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Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Netflix is turning the popular Assassin's Creed gaming franchise into a live-action series
A live-action TV series based on Ubisoft's best-selling gaming franchise Assassin's Creed is in the works at Netflix, the streaming giant confirmed in an official announcement. The Netflix project isn't the TV adaptation of the commercially acclaimed video game franchise. The game was previously adapted into a 2016 movie starring Michael Fassbender, which achieved modest success. However, with Netflix attached to the project, the scale, production quality, and marketing muscle are expected to be higher – and so are the expectations. The Assassin's Creed live-action series has been in development at Netflix for years, with the streamer originally planning to produce the series in 2020. The project has gone through several creative changes before finally being greenlit. Roberto Patino, a writer on FX's Sons of Anarchy and HBO's Westworld , has been tapped as showrunner, joining David Wiener, who previously led Paramount+'s Halo TV series as well as Fear the Walking Dead. Netflix has not revealed any casting or plot details, but the series will follow a shadow war between the rival Templar and Assassin factions, fought across centuries and cultures. The series will focus on characters diving into genetic memory to experience the lives of ancestors who played pivotal roles in the conflict. The first Assassin's Creed game was released in 2007 and was set in Israel during the Crusades. Since then, Ubisoft has turned the experimental title into one of the most highly acclaimed video game franchises. The series includes a massive number of entries, with 14 mainline games released over 18 years, along with several spin-offs, all of which are canonical and fit into a single timeline. Perhaps what makes the Assassin's Creed franchise truly work is how the events in each game interweave to form one cohesive narrative. Earlier this year, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Shadows, an open-world game set in feudal Japan. The action game was praised by both critics and players alike, a positive sign for Ubisoft, which has struggled to produce consistent hits in recent years. The French company has recently expanded key franchises like Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry, bolstered by a $1.25 billion investment from Chinese publisher Tencent. Ubisoft has sold 230 million copies of Assassin's Creed franchise to date. The Assassin's Creed live-action series comes at a time when popular video games are increasingly being adapted into films or television shows. Last week, Nintendo announced the lead cast for its upcoming Zelda live-action movie, based on its classic video game series. The movie is slated to hit screens in 2027. The veteran Japanese gaming powerhouse is steadily expanding its presence in Hollywood, with a growing lineup of films slated for release in the coming years. Nintendo first found success with its movie strategy through The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, which grossed $1.3 billion at the global box office. The company is now gearing up for a sequel to the hit animated film, scheduled for release in 2026. Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: ... Read More
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Assassin's Creed TV Show Announced 5 Years Ago Finally Moving Forward At Netflix
We're getting flooded with TV adaptations of popular video game franchises these days, but Assassin's Creed is a better fit than most. Announced over three years ago, the Netflix show based on the long-running Ubisoft series is finally moving forward, the companies announced today, though the actual release is probably still years away. 'The Assassin's Creed live-action series is a high-octane thriller centered on the secret war between two shadowy factions: one set on determining mankind's future through control and manipulation, the other fighting to preserve free will,' reads a blog post from the French Publisher. 'The series follows characters across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity's destiny.' Hoping for a little more detail? Sorry, that's it. Roberto Patino (HBO's DMZ) and David Wiener (AMC's Fear the Walking Dead) will be helming the project. 'Beneath the scope, the spectacle, the parkour and the thrills is a baseline for the most essential kind of human story - about people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith,' they said in a joint statement. 'It is about power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance. But more than anything, this is a show about the value of human connection, across cultures, across time. And it's about what we stand to lose as a species, when those connections break.' Big questions for the series are whether each season will stick to a particular time period and location or hop around a lot. Also, how much the sci-fi layers will play a role in it. The premise of Assassin's Creed, for those unfamiliar with the stealth action series or who have only played its modern incarnations, is a battle across history between competing factions where current day researchers use a device called the Animus to investigate the past, searching for artifacts related to an ancient alien civilization. There's a lot to chew on there, and tons of creative ways to structure an Assassins' Creed TV show around the source material. Or Netflix could just treat it like a period show full of political intrigue and John Wick-style stealth assassinations. Ubisoft says the live-action adaptation is the 'first series to be developed' as part of an agreement with Netflix that was originally announced back in 2020. Maybe we'll hear about the next one in 2030. It certainly doesn't sound like we'll be hearing about that Netflix mobile spin-off of Assassin's Creed teased back in 2022 anytime soon, if at all. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Business Journals
