Recently reports are that Sony Pictures will soon sign an agreement with Ubisoft for the Assassin’s Creed movie rights. The granting of Ubisoft as rights to budget, principal cast, script, release date has left Hollywood insiders flabbergasted.
“As a director, even Steven Spielberg cannot get this kind of deal,” said an insider, and another Hollywood talent agent who represents a smaller video game publisher, “The whole Ubisoft/Sony deal is a waste of ink, paper and time. The level of control Sony gave up means, effectively, that Assassin’s Creed will never — and I mean never — get made.”
Universal and Warner Bros. both bid for the rights, but balked at the terms. “They want to be able to pull the plug on the whole movie’s development if they decide to,” said a studio chief that pulled out. “It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s [Ubisoft’s] billion-dollar brand, so I get that they’re protective,” said another head of a different studio that passed. “But they’re not moviemakers, and the only way to make sure it’s a bad movie is to undervalue what movie studios do — and this is a deal that totally undervalues what movie studios do.”
Sony Pictures is willing to go along with this because of the popularity of the Assassin’s Creed brand that they are spending “only a fraction of what a studio typically would spend to option or develop a script” because Ubisoft is anteing up for the project.
Ubisoft wants to do this to avoid a situation of what happened with the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie, where they feel they had too little input. Assassin’s Creed is also a large cash cow for Ubisoft right now, so it stands to reason that Ubisoft would be protective of their top game property. “It begs the question,” mused studio chief, “If they’re so afraid of what will happen to their franchises, why make a movie at all ”
Source: Vulture.com
