Sony Developing ASSASSIN'S CREED Movie

Updated:Fusible report that Sony registered a dozen URLS relating to an Assassin's Creed movie a few days back, perhaps leading to a conclusion that the deal is already done. Sony is in the final leg of negotiating a contract with Ubisoft to bring the Assassin's Creed gaming franchise to a movie theater near you. Variety reports that the studio have won a bidding war for the movie rights between Universal (who it was reported in January were getting close to developing a movie) and several other studios. Sony will foot the bill for the movie and distribution costs with a partner but Ubisoft won't have to finance any part of the endeavour. As per the request of the deal however they will maintain creative control over the project via the Paris based gaming studio's new shingle Ubisoft Motion Pictures. Headed by Jean-Julien Baronnet, the shingle was created earlier this year to seek entertainment partners to turn their titles into t.v. shows & films and in the process make sure they remain key all the way through development;

"Ubisoft wants to maintain more creative control over the development of its games for other platforms rather than broker traditional one-off licensing deals with studios, something that proved key during the bidding process with Sony."

Assassin€™s Creed centers on the conflict between Templars and Assassins €“ two secret organisations with differing religious idelogies who have inflitiated major historical events. Or at least that€™s what the game tells us. The historical action/adventure game was created in 2007 and the franchise has proved so popular with 30 million copies sold worldwide it's already onto it's four title, "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" in four years with a new game released on Nov. 14th. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwRQGQMNN8 The game certainly contains lavish, cinematic style scope and presentation with a Mask of Zorro type heroin. However we basically said the same thing about Prince of Persia and look how that turned out and Ubisoft will be mindful of that. Meanwhile Ubisoft are also looking to setup deals for other big properties - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Sony already owns the movie rights to another couple of video games they are trying to crack, Naughty Dog's "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" and "InFamous" but we haven't heard much of anything from either of those projects for a while. No screener is set yet for Assassin's Creed and it's early days right now...