Aaron Guzikowski (Raised by Wolves) has signed to write the screenplay for an adult-targeted animated feature inspired by Hideo Kojima’s hit action-adventure video game Death Stranding.
The signing was announced by Japanese games maestro Hideo Kojima’s Tokyo and L.A.-based Kojima Productions and L.A.-based animation and post-production house Line Mileage.
The partners say the movie, which is currently in development, will be in a similar vein to adult-targeted, animated genre films such as the recently announced John Wick animated prequel and sci-fi horror Predator: Killer of Killers, which released on this month on Hulu and Disney+.
It will feature an original story unfolding in the universe of Death Stranding, set in the wake of a series of cataclysmic explosions around the world which result in the dead and living becoming connected.
Guzikowski has won praise for his emotionally charged storytelling, with credits including sci-fi show Raised by Wolves and 2013 abduction drama Prisoners directed by Denis Villeneuve.
“I love the world of Death Stranding, it’s so creatively freeing, so beautifully dark and yet hopeful; I’m so excited and honored that Hideo Kojima, whose work I’ve long admired, has invited me to dwell within his creation, to birth new stories into this fertile, mind-bending universe,” said Guzikowski.
“Drawing and animation have always been near and dear to my heart, so to finally get to play in this space is a dream come true.”
Directed by Kojima and featuring performances by Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro, Death Stranding has been credited with redefining the dramatic potential of video games. A new version of the original game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – adding Elle Fanning to the cast – is due out on June 26.
The new animated feature project is separate from a previously announced live-action adaptation being developed by Kojima Production with A24.
Line Mileage CCO Daniel Dominguez said the cinematic quality of Death Stranding meant the game lent itself well to an animated movie adaptation.
“As an avid gamer I can say, unequivocally, Death Stranding is the most cinematic, thought-provoking video game I have ever played,” he said.
“Playing it gave me the same emotional rush, visceral punch, and intellectual pleasure I had the first time I watched Blade Runner, or Ghost in the Shell. Adapting it into a form it so naturally evokes is an honor. And for Aaron Guzikowski to lend his talents, whose authorial mind and creative energy humble me… needless to say, this project is a dream come true.”
