A film adaptation of mystery-adventure video game franchise “Broken Sword” is being developed by game maker Revolution Software, producer Story Kitchen and Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos.
Created by Charles Cecil, the “Broken Sword” series debuted in 1996 with “The Shadow of the Templars.” The franchise follows intrepid American George Stobbart and fearless French journalist Nicole Collard as they navigate ecclesiastical conspiracy throughout iconic European settings.
Across five titles released over the past 30 years, the “Broken Sword” games have been played by more than 10 million players and is credited as a foundational title for modern-day narrative-driven gaming. Recently, Cecil’s Revolution Software concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign for the latest “Broken Sword” remake project, “Smoking Mirror Reforged,” which raised nearly $1 million against a $68,000 goal.
The “Broken Sword” movie will be written by Spiliotopoulos, whose other writing credits include “The Unholy,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” and “G.I. Joe” movie “Snake Eyes.”
Story Kitchen, which is working on several high-profile TV and film adaptations of video games, including the new “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise and Amazon’s upcoming “Life Is Strange” series, will produce the film alongside Revolution’s Cecil and his partner, Noirin Carmody.
“Very few franchises of this era have stayed relevant, premium, and loyal to the intelligence of their audience. ‘Broken Sword’ has done all three,” Story Kitchen co-founders Dmitri M. Johnson and Michael Lawrence Goldberg said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Our work here isn’t to adapt a game into a film. It’s to move a world that has been building for three decades into the next medium it deserves, working hand-in-hand with the people who built it.”
“Story Kitchen came to this project with a deep passion for the IP,” Revolution Software founder and CEO Charles Cecil added. “That’s rare. The creative conversations have been about translating what ‘Broken Sword’ is, rather than what it can be made to look like. I am hugely excited to be working with Story Kitchen and Evan.”
