The Last of Us heading to series at HBO

Craig Mazin, the creator of the acclaimed limited series Chernobyl, is reteaming with HBO to adapt The Last of Us, the massive Sony PlayStation video game franchise.

In a rare development in the world of video game adaptations, the writer and creative director of the game, Neil Druckmann, is also involved and will work with Mazin to pen and executive produce what is intended to be a series.

Carolyn Strauss will also executive produce along with Evan Wells, the president of Naughty Dog, the Santa Monica-based developer of the game. The project is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television in association with PlayStation Productions. It will be the first television series from PlayStation Productions.

Launched in 2013, Sony and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us garnered critical praise for its engrossing tale of the postapocalypse, centering on the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in this new world, and Ellie, a teenager who may be key to a cure for the deadly pandemic.

Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle the14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival. The HBO series will cover the events of the original game, which was written by Druckmann, with the possibility of additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel, The Last of Us Part II, which will release on May 29, 2020.

Mazin, who is said to be an avid player of the game, stated, "Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and The Last of Us is his magnum opus. Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I'm so honored to do it in partnership with Neil."

"From the first time I sat down to talk with Craig I was equally blown away by his approach to narrative and his love and deep understanding of The Last of Us," said Druckmann in a statement. "With Chernobyl, Craig and HBO created a tense, harrowing, emotional masterpiece. I couldn't think of better partners to bring the story of The Last of Us to life as a television show."

The Last of Us won numerous "game of the year" awards and went on to sell more than 17 million copies across both its original release on the PlayStation 3 and a remastered version on PlayStation 4.

"This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us to partner with Craig, Neil, Carolyn and the teams at Sony, Naughty Dog and PlayStation to bring the virtual world of this acclaimed game to life," stated HBO programming president Casey Bloys.

"This is the first of many shows we intend to develop with our friends at PlayStation Productions," said Chris Parnell, co-president of Sony Pictures Television Studios. The Last of Us is a brilliant achievement in storytelling and character development, and we are lucky to have the opportunity to work with this team to adapt it."

Druckmann is a longtime vet of Naughty Dog, starting as a programming intern in 2004. In 2007, he was given the role of game designer on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the first installment in the action adventure series. In 2013, he created The Last of Us, based on a concept he developed as a student at Carnegie Mellon University.

Mazin's Chernobyl tackled a bleak and complex true-life event and became a must-see show for HBO. The show won an Emmy for outstanding limited series and landed one for Mazin for outstanding writing. Mazin also won a PGA award and a WGA award.

hollywoodreporter.com

Forget the Uncharted movie, I am so excited for this!. Yes please. 

'The Last of Us' movie stuck at a standstill says Sam Raimi

BY JIM VEJVODA I attended a press lunch today for the upcoming home video release of Don't Breathe, during which time I was able to ask producer Sam Raimi about the status of the big screen version of the hit video game The Last of Us. And what he had to tell us wasn't very hopeful.


The movie was formally announced in March 2014 as being a Screen Gems release. The screenplay was penned by Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, the Creative Director for the game, who is also a producer on the film along with Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures company, Naughty Dog Co-Presidents' Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, and Game Director Bruce Straley. In the ensuing years since that announcement, there were rumblings of Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams being courted to star and subsequent comments from Druckmann that the movie would boast "big changes" from the game's story.


Then this past April we learned some bad news about the film adaptation. During our chat with Neil Druckmann, he told IGN, "I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do. ... There hasn't been any work done on it in over a year and a half."


I asked Raimi today about Druckmann's comments and what the current status of the film was, which led to a dissection of how the film appears to have stalled over at Screen Gems' parent company Sony Pictures.

Said Raimi, "Well, unfortunately that one -- when we went to Neil with Ghost House Pictures we were hoping to get the rights like we do any project and then we'd take it out and sell it but we'd control the rights. With this one he went to Sony -- who I have a very good relationship with -- but they have their own plans for it and I think Neil's plan for it -- I'm not trying to be political -- Neil's plan for it is not the same as Sony's. And because my company doesn't have the rights, I actually can't help him too much. Even though I'm one of the producers on it the way he set it up, he sold his rights to Sony, Sony hired me as a producer by chance, and I can't get the rights free for him so I'm not in the driver's seat and I can't tell you what Sony and Neil together will decide on. If they do move forward I'd love to help them again."

When I pressed if Raimi was still attached to help produce the Last of Us movie, he replied, "Yes, I'm attached to it. I'm not too sure what that means. Right now it's just sitting there. They don't want to move forward, and it's not my place to say why, and Neil, I think, is in a slight disagreement with them about how things should go so there's a standstill. And I don't have the power to move it."

