Michael Sarnoski and A24 are set to deliver Hideo Kojima’s genre-defying video game Death Stranding to the big screen with a live-action film adaptation of the bizarre walking simulator, which left players scratching their heads when it originally released in 2019.
According to Deadline’s sources, Sarnoski will write and direct the film, with A24 alongside Ari Aster (Midsommar) and Lars Knudsen’s (The Witch) Square Peg joining on as producers. The movie’s storyline is set to focus on the mysterious phenomenon known as the “Death Stranding”, a series of events that shattered the vein between the worlds of the living and the dead, allowing unspeakable horrors to come through and driving the world to the brink of destruction.
The original game, which was released on the PlayStation 4, was a unique mix of walking simulator, delivery, stealth, and platforming genres, providing an experience like no other and selling more than 19 million copies worldwide as of November last year. The game featured a strange yet captivating narrative, boosted by an all-star cast including Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux and Mads Mikkelsen. For now, it’s not known if any of its cast will reprise their roles for the movie, such as the Reedus’ protagonist Sam Porter Bridges.
The upcoming project adds another high-profile notch to Sarnoski’s belt, previously helming the 2024 horror spin-off A Quiet Place: Day One, with the director currently deep in post-production on his next film, The Death of Robin Hood, which stars Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer. As the Death Stranding film is still in its early stages of production, no details on its release window have been revealed yet.
On the video game front, Kojima Productions has recently revealed the launch date of its sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which will arrive on the PlayStation 5 on 26 June this year. The game will see the return of familiar faces like Reedus and Seydoux, alongside new additions to its cast, including Elle Fanning, Luca Marinelli and George Miller.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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