Ubisoft secures deal for Assassin’s Creed movie

By: Musa Afridi

  |   October 23rd, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Prometheus star, Michael Fassbender, confirmed for the film and Ubisoft maintain creative control of the project as the deal with New Regency is finalized.

Hollywood’s lack of originality is apparent. Drawing inspiration from everything that has already proven to be a success, the risk averse industry doesn’t seem to like taking chances. This is probably the reason why the studios often adapt comics, graphic novels, books and more recently, video games, onto the big screen.

Every so often there is an exception with the likes of Inception, which was based on an original screenplay by Christopher Nolan, but apart from that one might as well take up reading if they want to see the movies before the movies are even made.

With that rant out of the way, it is time now to move on the news that we are sure many will receive with mixed emotions, as Ubisoft has announced that they have agreed a deal with New Regency to bring the Assassin’s Creed lore to the big screen.

Brad Weston, the president of New Regency, explained how the studio did not hold back in ensuring the rights came to them and no one else. He said, “We wanted to do everything we could to secure the rights to Assassin’s Creed, which Ubisoft has maintained with such care and quality over the years.”

At the same time, Jean-Julien Baronnet, the CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures, also believes that the move would help ensure that the studio retained control over which direction the movie adaptation was going to go and that the partnership was perfect in terms of being more flexible than other studios.

He explained, “Ubisoft chose to parent with New Regency because they are a talent- and filmmaker-driven company, with the same independent and creative mindset we have at Ubisoft Motion Pictures.”

Baronnet continued, “Bringing aboard New Regency’s renowned production and distribution expertise while maintaining our own creative and financial flexibility, ensures that Assassin’s Creed will be a high-quality film that respects the lore and fans of the video game franchise.”

The news follows rumours of an Uncharted movie, that has seen the third director change as well as rumours of a Halo movie, though those seem far-fetched. Resident Evil: Retribution was the latest movie based on a video game franchise to be released and although it was received all too well, it still managed to make a fair bit of money at the box office.

However, Ubisoft has strict quality control on its franchises and it will be interesting to see if they can work with New Regency without either side creating too much friction. Having said that we certainly are excited by the prospect of seeing an Assassin’s Creed movie.

Oh, and Michael Fassbender is in it too.