One of these days, a proper video game adaptation is going to be a game-changer for moviemakers and movie-going audiences, hopefully following the trend that the superhero genre has struggled to set over the last 20 years. Perhaps it'll be Just Cause, the latest feature film adaptation announced with some big-name talent attached to it.
It's looking like Jason Momoa is set to star as Rico Rodriguez, the playable protagonist of the Just Cause franchise. Brad Peyton (San Andreas), who worked with Momoa for the Netflix series Frontier, is attached to direct. The action-adventure picture's script, written by John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), is under wraps, but it's safe to say it's going to borrow heavily from the Avalanche Studios franchise, which is published by Eidos Interactive and distributed through Square Enix.
Originally introduced in 2006 (with a third installment dropping in December of 2015), Just Cause was an open-world action-adventure game that saw players controlling covert operative Rico Rodriguez. Dropped onto a Caribbean island governed by a dictator suspected of having weapons of mass destruction, Rico sought allies--from guerrilla resistance groups to drug cartels who are also enemies of the state--in order to destabilize the dictator and topple his regime. Along the way, he suffers a crisis of conscience, which is what the movie's plot is rumored to be centered around. Just Cause could prove to be a big franchise for both Momoa and Peyton, and it might just be the success the video game-to-movie adaptation fans have been waiting for.
Peyton will producer alongside Jeff Fierson through ASAP Entertainment with Vertigo Entertainment's Roy Lee, Prime Universe Films' Adrian Askarieh , Supernova Entertainment's Eva Cao, and Mason Xu and Fan Dong through DNA Co. Ltd., which also provided the financing for the film. DNA will also handle distribution in China, though 20th Century Fox, where the project was previously set up, has first rights to worldwide distribution elsewhere.
Are you excited for this one? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!