MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
To celebrate the launch of wintry survival game The Long Dark, which leaves Steam’s Early Access today, developer Hinterland has announced it will be bringing the title to the big screen in the form of live-action film adaptation.
The game, which is due to launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC today, August 1st, has already sold 1.3m copies on Steam so far, Hinterland has confirmed, and its success has been a driving factor behind its new co-production partnership with Jeremy Bolt, the producer of the Resident Evil films.
In addition to Bolt’s producing talent, the live-action adaption will have a script written by Hinterland’s founder and creative director Raphael Van Lierop. A director and cast of actors, however, have yet to be announced.
My goal with Hinterland – starting with The Long Dark — has always been to create original entertainment properties that could span multiple mediums, exploiting the storytelling potential of each form” said van Lierop.
Partnering with Jeremy on this project is the first step in achieving that vision of true cross-platform storytelling in the world of The Long Dark.”
Bolt added: I first reached out to Raphael, as a fan of The Long Dark. I was immediately taken by the game’s stunningly immersive landscapes, eerily solitary and realistic nature; it is an existential tale of moral, emotional and physical endurance with strong characters to build on; it is also a mystery. It is an honour to try to do justice to it on film.”
To give fans an idea of how the game might translate to the big screen, Hinterland has produced a five-minute short film called Elegy (which you can view below). This is directed by Jared Pelletier, written by van Lierop and performed by Oscar winner Christopher Plummer, with van Lierop calling it a "visual poem" that "stands as an example of the level of quality and the overall tone I’d like to deliver in The Long Dark film."
