SEGA is bringing Yakuza to the big screen, it seems. The Japanese publisher is teaming up with 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content in order to make the dream a reality. Apparently, they're in the process of looking for script writers right now, so it's still very early days.
And er... That's about it. It's going to be live action, and it's being produced by Erik Barmack, Roberto Grande, and Joshua Long. To be frank, we don't know who any of these people are — and the same goes for the aforementioned companies. But hopefully it ends up being good...?
As far as movie adaptations of video games go, Yakuza fits the bill rather well. The franchise is already very cinematic, and has a heavy emphasis on dramatic storytelling. We assume that the totally over-the-top action will be toned down for this project, though.
What do you make of this? Does a Yakuza movie sound good to you, or is this destined to be a disaster? Charge your heat in the comments section below.
[source variety.com]
Comments 27
Incredibly low expectations for whatever this turns out to be.
Will probably be out before the Uncharted movie. 🙁
They need The Raid Redemption guys on this one for the fight scenes
There was already a Yakuza film directed by Takashi Miike... One was enough, believe me.
Well there’s already been a Yakuza movie done by Takashi Miike. It was alright.
Already didn't really care for the Sonic movie, but at least Yakuza actually has a story that fits being turned into a film or even a Netflix series
I just hope they actually keep in tone with how over the top the games are while retaining an emotional center and don't try to turn it into Godfather set in Japan or a super serious crime epic.
@Nexozi With the speed it's going, we'll end up with Tom Holland's great, great, great grandson playing Sully and the film will be beamed directly into our cyberbrains for the low price of 50,000 credits.
@nessisonett @KonkeyDong64 How could we forget...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR_-OvCSkxg
@RogerRoger Actually Shin Megami Tensei or Persona could make a pretty kick ass movie
Games like Raidou, Digital Devil Saga or any of the main Persona entries have so much potential as films imo with how much they derive from religious or psychological themes and imagery
@Matroska 😂😂 Probably will have had a new gaming trilogy too.
@RogerRoger Yeah the sad thing is SEGA has a lot of IPs that could work perfectly for either a movie or streaming series but their most iconic and popular one isn't really that story or narrative driven.
I would love this to be great, but I would be lying if I said I was expecting greatness. If anything, a meh will probably be a good outcome in regards to my expectations.
Theoretically it could work but I am doubtful.
If that was Sega's big announce and wasnt an xbox link, this can be whatever it wants to be lol
Meh, I don't have high hopes for this. It'll probably have it's moments but will overall have a really corny feel to it.
Or be a movie that doesn't feel like Yakuza at all except for the name.
@ShogunRok I will only accept this adaptation if it natively has a poor dub with Michael Rosenbaum, Eliza Dushku, Michael Madsen, Mark Hamill, and Rachel Leigh Cook.
Oh, another one?
@KonkeyDong64 Hopefully SEGA keep it authentic by cutting some of the scenes because they're "too Japanese for a Western audience".
I started Yakuza 4 on ps now last night and was thinking about how good a film would be. Sky finance let's go!!!
Casting will be incredibly important. Also if no fights involve a bicycle then this will be disaster
To be honest it sounds iffy already.
As much I want there to be a type of film for this franchise, the games do them enough justice.
Ugh Sega, why don't you learn!? MAKE A YAKUZA ANIME SERIES!!! The mix of high stakes gangster drama combined with bizarre oddball comedy is what makes Yakuza special. That won't work in a live action movie! Anime is a format that can pull this off. Imagine a somewhat toned down JoJo's bizarre adventure... it would be epic. Also, can you think of an actor who could fill the shoes of Kiryu? Think of the budget of all the suits that get torn off in a dramatic fashion!
This could work, but it would be much better as an anime. Why do people feel the need to make something live action when it really doesn't need it.
Can’t wait to see some guy pick up and 360’ing a motorcycle into 6 other guys faces.
This could be excellent, but there's a whole number of ways that they could mess this up. They need to capture the tone of the games and have the stylised over-the-top combat for it to work.
How can you omit that there has already been a live action film? Do you nit do any research, when writing an article. Bloody hell man. https://youtu.be/Z25Md5wOOt8
I don't know if they'd be able to pull off the wide diversity of atmospheres Yakuza displays in its games. We go from hardcore brawling, to wacky comedy, to romance, to social/cultural issues, etc, etc. This is hard to coalesce into a single movie while making it flow. The only studio I can think of which was able to pull off this wide array of storytelling, combining action, romance, drama, and silliness, along with great performance and cinematography is Orange Sky Golden Harvest of the Hong Kong cinema, responsible for many of Jackie Chan's greatest stunt movies.
Id want to see more about this
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