IGN.com

Damn it Sony, quit being stubborn and just let Neil Druckman do his thing already.

Naughty Dog's Neil Drruckmann offers update on "Uncharted" & "The Last of Us" movies

Plans to make movie adaptations of Naughty Dog's franchises Uncharted and The Last of Us are still in the works, though neither will be hitting the big screen in the near future.

During a press event showcasing gameplay for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, IGN had a chance to speak with game director Neil Druckmann (who also wrote The Last of Us' movie script) and ask for updates on the two projects. According to him, Naughty Dog has only been "somewhat involved" in the development of the Uncharted film, which Sony currently has slated for a June 30, 2017 release date.


"Every once in a while they'll come in and they'll present to us: here's the script, here's what we're thinking. We'll tell them what we think works, what we think doesn't work," Druckman said, adding, "That's where we're at. Last I heard is they got a new screenwriter, but we haven't seen anything in a while."

According to Druckmann, the first step to making an Uncharted movie work is to make sure the core relationship between Elena, Nate and Sully is as good as it can be.

"Our approach is just to steer them back to those relationships," he explained. "The most important part to get right is Nathan Drake, Nathan Drake's relationship with Elena and Nathan Drake's relationship with Sullivan. If you don't get that right, I don't think the film's going to work. If you get that core right, there's a chance it could work."


As for The Last of Us movie, Druckmann's update might disappoint fans: there's no update to give.

"I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do," he said. "There hasn't been any work done on it in over a year and a half."

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the fourth and final Nathan Drake adventure, hits store shelves on May 10.

ign.com

Well, that's disappointing. 

Hope Sony works something out and involves Naughty Dog, or I doubt the movies will be very good.

The Last of Us movie has "pretty big changes", but still faithful to the game says Neil Druckmann

The upcoming feature film based on Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic action game The Last of Us won't follow the 2013 title's story exactly, but it will capture its overall tone, according to Neil Druckmann. He directed the game and is working with Sony to write the upcoming movie.

In an interview with Game Informer, Druckmann was asked how faithful the movie will be to the game. He replied: "Pretty faithful to the game. There are some big changes, but the tone and what the story's trying to say is pretty faithful to the game."

As for how the script itself is shaping up, Druckmann said it's coming along "really well," noting that he's already finished a second draft. He went on to say that the production team has already done a table read with "a bunch of actors," though he didn't say if Maisie Williams was one of them.

The Game of Thrones actress is reportedly a frontrunner for the role of Ellie. It's unclear who will play Joel, or any of the other characters, in the forthcoming film. Additionally, no director has been announced, though Spider-Man veteran Sam Raimi is confirmed to be producing it.



In addition to writing the script for the Last of Us movie, Druckmann is co-directing upcoming PlayStation 4game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Asked how he's splitting his time between both projects, his response suggested he hasn't been getting much sleep lately.

"When I'm in the office, it's all Uncharted 4 all the time," he said. "When I should be sleeping, it's the Uncharted movie." The interviewer then corrected him. "Yeah, sorry, The Last of Us movie."

An Uncharted movie is also in the works, but Druckmann made it clear that he's not writing that movie.

The Last of Us was released in June 2013 for PlayStation 3, while a Remastered version of the game later arrived for PS4. The game tells a post-apocalyptic story of a man (Joel) and a young women (Ellie) who are fighting to survive against humans and other deadly creatures.

gamespot.com

'The Last of Us' video game to be made into a movie

It states that Screen Gems has gained rights to distribute a live-action film of The Last of Us with a script penned by the game's writer and creative director Neil Druckmann. Also tied to the project from Naughty Dog will be its co-presidents Evan Wells and Christope Balestra along with the game's co-director Bruce Straley. Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) and his company Ghost House Pictures will be involved with the movie.


"Since our game released last June, we’ve talked with many companies about making a film, but we couldn’t have found better partners who share our creative vision and high standards," Naughty Dog's Evan Wells said, speaking about their collaboration with Screen Gems and Ghost House.


The movie's logline is described:


Hardened survivor Joel teams with young and capable companion Ellie to journey through a radically transformed world some 20 years after an infectious pandemic ravages humanity. The game has won numerous awards and has been a big seller since its release last summer.


The game won numerous awards indeed, even becoming GT's Game of the Year for 2013. Do you think it will translate well to the big screen?


gametrailers.com


YES! Best. News. Ever. Wonder who they'll cast as Joel and Ellie. Hope 'Uncharted' still gets made one day soon.