Rockstar Explains Why A GTA Movie “Never Appealed” To Them

According to Rockstar co-founder and vice president Dan Houser, a Grand Theft Auto movie is not something that appeals to the massive studio.

Houser, recently speaking to The Guardian, was asked if Rockstar had ever been directly approached to make a film adaption of the colossal GTA franchise.

“We’ve been offered, many times, and it’s never appealed,” Houser replied.

“The money’s never been close to be worth risking one’s crown jewels.

“Our small dabblings with Hollywood have always left us running back to games. The freedom we have to do what we want creatively is of enormous value. The second you go near Hollywood, people seem willing, or have been forced, to lose a lot of that control.

“That sort of amorphous ‘that won’t test well’ attitude is exactly how we don’t work. We’ve always tried to think of stuff that’s innovative and new, and to go into a world where that’s not encouraged would be horrible.”

Houser further elaborated by explaining that if GTA were to ever get a live -action adaption, it would most likely be on the small screen to have more creative freedom and a longer length.

“There’s still plenty of kudos in doing a film, but you shouldn’t ever do anything in your life for kudos,” he explained.

“It’s much easier to imagine GTA as a TV series, as the form is closer, but I still think we’d be losing too much to ever actually do it.

“We’ve got this big open-world experience that’s 100 hours long, and that gives players control over what they do, what they see, and how they see it. A world where you can do everything from rob a bank to take a yoga lesson to watch TV, all in your own time. How do you condense that into a two-hour or 12-hour experience where you take away the main things: player agency and freedom?

“We love games and we think we’ve got something to say in games, and that games have plenty to say. So shouldn’t we just continue doing that?”

Personally, I like their reasoning, and I don’t really see much point in a Grand Theft Auto movie. Game to movie adaptions almost never work out well, and the only way they actually will is if they get proper budgets and talent behind them. My fingers are crossed for the Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell movies since the names being thrown around are notable, but I won’t have expectations.

Name: Azhar Lorgat
Location: Cape Town
Position: Potato

Azhar has published 3571 posts. Read all of Azhar's posts.

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