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Journals
Photo of the week: A waiting game is almost over
It can be anything you need it to be. A plush palace for a prince, a gritty garage or the surface of Mars. But, for now, it's just a shell of a building at Austin Studios waiting for lights, camera and action. Local filmmakers expect more action on their front soon. A long-awaited state bill expected to become law soon establishes the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund. It will be filled with $300 million every two years over the next 10 years. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Filmmakers said such subsidies are crucial to attract productions here and compete with states such as New Mexico, Georgia and others. Under the bill, the minimum required in-state spending for film and TV productions remains $250,000 to be eligible for incentives. Grant payments equal 5% for projects that spend between $500,000 and $1 million in-state; 10% for projects between $1 million and $5 million; and 25% for projects that spend at least $5 million. Spending requirements start at $100,000 for digital interactive media production and commercials. At least 60% of any production must be filmed in Texas. ABJ will have in-depth coverage of the film incentives and the local filmmaking scene when the bill is signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Visit Austin has a list of 27 big-budget productions that have been filmed in Austin over the years, from Dazed and Confused to Fear the Walking Dead.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Urchin' Review: Harris Dickinson's Knockout Directorial Debut Creates High Art From A Low, Sad Life
No good deed goes unpunished in Urchin, a London-set character study that shows so much sophisticated and worldly wisdom it's hard to believe that its writer, director and co-star is only 28 years old. Built around a charismatic performance from Frank Dillane, best known for his role as recovering heroin addict Nick Clark in AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, Harris Dickinson's remarkable feature debut takes the tropes of socially conscious British cinema and fashions a deceptively nuanced cautionary tale that isn't so much about the failings of that society as our own personal capacity for self-destruction. At the center of the drama is Michael (Dillane), who we find sleeping rough, woken up by city noise and the earnest entreaties of a largely ignored street preacher. In a subtle moment that tells you exactly who he is, Michael rudely pushes past her, then sets about his day. After charging his phone, begging for change and socializing at a soup kitchen, he realizes that his wallet has gone missing, stolen by his junkie friend Nathan (Dickinson). Dirty, scruffy and scarily intense, Michael accosts horrified passers-by to ask if they've seen him. 'He's wearing blue trousers and there's blood on his face,' he says, and they react exactly as you think they might, and probably would yourself. More from Deadline Harris Dickinson On The Inspiration For Cannes Directing Debut 'Urchin' And Why Upcoming John Lennon Role Is His 'Every Day Right Now' Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews Tony Leung Ka-Fai & Juno Mak Talk 'Sons Of The Neon Night', Calls On Audiences To Treasure Cinemas - Cannes Film Festival Filmed in covert (improvised?) documentary-style situations, Michael is all but invisible thus far, and his interactions with the public feel so real that it's actually quite jarring when the film makes an abrupt segue from its loose so-far, so-verité aesthetic to tight drama with the film's shocking defining incident. After Michael finds Nathan outside a busy office building, a confrontation ensues, drawing in a good Samaritan, Simon, who diffuses the tension and offers to buy Michael lunch. In lieu of a thank-you, Michael waits until his benefactor's guard is down, assaults him, then steals his watch and pawns it. RELATED: Michael's ensuing eight-month prison sentence is handled in the most extraordinary way; as he showers, naked and vulnerable, the camera pans down to follow the falling water as it circles the drain then goes down, down and even further down, to the darkest depths of the ocean, even. And then, before you know it, Michael is out of captivity and back in society, encouraged by sympathetic social worker Nadia, who finds him a hostel, and employed by Franco, the kind-hearted manager of a hotel that we hear