Movie producers have hired John Wick writer Derek Kolstad to adapt their smash 2022 beat ’em up game Sifu into a full film. Kolstad wrote the first three John Wick movies, the upcoming 2021 action thriller Nobody, and two episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The French studio Sloclap created Sifu, which tells the story of a martial arts student on a mission to avenge his father’s death across modern China. It was praised for its innovative gameplay mechanics and action, earning it a spot on the nomination lists of several industry awards.
Deadline reports that after the early 2022 release of the video game Sifu, Sloclap will collaborate with media business Story Kitchen to make a feature film adaptation of the game. John Wick writer Derek Kolstad will be developing the script for the film alongside Sonic the Hedgehog and Tomb Raider producer Dmitri M. Johnson. No director has been announced to lead the movie, and there is no expected release date. However, Kolstad and Johnson’s participation has been confirmed.
The Reasons Why Kolstad Is Ideal for The Sifu Adaptation
Sifu’s gameplay immediately gained a reputation for its fast-paced action thanks to its focus on hand-to-hand combat in chained, customizable techniques, and utilizing items in the environment. While the player’s character will gain strength and experience when revived, they will also get older and have less health, making it necessary to rethink tactics as the game progresses. Thus, Kolstad may be the right person to adapt Sifu for the big screen. His work on John Wick’s acclaimed action sequences has shown he can capture Sifu’s fast-paced fights and convey the protagonist’s gradual struggle and wear in a way that is reminiscent of the physical wear that Keanu Reeves’ reluctant assassin endures throughout the franchise, thereby raising the stakes of the film.
As a screenwriter, Kolstad is no stranger to bringing well-known properties into different mediums; he has participated in several projects that have done just that. Kolstad has been tied to several projects that would see him adapt video game IP for the big screen, such as the upcoming Splinter Cell anime series on Netflix and the planned live-action version of Just Cause. Thus, Kolstad may have a firm grasp of the essentials required to adapt a video game in a way that pleases both the original’s devoted followers and a whole new set of viewers.
Like John Wick, Sifu’s unrelenting action and no-holds-barred cruelty in the player character’s desire for retribution made it stand out and compete with many of the year’s most anticipated games. Since both properties include fast-paced action and a revenge-based narrative, many early players saw parallels between them; furthermore, the modding community for Sifu even combined the two universes by creating a John Wick-inspired skin for the player character. With Kolstad scheduled to direct the film adaptation of Sifu, fans of the video game may be hoping that the spectacular martial arts beat them up will become the next smash hit of Hollywood adaptations of video games.
