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Finally: After more than a decade since its initial reveal, the Watch Dogs movie has officially completed production. Ubisoft shared the news on X, posting a behind-the-scenes photo with the playful caption, "run film_wrapped.exe (#watchdogsmovie.mp4)." The film adaptation was first announced back in 2013, even before the game it's based on was released.
The Watch Dogs movie is being produced by New Regency, the studio behind films like The Lighthouse, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the 2016 Assassin's Creed adaptation. Directing the film is Mathieu Turi, whose previous work includes smaller films such as The Deep Dark, which didn't exactly set the box office on fire. Hopefully, this time will be different.
Leading the cast is Tom Blyth, fresh from his role in the latest Hunger Games movie. He's joined by Sophie Wilde from Talk to Me and Markella Kavenagh, known for her role in the Lord of the Rings prequel series. Unfortunately, character and plot details remain tightly under wraps.
run film_wrapped.exe(#watchdogsmovie.mp4)
– Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) September 13, 2024
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>Filming complete! pic.twitter.com/R1kAG8Oxaa
For those unfamiliar, the Watch Dogs games put players in the shoes of expert hackers waging war against corrupt authorities and shadowy conspiracies. The original 2014 release centered on Aiden Pearce, a skilled vigilante who hijacks a city-wide operating system in Chicago to hunt down those responsible for his niece's death. Its 2016 sequel introduced a new protagonist, Marcus Holloway, fighting injustice through hacking in San Francisco.
The most recent installment, 2020's Watch Dogs: Legion, took a unique approach by allowing players to recruit and control multiple characters, all working to build a resistance against an oppressive regime in a dystopian London.
It remains unclear whether the movie will be a direct adaptation of one of the games or an entirely new story set within the Watch Dogs universe.
After such a lengthy development cycle, wrapping production is a significant milestone. However, the road ahead no doubt includes months of post-production, editing, scoring, visual effects, and the inevitable marketing blitz.
Of course, video game movies still have a notoriously shaky track record when it comes to quality. Take the Borderlands adaptation, for example, which debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a zero percent rating. Expectations for the genre have sunk so low that people are already mocking the upcoming Minecraft movie based solely on its trailer.
Perhaps this long-gestating Watch Dogs flick can help reverse the trend. At the very least, it has to be better than that Assassin's Creed clunker, right?