As we first reported on GameFragger.com, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Fast and Furious and Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin has been tapped to helm a big-screen adaptation of Arrowhead Game Studios' Helldivers video game.
Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions are developing the movie with Lin, who will also produce through his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner. Hutch Parker and PlayStation Productions' Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan also produce, while It and Annabelle writer Gary Dauberman has penned the screenplay.
Helldivers was released in 2015, and a sequel, Helldivers 2, followed in 2024. The series is one of PlayStation's biggest hits, and was recently made available on Xbox.
In the Helldivers games, players step into the boots of the Helldivers, an elite class of soldiers whose mission is to spread peace, liberty and Managed Democracy using the biggest, baddest and most explosive tools in the galaxy.
Helldivers don't go planet side without proper backup, and it's up to players to decide how and when to call it in. Not only do you have a host of superpowered primary weapons and customizable loadouts, but you can also call on stratagems during play. Enemies include Bugs, Cyborgs, and Illuminate, who threaten the fictional interplanetary and faux-democratic empire of Super Earth.
This may be considered bad or good, but the trade notes, "Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material, said insiders. He aims to find the humanity in the characters and weave timely themes into the story, while building out a world and mythology. There are plenty of details waiting to be drawn in, something that is compelling to the filmmaker."
Lin is still developing his take on One-Punch Man for Sony and is similarly attached to Brzrkr at Netflix, which is based on the comic created by Keanu Reeves.
The filmmaker's credits include The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and F9: The Fast Saga. He also took charge of Star Trek Beyond, the final instalment of the series, led by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.
In other video game news, scooper @MyTimeToShineH is reporting today that a live-action Splinter Cell movie is back in development. Multiple attempts have been made to bring the franchise to theaters over the years, though there's currently no word on a creative team or how far along the project is.
As a reminder, the Splinter Cell games follow Sam Fisher, an elite covert agent in the NSA's top-secret division: Third Echelon. Keep checking back here for updates on both projects as we have them.