described by its guests as 'a shithole,' who offers him work as a prep cook in his kitchen. This is where the film gets interesting. Can Michael hold the job down after living so long in the margins? He seems to want to try, committing to getting himself sober and boasting to Nadia of an alcohol-free night doing karaoke with a couple of female workmates, joining in as they sing the cheesy but emotional 'Whole Again' by ill-starred '90s British girl group Atomic Kitten. He even listens to a self-help CD, and its holistic gibberish seems to be taking hold as he tries to take control of his new freedom. In fact, he becomes so comfortable that he agrees to a conciliatory meeting with his victim, Simon, who bears no malice but, more damagingly, articulates the question Michael has been running away from all these years: Why did he do it? The scene is uncomfortable and oddly brief; unusually for an actor-director, Dickinson doesn't go in for showy scenes and leaves a lot to be inferred. But the things he leaves out are every bit as powerful as the things he leaves in; this meeting triggers a reaction in Michael, a voracious, cancerous, near-Cronenbergian self-loathing that devours his self-esteem. RELATED: Full List Of Cannes Palme d'Or Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery This kind of unraveling isn't that new in the pantheon of British kitchen-sink dramas, but what is quite startling is the film's clear-eyed, unsentimental portrayal of Michael as the author of his own tragedy. Dillane is quite the revelation in this respect; his backstory is lightly sketched, aside from a few references to his adoptive parents, but somehow it's all there. With his incongruous RP accent and oddly naive façade, he's quite likely posher than he lets on, but there's a sense that his street smarts have long since obliterated that past, that identity. Toward the end, he watches, with detachment, as a snake devours a mouse. Survival is his game, an addict's mindset described by author William S. Burroughs as the algebra of need ('The more absolute the need, the more predictable the behavior becomes until it is mathematically certain'). This might seem like cold right-wing rhetoric in today's charity-averse world, but Dickinson's film is more complex than that. It doesn't tell us to help the needy; it wants us to see that sometimes the needy can't and won't accept that help. Likewise, Urchin doesn't offer any answers, nor does it try, but it does open up a conversation about the people who fall through the cracks. Dillane is key here, whether pacing the streets in tacky charity-shop gear or invading people's spaces with his spidery, unwanted attention. It's to the credit of both that the film lands its ending, a strangely poetic but unexpectedly moving knockout. A vision of purgatory, perhaps, or an X-ray of a man who somehow lost his soul. Title: UrchinFestival: Cannes (Un Certain Regard)Director-screenwriter: Harris DickinsonCast: Frank Dillane, Megan Northam, Amr Waked, Karyna Khymchuk, Shonagh MarieSales agent: CharadesRunning time: 1 hr 39 min RELATED: Croisettiquette: Your Guide To The Dos And Don'ts Of The Strictest Red Carpet In The World Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Samuel French Dies: ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon' & ‘Fear The Walking Dead' Actor Was 45
Samuel French, an actor who has appeared in Killers of the Flower Moon and Fear the Walking Dead, has died. He was 45. According to French's friend and collaborator Paul Sinacore, who directed his final performance in the upcoming film Towpath, French died on May 9. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries 2024 Hollywood & Media Deaths: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Mark Gaines Dies: Longtime Universal Distribution Exec Was 77 Sinacore remembered French as a 'dear friend and an incredible actor,' praising his performance as Detective Bernard Crooke in Towpath, which also stars Eric Roberts and is now in post-production. 'Together, we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision,' said Sinacore in a statement. 'Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless, and alive. He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and only wish he could have seen the final cut. He was one of a kind, and he will remain in our hearts forever. My heart goes out to his family, and especially to his daughter — he loved her deeply and spoke of her often with pride and tenderness.' DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO: Born January 26, 1980 in Waco, Texas, French made his onscreen debut as Gavin McDonough in the History Channel limited series Texas Rising (2015), which also stars Bill Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chad Michael Murray, Crispin Glover, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser and more. After playing Ben in a 2020 episode of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, French shared the screen with Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), playing Agent CJ Robinson. French is survived by his daughter Madison and her mother Melinda Acosta; as well as French's parents Thomas and Evelyn; and his brothers Andy and Danny. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More
