Long before we had a word of a Minecraft movie or sequel, Mortal Kombat or an entire trilogy of films dedicated to the Nintendo Cinematic Universe (NCU), Sleeping Dogs was one of the most requested video game adaptations. And for a while it looked like it would be a reality until things finally came to a screeching halt.
However, fans of the Hong Kong action game received an exciting update earlier this year, when Simu Liu, best known as Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, revealed that he was in talks with rights holders to bring Sleeping Dogs to the big screen.
Flash forward to today, and Liu has shared on social media that the first draft of a potential adaptation of the 2012 game is finally complete. Liu shared a screenshot of the script with his sleeping dog.
There are still many unknowns when it comes to sleeping dogs
Unfortunately, parts of the script have been blurred out, including who wrote the script, as well as some other key identifying information, especially who will potentially star or direct it. Either way, it represents a huge development for an adaptation that many thought was DOA.
In a follow-up post, Liu noted that Square Enix is ”absolutely fantastic” when it comes to working out the rights, while “it's the studios that don't understand how important this IP is but we'll get them there.”
That last bit will probably serve as the movie's biggest hurdle. While we're in the golden age of video game adaptations, with many titles getting either movies, animated series or television shows, a Sleeping Dogs movie still needs a studio willing to back it, and while we have no idea what studio the movie has been pitched to, it's clear from Liu's own words that it's hard to find.
Given that there is an actual script, making the adaptation more than a concept, maybe things will turn around very quickly. Here is hope.
- issued
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August 14, 2012
- ESRB
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M for Mature 17+ due to blood and gore, intense violence, sexual content, strong language, drug use
- developer(s)
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United Front Games
- Engine
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Havoc
