Thepreviously announced Split Fiction movienow has Wicked’s Jon M. Chu attached to direct, Deadpool & Wolverine scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick aboard to write, andSydney Sweeney — one of the biggest stars of the rising generation — signed on as its lead. A lot of video game adaptations have been announced in recent years, but this package getting put together so quickly means that this movie has a much better chance of actually becoming a reality. InSplit Fictionterms, it’s the difference between the writer having an idea and actually strapping into Rader’s brain-sucker machine.
Split Fiction launched on March 6, the adaptation was announced two weeks later, and now, less than two months later, the film adaptation has a star, screenwriters, and a director. That short turnaround is notable, as is the caliber of talent involved. Sweeney is one of the few young movie stars who has opened a non-IP movie to blockbuster success in Anyone But You, Reese and Wernick wrote the second-highest domestic earner of 2024, and Chu directed the third-highest. This is the A-team.
Though, no offense, Reese and Wernick are the least essential ingredients here, IMO.
Minecraft Isn’t The Future Of Video Game Adaptations
Split Fiction getting a major star, major writers, and a major director is likely the shape of things to come as Hollywood digs deeper into video games as source material.Minecraft’s Jared Hess was far from unproven —his first hit, Napoleon Dynamite, is almost old enough to drink— but he’d never directed a movie at that scale. That was okay for Minecraft, because the IP is big enough to carry any competently made movie to success. The same went forMario, and will likely hold true for the inevitable adaptations of massive video game IP likeFortniteandGTAdown the line.
But most hit games aren’t Minecraft or Fortnite or GTA. They’re, well, Split Fiction. They sell well, are well-liked at the time, and then people roll credits, move on, and don’t think about them too much ever again. Games have a long, rich history, but you may’t expect to dig deep and find box office gold. The games that could sell movie tickets are, by and large, the obvious ones.
They’re franchises that have endured through the years, have sold consistently well, and have a world and/or characters that people care about.Tetrismight be the best-selling game of all timeby some measures, but its lack of a world or characters that anyone cares about meant that its movie was a non-starter streaming blip.
This could be a problem for Sweeney’s other announced video game adaptation, Outrun — though Michael Bay being attached as director could give it some juice.
Video Game IP Is A Foundation For Potential Movie Success, But Nothing More
Which means that most video game adaptations will need to find success the old-fashioned way. Sinners, which hasoverperformed expectations to become the rare original smash hit, is reminding Hollywood of the formula it left behind in favor of IP. It paired Ryan Coogler, a well-liked, commercially successful director, with Michael B. Jordan, a well-liked, commercially successful star. That isn’t enough on its own, but the movie getting a great reception from critics and audiences has led to strong word of mouth.
Video game adaptations have a leg up on original movies because name recognition is a solid marketing foundation. But for smaller IPs like Split Fiction, it’s going to be all about the package of a box office draw star and a solid director. Split Fiction isn’t Minecraft but, as Hollywood is about to find out, almost nothing is.
