It’s time to head to the theater to watch a man with a large backpack walk for two hours, but really, it’s all a metaphor for something because Hideo Kojima and A24 are partnering to make a movie based on Death Stranding.
There may be no better arthouse pairing than Kojima (who is known for his complex, fourth-wall-breaking, metaphorical video games) and production company A24 (who are known for their complex, fourth-wall-breaking, metaphorical movies) in the world. It is a match made in heaven and points toward the style of video game adaptation we’ll be getting, with Kojima explicitly noting that A24’s “innovative approach to storytelling aligns with what Kojima Productions has been doing for the last 8 years.”
According to THR, there are very few details available about the film itself, but it won’t just be a direct remake of the game. Kojima notes, “There are a lot of ‘game adaptation films’ out there but what we are creating is not just a direct translation of the game. The intention is that our audience will not only be fans of the games, but our film will be for anyone who loves cinema. We are creating a Death Stranding universe that has never been seen before, achievable only through the medium of film, it will be born.”
It sounds like the film will expand the Death Stranding universe, in which the lines of the living and the dead have been blurred, and things get really weird, and not directly adapt the game. That also leaves in question whether the heavyweight stars from the game will appear in the movie. The hit game featured big names like Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro, and Margaret Qualley, but it’s not clear if any of them will show up in the film.
A24 notes, “The film promises to delve into the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event called the ‘Death Stranding,’ which blurred the lines between life and death, and brought forth nightmarish creatures into a world on the brink of collapse.”
Kojima is also working on Death Stranding 2.
