It was around this time last year when we first heard news about the Assassin’s Creed movie. Coming off the back of X-Men: First Class and Prometheus, Michael Fassbender was also confirmed to don the coveted white robes as the central assassin. And now, courtesy of 20th Century Fox and New Regency – the two studios responsible for the big screen adaption – the film has been given a firm release date for May 22nd, 2015.
A Memorial Day weekend is an ambitious window to deploy a cinematic adaptation of Assassin’s Creed. Not to mention the rather infamous adage that filmmakers struggle to capture the essence of video games on the silver screen, but over the past few years, the latter stages of May have hosted blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The World’s End which, incidentally, is the highest grossing film in that period. A bold decision, no doubt. Still, with Michael Fassbender attached to produce and star, perhaps the Assassin’s Creed movie can rise above these formidable obstacles.
Based on the popular franchise from Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed is a third person title that hosts a combination of action and stealth-based gameplay that has given the franchise its unique identity since its inception back in 2007. Fassbender is poised to play the central character who, through a futuristic invention known as the Animus, discovers that his ancestors were part of an age-old war between the Assassins and the Knights Templar. With its roots firmly in science fiction, it will be fascinating to see how Michael Lesslie adjusts the story for a movie going audience, after recently signing on as the film’s screenwriter.
Though there is no word of a director yet, this is perhaps one of the most promising video game adaptations to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. Furthermore, with a Tom Clancy film in the pipeline, too, it would seem that the misguided genre of the video game movie is witnessing a bolstering resurgence. We’ll just have to wait until May 22nd, 2015 to see whether or not that’s a renaissance worth championing.
Do you think the Assassin’s Creed movie could break the curse for the video game movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!