Once held up as the poster child for a new wave of Hollywood video game movies, it’s no secret that Justin Kurzel’s live-action Assassin’s Creed movie woefully underperformed – critically and indeed commercially – thereby calling those tentative sequel plans into question.
Ubisoft has so far remained coy about the chances of revisiting Callum Lynch in the future, but one way or another, the release of Assassin’s Creed has set off a chain reaction at the publisher’s newfound Ubisoft Motion Pictures. Beyond the realm of genetic ancestors and clandestine organizations, Ubi has also issued the green light for game-to-movie adaptations based on Splinter Cell, Watch Dogs and The Division. The latter appears to be the furthest along in development, and after recruiting Gold director Stephen Gaghan – not to mention two bona fide Hollywood A-listers in Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal – Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed that the adaptation is indeed “well on the way.”
Per GameSpot, Guillemot noted that The Division “is well on the way,” before clarifying that the adaptation is “well on the way in its first phases.”
The script is still incubating in the early stages of development, and Ubisoft is yet to locate a Hollywood studio to partner with on The Division. On the topic of the latter, Guillemot claimed “lots of people are interested [in] that movie,” but stopped short of naming names. For the sake of comparison, Ubi joined forces with New Regency and 20th Century Fox for last year’s Assassin’s Creed movie, and though there are a handful of other video game movies gestating in production – namely Warner Bros.’ Tomb Raider reboot – the sub-genre has no doubt been tainted by a string of middling adaptations.
Will The Division be the one to buck tradition? We’ll find out in due time.