For those not entirely in the know with board games, Asmodee is one of the largest publishers in the world. They have bought up and invested in multiple studios over the years and chances are you've seen or played at least one thing they had a hand in. What else could possibly happen with a publisher with this far of a reach? How about partnering with a studio for feature film adaptations?
In an official press release sent by Asmodee, they have officially partnered with the film studio Radar Films. Radar Films is part of the Mediawan Group, which is one of the largest television and film studios in Europe. They have produced everything from non-scripted reality and game shows, scripted dramas, and even animated productions.
So what exactly will be the flagship project for Asmodee's first feature film adaptation? That would be the social deduction board game, The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow. As the name suggests, the game is about a bunch of villagers in a small town trying to figure out who among them is actually a werewolf killing people. It originally released in 2001 and has since garnered over 13 million players. Furthermore, Asmodee have already announced screenwriter Francois Uzan will be helping bring this board game to the big screen. Most US readers might be familiar with Uzan's modern update of gentleman thief Arsene Lupin in the French-language Netflix series, Lupin.
Considering the scarce attempts in the past to adapt games to film, an adaptation of a social deduction experience does hold some precedent. One of the more agreeable board game film adaptations was the 1985 Clue movie. Ostensibly an adaptation of the board game's whodunnit murder mystery set-up, the film veered into black comedy and satire of its own Agatha Christie roots, including multiple answers to who the killer was.
A more contemporary example of this working would be the film adaptation of Werewolves Within, which released this June. It shares a few similarities with The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow. Both are social deduction games about figuring out who to trust for example. But Werewolves Within was set in a small town in Alaska and was framed more as a horror comedy. In addition, Werewolves Within's source material was a VR game published by Ubisoft, a company currently under close scrutiny about ongoing worker harassment and abuse.
As for Asmodee and Radar Films partnership, it is too early to tell if this project will go forward. While Francois Uzan has some international clout, there still hasn't been a director or cast mentioned yet. But hopefully that information will come forth in time.
