When it comes to video games receiving the live-action treatment, Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel, The Witcher, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, and others are proof that movies and TV shows based on games could be a crowd-pleasing and critical success. Will this year’s mega-hit game Elden Ring be next?
The game was co-written by George R. R. Martin, the prolific fantasy author behind hit HBO shows like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon so his DNA being part of Elden Ring already makes the game arguably contain a key ingredient for a live-action adaptation to be realized. What’s more, that same premium cable company has already released a trailer for The Last of Us, a show based on the survival horror game of the same name that is slated for release next year, with initial previews going over quite well with fans.
It just so happens PlayStation, the company behind The Last of Us show via the subsidiary PlayStation Productions, has also recently purchased a minority stake in FromSoftware, the developers behind Elden Ring. Could this possibly clear a pathway for an Elden Ring live-action show or movie to happen in the future, along the same lines as The Last of Us? Addressing this very question, Herman Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, told Reuters in regard to the FromSoft investment:
“You should think of collaborations on the game development side first and foremost, but it’s also not unthinkable with our PlayStation Productions efforts that we explore opportunities.”
While that statement is far from a sure thing when it comes to turning Elden Ring into a live-action franchise, it also leaves a shred of hope for that possibly happening, too.
With Hulst cryptically alluding to “further investments” into the gaming company owned by Sony earlier in that same interview, we could definitely see that including more TV and movie adaptations of the gaming franchises PlayStation owns. Plus, the monumental success of the company’s Uncharted film earlier this year, which netted $400 million at the worldwide box office, shows they definitely have a winning track record so far.
Other games from PlayStation are in the works for receiving the TV treatment — including God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn — so why not Elden Ring, the game that Dexerto has pointed out has sold 16.6 million copies in the year of its debut?
It’s important to remember PlayStation’s stakeholdership is only a minor one, with Sony only being the owner of 14.09 percent of FromSoft when the ink has finally dried, as VideoGameChronicle reported. Plus, Elden Ring released on competing hardware, prior to PlayStation’s investment, such as being available on Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S — in addition to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 — so who knows, they may yet have some rights issues to work out before a live-action show or movie can happen. After all, when it comes to the Uncharted movie or The Last of Us TV show, those were both exclusive PlayStation titles before being made, making for what is perhaps a smoother path to production.
Then again, Netflix’s The Cuphead Show! is based on a multi-platform videogame, Cuphead, so perhaps PlayStation Productions can hold out hope for helming Elden Ring, after all, if the planets align just right. This is all speculative for now, but if Illumination’s upcoming collaboration with Nintendo to bring a computer-animated Mario movie to life — which is slated to hit theaters on April 7, 2023 — is any indication, there is certainly no shortage of demand for videogame movies and shows these days.