Exclusive: Horizon Zero Dawn Is Becoming A Movie
Horizon Zero Dawn is the next video game movie adaptation.
Update: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was confirmed with Netflix moving forward with Horizon Zero Dawn. But that movie was ultimately canceled.
Horizon Zero Dawn was a big success for Sony when it released for the PlayStation 4 back in 2017. The franchise has only released that one entry as of now, but another game is in the works and set to be released later this year. It sounds like Sony knows this has the potential to be one of their flagship video game series. And it also seems like they want to expand it into something even larger than that.
According to one of our trusted and proven inside sources, Sony is developing a movie based on Horizon Zero Dawn. This would line up with other plans we have exclusively revealed regarding Sony developing a Demon’s Souls movie as well. It would appear that Sony is taking a hard look at their inventory of intellectual properties and realizing that a big untapped well of potential is in the video games that they own the rights to. With their shared deal with Marvel regarding Spider-Man, they are somewhat left without a lot of other franchise properties that they wholly control. Looking to their popular video game franchises for inspiration makes a lot of sense.
And Horizon Zero Dawn is definitely a good place to draw upon for a movie. The game centers around Aloy, a young woman who lives as a hunter in a world that has been overwhelmed by machines of all different kinds. Set in the 31st century, the world is a tribal one where groups of humans band together to survive in an untamed landscape that has been dominated by mechanical creatures knowns as “machines.” Eventually, a strange phenomenon causes the machines to become more hostile towards humans and makes their survival even more difficult. Aloy eventually sets out into the world to uncover the truth about her past.
It’s a fantastic sci-fi premise with a great sense of design that could make for a truly engaging movie. Horizon Zero Dawn has plenty of potential but it would likely count on nabbing the right visionary artist to head the project. Unfortunately, a lot of video game movies don’t seem to nail that aspect. You have someone like Paul W.S. Anderson who seems to bring a certain uniform feel to his video game adaptations (except for Mortal Komba, which deserves reappraisal). Hopefully, Horizon Zero Dawn is an intriguing and unique enough property that a filmmaker with a great style can find themselves attached to the project. Think something along the lines of Jordan Vogt-Roberts and his continued attachment to the Metal Gear Solid movie.
Sony is clearly going through their library of video games and figuring out which ones would work best as major motion pictures. It’s going to be interesting seeing how they bring Horizon Zero Dawn to the world of live-action blockbusters. Just how big are they willing to go with a franchise that sells itself on massive scope and giant machine creatures? It won’t be cheap but we are definitely on board with Sony giving this property a shot at the big screen.
