Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has revealed why the company decided against signing off on GTA and Red Dead Redemption films.
GTAandRed Dead Redemptionare two of the biggest IPs in all of gaming, so the fact that there haven’t been movies made about them may be a bit of a shocker considering how many video game adaptations there have been.
Speaking withThe Ankler, Houser explained how he had received calls about Hollywood adapting GTA or Red Dead into a TV or movie project, but his answer to execs was always a resounding “no.”
“After a few awkward dates, we’d ask [the executives], why would we do this?” he recalled.
While the execs believed Rockstar would be on board just due to the fact their work could become a movie, the studio’s co-founder was concerned about letting others touch his creations without giving him creative control.
“And we’d be like, ‘no, what you’ve described is you making a movie and us having no control and taking a huge risk that we’re going to end up paying for with something that belongs to us,’” he said.
“They thought we’d be blinded by the lights and that just wasn’t the case,” he added. “We had what we considered to be multi-billion-dollar IP, and the economics never made sense. The risk never made sense. In those days, the perception was that games made poor-quality movies.”
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Although there have been many high-quality adaptations of games since withThe Last of UsandThe Super Mario Bros Moviebeing well-received by critics and fans, Rockstar has yet to sign off on any films of their own.
Michael Gwilliam is Dexerto’s Deputy Entertainment Editor in the US. He expertly covers trending stories across Twitch, Kick, YouTube, TikTok, as well as Overwatch, GTA, and Smash Bros. You can contact him at: michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com
