Norman Reedus Video Game Becoming A Movie
The video game Death Stranding, starring Norman Reedus, is being adapted to the big screen.
Deadline has reported that Kojima Productions and Hammerstone Studios are teaming up to make a film adaptation of the Norman-Reedus starring video game Death Stranding. Game director Hideo Kojima is producing under his Kojima Productions banner while Alex Lebovici produces under Hammerstone. Kojima Productions US and Allan Ungar will serve as executive producers on the project.
The film has yet to announce a cast for the project, but you have to imagine that Norman Reedus would be involved. The Death Stranding game starred Reedus as Sam Bridges, a courier who reconnects the remaining survivors of humanity after America has been decimated by a disastrous event that connected the realms of the living and the dead. The game also included a star-studded supporting cast comprised of Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro, Troy Baker, and Margaret Qualley.
The game also netted numerous nominations at the 2019 Game Awards, including a nomination for Game of the Year and a nomination for Norman Reedus as Best Performance. Death Stranding ended up taking home wins for Best Direction, Best Score/Music, and Best Performance for Mads Mikkelsen. While the critical and commercial reception of the game was generally positive thanks to the unique concepts and cinematic nature of the game, it was a bit divisive due to its slow pacing.
Of course, Hideo Kojima is one of the most revered creatives in the gaming industry, so it’s no surprise that the game sold well and was well-received overall. After Kojima split from Konami and made his own independent production studio in 2015, fans were intensely curious about his next project. With a star-studded cast that included Norman Reedus and a wholly unique game that only Kojima could come up with, Death Stranding ended up becoming a hit.
In fact, it was such a hit that a sequel was officially unveiled at The Game Awards 2022. Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, and Troy Baker will be returning for Death Stranding 2 along with new characters played by Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna. Little is known about the game at this time.
As for the film, the plot is also being kept under wraps. There’s no word on if Norman Reedus’ Sam Bridges will be in the Death Stranding film, but the Deadline report says there will be new characters and new elements introduced to the universe. There is also no one officially attached to direct or write the film, but it’s apparently on the development fast track at this point.
Hideo Kojima has long been known for making his video games highly cinematic, starting with the Metal Gear franchise. To see Kojima finally making a feature adaptation of his works is long overdue. Hopefully, Norman Reedus will be along for the right to bring the Death Stranding adaptation to life.
In the meantime, there are plenty of other video-game adaptations in the works outside of the Death Stranding film. Most notably, HBO Max has its The Last of Us adaptation on the way and Amazon officially announced a God of War series. Video game adaptations have been pretty hit or miss in the past, but hopefully, adaptations like these will mark a prestige-level turning point in the genre.
