It was recently reported that a movie based on Split Fiction could happen, but game director Josef Fares isn’t holding out hope that it actually gets made. In Hollywood, nothing is ever certain, and that’s something that Fares firmly believes.
“I believe it when I see it, because nothing has happened yet,” Fares told Variety. “Look, here’s the thing–it would be nice if it happened, but again, I believe it when I see it. Sometimes there’s a lot of talks, but nothing happens. So we will see.”
To be sure, no Split Fiction movie has even been announced. Variety reported, citing anonymous sources, that Story Kitchen won a “bidding war” for the rights to make a Split Fiction movie. Importantly, if that’s true, what’s happened is that the rights to a potential Split Fiction movie were sold. This doesn’t necessarily mean a Split Fiction movie will happen soon, or ever.
Before making games, Fares made movies. He directed the Swedish movies Zozo (2005) and Leo (2007). He also directed the 2010 film Balls. His brother, Fares Fares, is an actor known for his roles in the Oscar-winning movie Zero Dark Thirty and the Star Wars film Rogue One.
Split Fiction Review
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Should a Split Fiction movie actually get made, Fares said he would be “quite open” to having the film make “a lot of changes” to fit the medium.
“I think you have to change the story because obviously, in our games, we focus a lot on interactivity, the mechanics and everything, but in the movies it’s a different kind of focus,” he said. “So the writers that are going to start–I mean, obviously we’re going to read the scripts and everything–are gonna have to change quite a lot, but still keep the idea, the characters, the world of jumping between the sci-fi and fantasy. I think it could become a really cool movie, if you write it the right way, actually.”
Another Hazelight game, It Takes Two, could become a film with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but there haven’t been any significant developments on that project in some time. It’s also set up at Story Kitchen, which is the production company behind the massive Sonic the Hedgehog movie series.
Also in the interview, Fares teased the next Hazelight game. He said all of the studio’s games have a word connected to them to represent the theme, and the next game will be no different–except Fares won’t reveal what that word is for now.
“Split Fiction was ‘friendship’ and It Takes Two was ‘collaboration’ and A Way Out was ‘trust’. And yes, we have a word for the next one as well, but if I say it, I might actually spoil something. But there’s definitely a word that is for the next game as well,” he said.
Earlier this month, Fares said work had already begun on the next Hazelight title. “Just wait until [you see] what we do next. I know it’s cocky. But that’s how confident we feel in what we’re doing,” he said.
The game, whatever it turns out to be, will have big shoes to fill, as Split Fiction earned rave reviews, including a 10/10 from GameSpot, and has already passed 2 million in sales.
