News culture GTA and Red Dead Redemption were almost adapted into films, Rockstar said no for a very specific reason

Culture news GTA and Red Dead Redemption were almost adapted into films, Rockstar said no for a very specific reason

A project devoid of interest

In a long interview given to The Ankler and reported by gamesindustry And IGNRockstar Games co-creator and former head writer Dan Houser has spoken out about the studio’s plans to adapt games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption to the screen, explaining that Rockstar has never considered entrusting its licenses to film or series producers. The creative explained that a few projects were presented by major Hollywood studios, but that after “several awkward meetings we asked (the producers): “why would we do such a thing? “

What you described is that you’re making a movie, we have no control and we’re taking a huge risk, that we’re going to end up paying with something that’s ours. They thought we’d be blindsided by the lights, but it wasn’t there. We had what we considered to be multi-billion dollar intellectual property, but the numbers were never convincing. Risk never made sense. At the time, games were thought to make poor quality movies.

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A recurring topic

It is not uncommon to hear about a possible adaptation of GTA or Red Dead Redemption. Already in the early 2000s, a Grand Theft Auto film project led by Eminem had been mentioned, but which Rockstar firmly opposed. Despite the resurgence of video game adaptations for cinema and television, the studio is sticking to its positions.

In 2019, Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, said: “If we were to do something like this, we would want to have complete creative control to make sure we express (GTA) the way we want – and that would mean we would need to finance this film“. Rockstar therefore protects its license at all costs and we understand this perfectly. GTA V has sold more than 200 million copies, while GTA VI is already standing out as the most anticipated game of the decade, a year before its release The studio therefore logically wants to keep total control of its games That being said, it is not impossible to one day see the emergence of a project to adapt GTA or Red Dead Redemption, as long as Rockstar. launches into the production of films or series.