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Almost a year on from its disruptive E3 trailer debut, We Happy Few is being made into a movie.
Varierty reports that the film is being made by Pitch perfect producer Gold Circle Entertainment, in partnership with dj2 Entertainment and the game’s developer Compulsion Games.
[dj2] approached us enthusiastically with really solid ideas about how to adapt our game to film while retaining its menace, dark humour, and central themes,” Compulsion’s head developer Guillaume Provost said.dj2 CEO Dmitri Johnson added: Our commitment is to make a movie that remains true to the source material, while still surprising fans.”
dj2 is also currently working on Sleeping Dogs and Sonic the Hedgehog films.
We Happy Few was one of the surprise hits of E3 2016, with its spectacular debut trailer elevating it to the top of plenty of the ‘Game of the Show’ lists. The short, which you can see below, depicts a dystopian 1960s London where the populace are kept in the line through the mandatory use of a mood altering drug called Joy.
Those who shun the treatments are branded as ‘Downers’ and pursued by the authorities.
Some have already voiced their surprise that a game that has yet to exit its Early Access period could be considered for a film adaptation, but there’s no arguing that We Happy Few’s premise is immediately alluring and seemingly ripe for a movie spin-off.
However, what’s also true is that the game itself currently lacks much in the way of satisfactory conclusion, so the film will either have to conjure one up for itself or else tap into the developer’s future plans.
It’s also worth noting that We Happy Few’s tremendous early hype very quickly dissipated when the game arrived to a quite bleak reception.
