After cult developer Hideo Kojima (“Metal Gear Solid”) announced a sequel to his critically acclaimed video game hit “Death Stranding” a year ago at the annual Game Awards, he immediately dropped the next “Death Stranding” bomb: a “Death Stranding” movie is coming soon, in the development of which Kojima himself will be actively involved as a producer and creative advisor.
However, since this announcement, the project has been quiet – until now! Because now Kojima has not only confirmed that the ‘Death Stranding’ movie is still coming, but also revealed that he has now taken a very exciting step forward: The renowned film studio A24 is now part of the “Death stranding“adaptation is new on board – and that gives hope for great things…
From the studio behind the best films of 2022 and 2023
A24 was only founded just over ten years ago, but has already built up an almost flawless reputation in recent years. In a market flooded with franchises, sequels and remakes, the film company currently stands out like no other for unusual and creatively implemented original material and has not only given us movie highlights like ‘Hereditary’ and ‘The Lighthouse’, but also perhaps the best films of 2022 and 2023 with the multiverse hit ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and the moving ‘Past Lives’.
The fact that A24 is now working with Kojima fits like a glove, as the video game guru himself states in an official statement (via ): “Their innovative approach to storytelling is consistent with what we have been doing at Kojima Productions for the past eight years.”
With a mythology enriched with many bizarre and original ideas, Hideo Kojima actually created a very special gaming experience in the case of ‘Death Stranding’ that largely bypasses the usual genre definitions and is quite unique in this size segment in the gaming world. Whether this translates to the big screen remains to be seen, however. But we could certainly do that with A24 production.
From cinematic games to feature films
For Kojima, the first film adaptation of one of his brands is the next logical step in his work. His works are already characterized by a particularly cinematic production and collaboration with Hollywood greats. For his mysterious next project ‘OD’ (which would blur the boundaries between film and game), he collaborates with ‘Get Out’ creator Jordan Peele and ‘ES’ scene stealer Sophia Lillis and cult star Udo Kier.
And in ‘Death Stranding’, the main characters were embodied by famous actors such as ‘Walking Dead’ star Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Léa Seydoux, as well as by filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn using performance capture. Of course, it is logical to assume that they could also be involved in the film adaptation. However, their supposed approach might prevent this…
No direct adjustment?
There aren’t many details yet about the “Death Stranding” movie, but there are Kojima promised that the whole thing couldn’t be a direct adaptation of the first game, but rather an expansion of the sci-fi world it shows. In his statements, it even sounds like we might see the backstory of the titular catastrophic event in the film, which is only hinted at in-game.
In the game’s dystopian future, this has pierced the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead, rendering large parts of the US uninhabitable. The main character of the game is deliveryman Sam Porter Bridges, who is tasked with reconnecting disconnected nodes in the country, uniting the population again and giving them new hope.
However, it cannot be ruled out that Sam or other characters known from the game will also appear in the film at least briefly and may then even be played by their previous actors.
However, there is currently no information about the people involved in front of and behind the camera (with the exception of Kojima himself, of course). It is therefore unclear whether, in addition to A24, Hammerstone Studios (“Barbarian”), which was originally associated with the film adaptation, is still on board.