There’s no stopping French director Mathieu Turi, whose films include The Deep Dark and Hostile. He is currently directing a series adapted from the world of A Plague Tale, the video game by Bordeaux-based studio Asobo. His next project is a Watch Dogs movie. As the flagship license of French publisher Ubisoft, the Guillemot family continues to create movie adaptations of its titles, following in the footsteps of Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed.
Watch Dogs: the infiltration and hacking franchise
Unveiled in 2014, the first Watch Dogs opus offered a vast open world with infiltration and hacking mechanics. Ubisoft’s title was very well received by gamers and the press alike. The game is impressive, not least thanks to the charismatic main character, Aiden Pearce. All this is supported by a captivating story that invites players to join the DedSec hacker collective.
Watch Dogs 2 arrived two years later and improved on the formula. This time, you play the role of Marcus Holloway, who joins a group of hacktivists made up of Wrench, Sitara Dhawan and Horatio Carlin, later joined by other protagonists. This second opus is more open and more fun. The title benefits from a minor graphic overhaul and improved gameplay.
In 2020, Watch Dogs: Legion arrived. The Breton publisher offered even better graphics on PS5 and Xbox Series X thanks to ray tracing. The game is set in a dystopian London, where technology has taken precedence over privacy, in a complex political context. The originality of this opus is that the player can recruit people on the street, based on their skills. It’s then possible to play them to complete the many missions.
A Watch Dogs movie directed by Mathieu Turi
The Watch Dogs game series is already very cinematic, and a film adaptation makes a lot of sense. The story is anchored in the present day, at a time when social networks are becoming increasingly prevalent. It is somewhat appropriate that Mathieu Turi has been chosen to direct, as he is already working on an adaptation with the A Plague Tale series, based on Asobo Studio’s game. All the more so as he was also assistant director on films such as Inglourious Basterds and Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows. Accustomed to genre cinema, he could well bring a real identity to the Watch Dogs film.
The project is also supported by Christie LeBlanc on the script. She made a name for herself with the script for Alexandre Aja’s Oxygen, produced by Netflix. It’s therefore an original story, but one that could bridge the gap with the games. Actress Sophie Wilde, seen in the film Talk to Me and the series Boy Swallows Universe, is set to play the title role. Watch Dogs is produced by New Regency Pictures. No release date has yet been announced.
The Watch Dogs movie adaptation is rather promising news for fans of the franchise. The choice of Mathieu Turi as director is a good one, as he is used to genre cinema and could add his own touch to the film. Christie LeBlanc’s screenplay and Sophie Wilde’s starring role are also assets for this new Ubisoft film project. The two media complement each other and offer parallel experiences, and it’s interesting to see directors such as James Cameron getting involved in video games, notably with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, also developed by Ubisoft.
