
Sleeping Dogs was one of the better open world games on the PS3, but despite receiving a decent PS4 remaster, publisher Square Enix never followed up on it. In fact, Canadian developer United Front Games — which also made the ModNation Racers series — no longer exists.
There was a small pulse of life left in the series courtesy of an upcoming movie, however. And that's now been dumped in a dirty river, as star Donnie Yen told Polygon the adaptation is dead.
"I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights," the Rogue One actor said.
"I waited for years. Years. And I really want to do it. I have all these visions in my head, and unfortunately... I don’t know, y'know how Hollywood goes, right? I spent many, many years on it. It was an unfortunate thing.
"Well, on to better things."
The film, which was announced in 2017, had been set to star Yen as protagonist Wei Shen. At one point, Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto — best known for The Night Comes for Us — had been signed on to direct.
But the movie appears to be dead now, and we can't imagine there'll ever be a new game either. A shame, as there simply aren't enough urban sandbox games outside of GTA.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 31
Sleeping Dog fans just can't get a win can they?
I didn't even know this was gonna be a thing to begin with 😅. Why though? Like don't get me wrong Sleeping Dogs is awesome but like....it was just one game that came out over a decade ago and was only modestly successful they'll greenlight any ip for a movie these days not surprised it didn't go anywhere. I mean I don't really need this when I have a massive collection of classic Hong Kong action films ^__^
Hot take: Sleeping Dogs is better than Yakuza.
Too bad. This is easily my favourite game of the genre and a movie with Donnie Yen would have been excellent. But, alas.
Such a shame sleeping dogs didn’t sell better as it was so refreshing vs GTA.
@Oram77 I'm with you on that (still love me some Yakuza, though)
Loved Wei Shen. He even managed to pull Emma Stone in the game.
Not following up with a true sequel to Sleeping Dogs was such a mistake 😭
@Oram77 truest comment I've read in awhile, I really wish they put out some more, it was such recently quiet drop, I played ot on a whim many years ago was super cheap, couldn't belive how much fun it was
One of the most underrated games.
Sleeping Dogs is one of my favourite PS3 games, excellent characters and great sandbox to play in.
A film would have been nice but a sequel would be better!!
Project 21 Century 👀
And in one final flourish, the illusion that they'd for once resisted the urge to mention GTA was shattered.
The night comes for us is a fire ass movie, it would’ve been crazy if they were able to pull this off with the same director . it’s sad that sleeping dogs didn’t take off, because it just seemed like one of those franchises you’d think would have been around with more games . hell, mafia was able to get three games and now a fourth coming out; but to be honest i was at least able to beat a mafia game, i could never finish sleeping dogs admittedly
The game was actually phenomenal and it's criminal - no pun intended - that it seems to have failed completely.
Or maybe even has been failed.
I want a sequel, not a movie adaptation. But eh, the IP is pretty much dead the moment United Front Games closed their door in 2016 and since then SE doesn't give a finger about the IP :/
@Oram77 Also, the Sleeping Dogs movie is better than the Yakuza TV show
@Oram77 Ehhhhhhh. Don't really know if I would compare the two like that to be honest. Yes, they deal with crimes and gangs, but aside from that they're very different games.
Sleeping dog is easily one of the best video games ever made.wei shen is one of the g.o.a.t. 🐐 👑 protagonist.a sequel would have been iconic.word up son
@Keyblade-Dan Yeah but no pork bun sequences.
I always forget about this game. I’m not a fan of the open world crime drama genre (aka GTA clones) but Sleeping Dogs gets consistent praise enough to make me curious. I’ll add it to my wishlist to keep it in mind.
Donnie yen is way to old to play that character bruh 🤣
@Oram77 Not as hot of a take as you'd think. They're also hugely different games.
Yakuza/LAD is super over the top and melodramatic. Sleeping Dogs leaned way more into realism. That being said, I agree with you.
I thought it was cancelled long ago. Didn't see Donny Yen, as great as he is, in this role. I'd rather like square-enix pick it up again with a new dev team and get it back popular again.
Would rather see a sequel to the game anyway. I'm sure there are plenty of movies similar to Sleeping Dogs, at least in some ways.
Sleeping Dogs and ModNation Racers were two awesome games from the PS3 era. I'd love to see new versions of both. Neither seems likely.
As for the movie, I think people misunderstand how many movies never get made. As he said, "y'know how Hollywood goes, right?" MOST ideas and scripts won't get made.
@Oram77
Hot Take: BUBUubuuUBUBuujdiUBUBUuB SHUT UP!!!
(lol)
@Czar_Khastik
This is true. I always give everything at least a go but I quit the Yakuza show after the first half of the first trailer. The old Yakuza movie is mint though.
A shame. It was a fun game. The focus on martial arts made it much better than GTA to me.
Special ID starring Donnie yen. It's practically the movie version of sleeping dogs anyway
@Catajwkda
You sure are late to the party on these comments. lol... Anyway, trash it may be, but I would play the worst "Like a Dragon" copy/paste trash over any Fromsoft or CDPR game any day. Now that's a hot take!
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