major changes to the story would have to be made to the very core of Shadows of the Collosus for it to work in the movie format.
Posted by: TheGameCritique | April 07, 2009 at 03:32 PM
Maybe if Malick directs it wont suck, but its more likely that I'll blink my eyes and grow a foot.
Posted by: Lookf4r | April 07, 2009 at 03:18 PM