Sony revealed today that its film adaptation of the acclaimed PS2 action adventure Shadow of the Colossus has a new director. Andrés Muschietti, known for directing Mama, will also bring his wife Barbara Muschietti along as producer.
The Spanish director replaces the former front-runner for the gig, Josh Trank, who went on to direct Fantastic Four and more recently agreed to helm one of the upcoming stand-alone Star Wars films. The screenplay will be written by Seth Lochhead (writer of Hanna), with Muschietti’s input and supervision.
Sony says the Shadow of the Colossus film is “set in an epic-scale world filled with mythic giants and disembodied spirits.” Muschietti is apparently a noted fan of the game, and Sony feels his vision for where the franchise ought to go on the big screen is “true to the human story of a young man attempting to save his lost love by accomplishing a seemingly impossible task… the destruction of the colossi who roam the forbidden land.”
Gamers already know the backstory, but is Muschietti the right man for the job? There may not be all that many choices; finding a director who is also a fan of the game was probably challenging enough, and Muschietti’s resume is reasonably impressive. I trust the gaming Sony to pull this off, but Sony Pictures hasn’t been all that reputable recently. Let’s hope the former calls just as many shots as the latter.
Also See: ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection Review
Shadow of the Colossus was originally released for PS2 in 2005, and has sold more than 2.7 million copies globally. The film has no release date, but with big decisions like director and screenwriter now taken care of, maybe Sony can really get the ball rolling.
Header image by Kishintora at DeviantArt.
[Via: Hollywood Reporter]
