Another video game feature film adaptation is on the way!
Variety is reporting that after their success with the film Sonic The Hedgehog, video game developer Sega is looking to make a feature film based on their gangster video game franchise titled Yakuza and are now seeking screenwriters. The multiple installments are games that balance soap opera and brawler elements set in the Japanese underworld.
Erik Barmack, Roberto Grande and Joshua Long will produce. 1212 and Wild Sheep are searching for writers for the script.
The first game follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu being released from a 10-year prison sentence after taking the fall for the murder of his family’s patriarch. After the entire Japanese underworld is pulled into the search for $100 million stolen from the vault of his former clan, Kiryu is forced back into the lawless world of the yakuza.
In Japan, yakuza movies are extremely popular and have their own sub-genre similar to American mafia films.
The world-famous Japanese tattoo artist named Horitomo designed the elaborate irezumi tattoos (traditional Japanese tattoos) that the Yakuza characters wear in the games and I’ll keep my fingers crossed they will ask him to consult on the film.
SOURCE: VARIETY