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Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon feature films en route

Ubisoft Motion Pictures already planning trio of live-action projects based on games; Rabbids animated series also in the works.

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Two weeks ago, Ubisoft announced the formation of Ubisoft Motion Pictures, its television and film production studio. Today, the company revealed to Variety that it is wasting no time turning its portfolio of successful game franchises into live-action--and animated--projects.

A live-action Assassin's Creed  is already in pre-production.
A live-action Assassin's Creed is already in pre-production.

According to the show business trade, Ubisoft is currently working on three live-action feature films based on the Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon franchises. The series have sold 28 million units, 22 million units, and 17 million units life-to-date, according to the trade. The projects will leverage assets at all of Ubisoft's 23 internal studios, including special-effects house Hybride technologies (300, Watchmen), which it acquired in July 2008.

"Our strategy is not to diversify but to bolster the appeal of our franchises--that's why we want to make sure our films will reflect the brands accurately and consolidate our fan base while expanding beyond the games' primary target audience," Jean de Rivieres, senior VP of international marketing and distribution for Ubisoft Motion Pictures, told Variety.

Previously, Ubisoft made live-action shorts based on the Assassin's Creed series (see below) and Ghost Recon and had been in pre-production on a Splinter Cell film. Like Ghost Recon, that series was inspired by the writing of author Tom Clancy, which Ubisoft bought the multimedia rights to in March 2008.

In addition to the three feature films, Ubisoft is also apparently planning a series of animated shorts based on its comic line of Raving Rabbids video games. The series will be computer animated, in 3D, and will comprise of 78 seven-minute episodes.

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jasonzilla11

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Wonder how they'll do this. Assassin's Creed remains to be one of my favorite franchises, and should never die. I guess movies will help preserve it's glory.

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isshiah

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@bloodmoney92 true. they also have to make it accessible for the noobs. like comic book movies have to do origin stories so people don't go "is the joker bruce wayne?".

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bloodmoney92

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@isshiah its probably gonna be like a trilogy like matrix/lord of the rings/harry potter... having multiple chapters and episodes..

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isshiah

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i wonder how they'll transfer many hours of gameplay and story into 2 hours movies. it's like stretching a movie into a longer game. looking forward to them, nonetheless...

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cstrike105

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I hope they could make it look like the Spartacus series . They should make it a series type of video. Wherein there should be action, gore minus the s*x scenes. Making it look like Spartacus Blood and Sand will make it a worth it film. Only that mature audiences are allowed to view it.

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deactivated-5ac2d6bc7d84c

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They were supposed to have made a Splinter Cell movie YEARS ago...

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AuronXY

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Wentworth Miller as Altair!!

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Takeno456

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Hell yeah Assassin's Creed movie! Lets make it a good one Ubisoft. Make the games proud!

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dennis8

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if AC Lineage is any indication of the quality of the forthcoming movies then I can say that i have my hopes up :D

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Shantmaster_K

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cant wait! i love all those games and it would be sweet to see. why does the assassin have to be so old tho? lol

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okeanis

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by JudgeRAW: [[If this is successful it could start a trend amongst developers to be more hands-on with the production of movies based on their franchises, which I believe to be necessary if games are ever to make a successful cross over into films.]] Most definitely. At least, for the true adaptation that fans will respect as both a movie and as part of the game's cannon. Holllywood tends to radically re-image video games when they adapt them, somehow completely missing the aspects that made the games story world what it was and shaping it into "disgusting things". However, the fact that Ubisoft has its own movie studio branch, at least to me, means that the 'gutting' that usually happens in Hollywood adaptations isn't going to happen - there will be actual respect for the original property - for all the things that made the original property great in its original form. I will say, there has been a couple of movie adaptations that I did enjoy, and that I think did capture at least the spirit of its game, however, it wasn't the greatest piece of work - though still entertaining. I have a lot more confidence in these movie translations as they'll be a true translation - done well - especially if 'Linage' is anything to go by. by DJCartmell : [[I think you can make a decent TV mini series out of video games more than movies where stories are broken down into smaller chunks ... I think Ubisoft have shown through the Assasin's creed mini series it's possible to make a decent TV series of a franchise]] Very much agree with the Mini-series idea as well - I would like to see this aspect explored more as well. May also be easier to do than a movie, as well; such as with the current Mortal Kombat webisodes. ps - Ubisoft is European company (isn't it?), so unless they are being made in the 'Hollywood' style, they won't be Hollywood movies, right?

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bballabarry

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only one i really dont see doing well is ghost recon, im skeptical of assassins creed, splinter cell sounds like it will be good tho

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newhighscore

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they bought the special effects studio that did 300 and watchmen!? winning. this gives me even greater hope for a good game to film transition. the ac lineage shorts are extremely well done. the sets and production quality are top notch. who knows maybe we will get a better prince of persia film too. i wish more game companies would ensure the integrity of their brands like this. maybe this will get the others to follow suit.

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RonTorque

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Well, that's the best news ever.As Ubisoft is one but almost my most favorite gaming company.This is the best news for me. I hope they could work fast and do something as a prequel to Assassin's Creed Revelations before the game hits the stores in November.

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zeonfollower

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Fabulous!

