Originally, the Assassin’s Creed movie was going to be produced in conjunction with Sony Pictures but those negotiations were put on hold and Ubisoft has decided to finance and produce the film independently through their recently-launched Ubisoft Motion Pictures (UMP) division with former EuropaCorp CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet running the show.
The original game involves a bartender named Desmond Miles, captured by a secret organization with ties to the Knight Templar who repeatedly send Miles back in time into the body of his assassin ancestors to retrieve valuable historical artifacts, the first time going back to the Crusades. Presumably, Fassbender would be playing Miles, even though that’s not stated in the story.
“Michael Fassbender was our first choice. Michael (Fassbender) is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor.”
The various “Assassin’s Creed” games have sold over 30 million units since the first game’s debut in 2007 with “Assassin’s Creed III” scheduled for October 30. Ubisoft has big plans to turn the games into a movie franchise, but they first have to find a writer and director, which they’ll probably do before going out to studios, including Sony.
“We’re open to re-discuss with the key studios once the production package is finalized,” Baronnet told Variety. “Whatever the financial model, UMP will limit its risk investment.” According to the story, they also will save on production costs by using some of the in-house game studios to handle visual effects for the movies.
The Variety story also mentions that the company wants to adapt “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” and “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon” into films and are developing an animated television series based on the “Raving Rabbids” for Nickelodeon.
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