Ubisoft has silently axed a film based on the now dormant stealth-action franchise.
The Splinter Cell movie has been quietly terminated, according to a producer on the would-be film.
During a recent promotional event for John Wick (and spotted by TheDirect), producer Basil Iwanyk said production company New Regency "just couldn't get it right, script-wise, budget-wise. [...] We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That's one of the ones that got away, which is really sad."
Ubisoft announced a film adaptation for the stealth game series back in 2005, then re-announced it in 2013, this time with actor Tom Hardy locked in to play series lead Sam Fisher. In the years since, the project saw no substantial progress—Hardy has spent the past decade playing Venom or starring in dramas, and the only director attached was Doug Liman, who was hired in March 2014 and exited the project a year later.
Before transmedia ventures became a major fixture of entertainment, game adaptations often got locked into development hell. Some notable examples include Gears of War, BioShock, Infamous, and fellow Tom Clancy sub-series The Division. In some cases, those adaptations managed to push forward, others remain unmade to this day, often with no real confirmation on their status.
Previously, Ubisoft appeared to ditch its transmedia plans after the critical and commercial failure of the 2016 Assassin's Creed movie. More recently, it teamed with Netflix on the animated Captain Laserhawk series—which brought various Ubisoft properties together into a single universe—and plans to release a Watch Dogs film that wrapped production in September.
Outside of the film, Ubisoft plans to bring back Splinter Cell with a remake of the original 2002 game. It will be the first installment in the franchise since 2013's Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
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