The epic samurai videogame Ghost of Tsushima is one of the most highly rated and critically acclaimed videogames of recent years, perhaps ever. It’s inevitable then, that a movie adaptation would hit the production line at some point, especially given the game’s cinematic qualities. The movie will be helmed by John Wick director Chad Stahelski, and the project has just found a writer, too.
The game is a PlayStation exclusive, handled by Sony, and it follows the samurai Jin Sakai, a sole survivor of his clan. The incredible scale of the videogame makes it one of the most impressive releases on the PlayStation 4, and with stunning visuals, and an Akira Kurosawa mode to boot, its a story ready-made for the big screen.
John Wick director Chad Stahelski was already attached to the project, which makes sense given his great work in the action movie genre and his experience as a stuntman. Now, a script can finally get underway for the movie adaptation, with Deadline reporting that screenwriter Takashi Doscher being tapped up to write the screenplay.
Doscher recently worked on the screenplay for Blue, a project which is now in development. His previous credits include writing and directing the sci-fi romance movie Only, his debut feature Still, and a documentary called A Fighting Chance.
While Doscher’s past projects have found some success on festival circuits, adapting this mammoth of a videogame into a movie, and hopefully breaking the videogame adaptation curse, will be far and away his biggest challenge to date.
The project is still in the very early development stages, but the prospect of such a rich story, and those sweet aesthetics, being brought to life on a cinema screen, sure is exciting.
Ghost of Tsushima recorded more than eight million copies sold worldwide this January, and holds the record as PlayStation’s fastest selling first party original IP debut. So, there’s plenty of people with big expectations here. Eight million, to be precise. No pressure, Takashi!