Ubisoft announces movie based on Watch Dogs

Ubisoft and Sony seem to have joined forces. At the ongoing Gamescom, the companies announced that they are working together to bring about a movie based on the upcoming Watch Dogs. The movie will act as a supplement to the game.

The project will be overseen at Ubisoft by the company’s film and TV division, Ubisoft Motion Pictures. At Columbia, Minghella and Sam Dickerman will oversee development while Alexandra Milchan and Andrew Calof will work on the film for New Regency.

“Since both Sony and Ubisoft have movie and video game branches, this deal creates exceptional opportunities for us to merge the realms of the story-based cinematic experience with the interaction of the video game,” said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures.

Aiden Pearce is going to hit the big screen

“In addition, Sony Pictures and New Regency have deep production expertise and are letting us maintain a strong creative voice in the film’s development. Together, we’re confident we can deliver a movie that builds upon the excitement that the game is already generating.”

Commenting on the announcement, Hannah Minghella, President of Production for Columbia Pictures, said, “The themes and open gameplay of ‘Watch Dogs’ lends itself perfectly to the big screen. The game has intense action and adventure, but the story focuses on information and the control of information, which we think will lead to an exciting thriller.  It has tremendous potential as a motion picture and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with Ubisoft’s internal creative team on the development of the project.”

Watch Dogs centres on Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker bent on revenge and inflicting his own brand of justice after a violent family tragedy.  Using all of his skills, Pearce hacks into Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS), which controls the city’s infrastructure, including security cameras, traffic lights and public transportation, as well as databases containing key information on the city’s residents.

For more information on Watch Dogs, check out our interview with the developers .