SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is Back on Track With MAMA Director

 

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision set it's sights on the news that Mama director Andres Muschietti would be set to bring Sony's long gestating Shadow of the Colossus to life with Seth Lockhead who penned a dark fairy-tale of his own with 2011's HANNA. 

Muschietti’s sister and producing partner, Barbara Muschietti, is boarding the project and will produce alongside Kevin Misher, who produces through his Misher Films banner.

The film, which has been in development since 2009, got closest to coming to life after the announcement of Chronicle director Josh Trank as the diector, which ultimatley fell through after Trank was faced with tackling the Fantastic Four reboot over at 20th Fox. 

The game, which has sold over two million copies world-wide since it's release on the PlayStation 2 in 2005 to universal critical acclaim, follows the story of a young man named Wander who carries his love, Mono, into a mystical and cursed land where he must slay 16 giants to save her, all while being persued by mysterious tribesmen from his villiage who wish to stop him from tampering with fate itself.

Sony Pictures describes Shadow of the Colossus as "set in an epic-scale world filled with mythic giants and disembodied spirits." The studio says Muschietti is a fan of the game and "has a strong vision for the film and its characters, and seeks to translate the immersive game experience into a film that stays true to the human story of a young man attempting to save his lost love by accomplishing a seemingly impossible task ... the destruction of the colossi who roam the forbidden land."

The video-game has been a constant source in the compelling argument if video-games can be considered "art" or not, and has even made an appearence as a brilliant coping mechanism and back-ground meta plot in the Adam Sandler drama Reign Over Me.  

"We knew we had our director once we heard Andy's take on the material — it was genius," said Sony Pictures president of production Michael De Luca in a release. "The themes, characters and supernatural elements of the story have incredible international appeal with fans of the game in the millions."

All the pieces are now in place, and after the lack-luster returns of Sony's latest big-budget spectacle, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and their video-game cash-cow Resident Evil franchise drawing to a close, perhaps it's time for the studio to set it's sights on something broader. 
Played right, it's hard not to imagine Sony turning the game into a trilogy; if done carefully.

The project has the potential to be a mega hit, now to see where the casting department decides to go.