Shadow of the Colossus is a name we haven’t heard in a long time. The PlayStation 2 action/adventure masterpiece originally developed by Team Ico was remade for the PlayStation 4 in 2018 by Bluepoint, but beyond that, the PlayStation IP has lied dormant. Team Ico is no more; Lead Game Designer Fumito Ueda left after The Last Guardian to found genDESIGN, which recently teased their new project at The Game Awards 2024.
Not many of you may remember that a film adaptation was announced all the way back in April 2009 by Sony Pictures. In 2012, news broke that Josh Trank would direct the movie, but that changed in September 2014, when it was shared that ‘Mom’ director Andrés Muschietti would direct the film instead.
For over ten years, there’s been no news at all, leading many to assume the Shadow of the Colossus adaptation was essentially dead. However, Muschietti has finally provided an update in an interview with Argentinian YouTube Channel Radio TU.
The director, who has since released the acclaimed horror movies It/It Chapter Two and the way less successful The Flash, said he loves the franchise and is still working on the project. Muschetti also confirmed there’s a script he likes and did not hide the reality that the budget still needs to be secured. He’d like to get a big budget to make the Shadow of the Colossus movie as immersive as possible, but a film production studio needs to be convinced first. Here’s the full translated quote:
Well, Shadow of the Colossus is a game that I absolutely loved when it came out, and I played it several times. Plus, it’s one of those things that I keep going back to. I’m not really a big gamer, especially since I started working, you know? The free time you have shrinks, so there have been only a few games that I’ve really gotten into since then.
I started making movies, but Shadow of the Colossus feels like a masterpiece. It’s a project we’ve been developing for over 10 years. After ‘Mom,’ I kept busy too, you know? It wasn’t a film that came out right away because of everything going on in Hollywood. Basically, you start developing a project, and for some reason, it gets delayed, or something pops up in the middle. It’s like juggling plates to stay afloat in that industry; you have to keep a few spinning at once.
People don’t really see it that way because they get hooked right away when they hear it. They think, “Oh, it’s coming soon!” But actually, going public with a story like this has more to do with the whole vibe around the movie’s release than with the actual chance of it getting made. So yeah, it’s in development, and in the meantime, I did some stuff.
It’s a project that’s been in the works for years, and now there’s finally a chance to make it happen. It’s still in development, but I really love this movie. There’s a script I really like, and we’ll see if it ends up being the next project. It’s definitely not abandoned; it’s still alive and kicking. Plus, you have to keep things in perspective, you know? The realism of a project really depends on how much money a studio can give me to make this movie. Unfortunately, there are factors that aren’t about your passion or desire to make it; it’s about how many people are going to watch this film and how popular a property like this is today.
Sure, Shadow of the Colossus is definitely a cult classic, but to make a good movie, there’s a studio that looks at the numbers and says… Well, how much interest is there in making a movie like this to give the director 200 million dollars or 150 or 100? There are different versions of this film. Personally, I want 200; I’ll make it right! But that’s just one of the factors to consider, and it’s something that keeps fluctuating and being tested. It’s still in development, and I’d love to work on it.
As we’ve been covering, gaming IPs are a prime target for both movie and TV adaptations. Sony itself, owner of the Shadow of the Colossus franchise, is leading the charge; earlier this week, they announced two new films based on Horizon and Helldivers. However, those are hot intellectual properties that have just received new games; the world crafted by Team Ico, on the other hand, hasn’t had a new installment since twenty years ago. As such, Sony might not be willing to bet big on it, which is why Muschietti is still having challenges with securing the budget for his vision.
We’ll definitely keep an eye on any potential updates on the project, though. Stay tuned.