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cdog21

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If an AC movie starred Ezio wouldn't a sex scene of some kind be neccessary to the character. The man is an amazing assassin, but he gets more ass than a toilet seat.

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sentencer

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Assassin's Creed movie FTW!!

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XboxGuy1537

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Rabbids!

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keybladegamer

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Besides my 5 yr. old cousin, I know no one who will enjoy the Raving Rabbids short animations. Though a well-produced splinter cell movie sounds ok...

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irwin888

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I'm carefully optimistic for now...

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armandoisgreat

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Let's pray they come out better than the Super Mario Bros movies...

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shkar

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an AC movie would be awesome............

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pokecharm

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I can't believe I just watched this video...still kinda excited about the upcoming movies though :)

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Xplode_77

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Splinter Cell is going to be the best out of the three.

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advanracer

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Hmmm...a Ghost Recon film..might just be interesting. But then again, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six sounds even better considering Hollywood already depicted 3 of his books into films.

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anime_boi

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Hmm... 3D Rabbids? I would LOVE to see them in claymation instead!!! And where is the love for "Rainbow Six"?

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poordude1089

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I'm not sure how I feel about a Splinter Cell movie, if for no reason besides Michael Ironside couldn't be a believable Sam Fischer.

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Aural_Assault

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I love Splinter Cell, but I can't see it working as a movie after all this time. Ghost Recon as a movie? Yawn... it'll be just another generic military movie.

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RocSeanD

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This video is awesome. I actually watched the whole movie. It's like 36 minutes long, but really well done. Here is the link if anyone is interested. Peace out!! << LINK REMOVED >>

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Eclipse-015

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The video was pretty sweet, it seemed like they captured the aspect of Assassins Creed perfectly.

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VideoGamerNerd

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Sweet! That is awesome!

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MrPepino000

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Hopefully they will be good and NOT copied from the game lol

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BreakingSpecter

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Cant wait to see all these movies. Hopefully they will turn out good.

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Linkari

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AC Lineage looks like its been ripped straight from the game. If the movie had the same team and same dedication then it could be our model movie-based-on-a-video-game but somehow I still have my doubts.

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nodjsuper

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lets hope that will be about ezio and not giovanni

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Pewbert

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I'm sure these films will all be oscar worthy :p

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RocSeanD

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[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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warhawk-geeby

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Splinter Cell :D That's me done!

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JudgeRAW

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If this is successful it could start a trend amongst developers to be more hands-on with the production of movies based on their franchises, which I believe to be necessary if games are ever to make a successful cross over into films.

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spike6958

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AC Lineage is a very well made. If the movie is made by the same people who made that, with the same level of quality then it should be amazing. As for Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon I don't really care about movies for either of them, though I guess I would probably watch Splinter Cell at some point.

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GamerLegend10

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could be awesome, could fail...im obviously hoping it will be awesome. i think AC, SC and GR have great potential to be films as long as they are done properly.

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el3m2tigre

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@desperadoxd Yea, i watched it after i posted my comment. It was pretty good. It gave a similiar atmosphere as the games do. I still want to see some air assassinations though :P

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AvatarMan96

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Man, I've always thought a Assassin's Creed movie would be epic! Sweet! I really don't know about Splinter Cell, I've never played those games, so no comment. As for the Rabbids.....HECK YEAH! I can only imagine how hilarious and random that show will be! Frickin awesome!

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a_sektor

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wonderful...I love AC but the only series I don't wanna miss is RAVING RABBIDS. It's a brilliant idea. I bet it's gonna be a BLAASSST...!

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jemoedr

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@NeverMore0 Nonsense, the Final Fantasy movies sold out quiet well, especially the Advent Childeren one. I wonder how the movies will be, i'll surely watch Assassins Creed. If it will be a fail, well then we at least still have the games to play :D

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DJCartmell

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Even though Hollywood have an extensive track record for not pulling off decent adaptations of video games I'll remain cautiously optimistic. I think that one of the big difficulties with some adaptations are that video game stories can be long and linear like a 10 hour story for example with fantastic plot twists etc getting cut down to 2 hours being not as good as the originals without the juicy plot parts or being more watered down. I think you can make a decent TV mini series out of video games more than movies where stories are broken down into smaller chunks making you want to see the next instalment next week etc. I think video game series have more of a future as I think Ubisoft have shown through the Assasin's creed mini series it's possible to make a decent TV series of a franchise so I guess if Ubisoft can make a decent series then I'll cautiously optimistically say it's still possible they may make a decent video game movie franchise.

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desperadoxd

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@el3m2tigre PoP in film was merely only 'based' on The Sands of Time story that Ubisoft created -- now that Ubi has their own film/production company, I highly doubt the films they want to release will be as bad as The Sands of Time... Have you watched all of AC: Lineage? It was pretty impressive, considering they used barebones everything...

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NeverMore0

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Yeah, this didn't work so well for Square...

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Deathkne11

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We've all seen that the track record of games being made out of movies hasn't been a good one (Thor, anyone?). Let's hope the movies made out of games do a little better.

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SHERNEE

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OMG AC movie.. Awesome! I'm gonna watch the hec outta that.

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