Sony is going full steam ahead with its plan to convert many of its most beloved PlayStation franchises into movies and TV shows. We’ve already had the Uncharted movie and The Last of Us HBO series, with Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War adaptations in the works. And now we know which PlayStation game will be making the leap to live-action next.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that a movie adaptation of PS4’s excellent horror game Until Dawn is in development. Shazam and Lights Out director David F. Sandberg is set to helm the project, while writer Gary Dauberman, who’s penned several horror movies including It, Annabelle: Creation (also directed by Sandberg) and The Nun, will be reworking a script originally written by Blair Butler, who wrote the (truly awful) vampire flick The Invitation.
Released in 2015, Until Dawn plays like an interactive slasher movie. You take control of eight young people as they convene at a remote cabin high up in the mountains. Once there, the friendship group is hunted by a masked assailant as well as deformed creatures known as Wendigos.
The hook of Until Dawn is that every character can live or die based on the player's choices across its branching narrative. The gameplay primarily consists of quick time events and simple button presses, which makes it perfect for inexperienced players.
Until Dawn is a natural fit for a movie adaptation, as the game has an intentional cinematic quality, choosing to focus more on its gripping story rather than deep gameplay. Plus, it featured voice performances and motion capturing from a few well-known actors, including Academy Award winner Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere and Meaghan Martin.
Developed by British studio Supermassive Games, Until Dawn received mostly positive reviews from critics, and we rank it as one of the best horror games you can play, even all these years later.
The game is believed to have surpassed its sales expectations but a sequel never materialized. Instead Supermassive went on to create The Dark Pictures Anthology and The Quarry, which play identically but feature new settings and characters.
Until Dawn might not be the biggest IP left in Sony’s stable, but it’s arguably the PlayStation game that is most suited for a big-screen adaptation. There’s no word yet on whether the movie will retain the same characters and plot as the original game, but with a writer and director attached this one could enter production fairly quickly so more details may arrive soon.
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