Hot on the heels of the game sequel announcement from The Game Awards 2022 comes the news of a Death Stranding film adaptation, broken yesterday by Deadline. The adaptation will see Kojima producing the movie alongside Alex Lebovici's Hammerstone Productions, with the latter also financing the project. Lebovici's most notable credits include this year's horror film Barbarian, featuring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long. Interestingly, Lebovici is also credited as an executive producer on 2018's unofficial Uncharted live-action short featuring Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake.
According to the report, the plot will introduce new elements and characters to the Death Stranding universe. It is currently unclear whether the existing characters will be played by the same actors seen in the game (Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Lindsay Wagner, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Margaret Qualley), though it would be strange otherwise, given that they're all very much familiar with shooting live action films.
Hideo Kojima said in an official statement:
I couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership with Hammerstone Studios. This is a pivotal moment for the franchise and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them in bringing DEATH STRANDING to the big screen.
Alex Lebovici added:
We are thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to partner with brilliant and iconic Hideo Kojima on his first film adaptation. Unlike other big budget tentpole video game adaptations, this will be something far more intimate and grounded. Our goal is to redefine what a video game adaptation could be when you have creative and artistic freedom. This film will be an authentic “Hideo Kojima” production.
Today, Kojima also appeared in a brief video message to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Kojima Productions. He showed the new office and confirmed another game is in production (likely the one where he's partnering with Xbox) alongside 'visual projects'.
