Ubisoft announces plans for film versions of Watch Dogs, Far Cry and Rabbids

Video game publisher and developer Ubisoft announced plans a while ago for film adaptations of ASSASSIN'S CREED, SPLINTER CELL and GHOST RECON. Michael Fassbender is still attached to ASSASSIN'S CREED, as is Tom Hardy for SPLINTER CELL and it was just announced a couple of days ago that Michael Bay might develop the GHOST RECON film. But apparently Ubisoft has plans for some of their other properties too.

Variety is reporting that the film division of Ubisoft is planning on three more movies based on their games and they are RABBIDS, FAR CRY and WATCH DOGS. RABBIDS and FAR CRY are both franchises with multiple games while WATCH DOGS won't be released until November of this year. Ubisoft will have full creative control of the films (as they do for ASSASSIN'S CREED, SPLINTER CELL and GHOST REACON) meaning they can hire and work with whoever they want, from actors and screenwriters to production shingles and studios.

Since this has just been announced there aren't that many details on what we can expect for the films although apparently RABBIDS will be a live-action film with CG rabbit characters, similar to THE SMURFS or ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS. Also the movies won't be straight up adaptations but stand alone titles with new plots different from the games.

FAR CRY was adapted in to a film in 2008 but that was directed by Uwe Boll so clearly there's room for improvement. RABBIDS will probably work as a children's movie (think the Minions from DESPICABLE ME) but I'm surprised Ubisoft has this much confidence in WATCH DOGS. The video game made quite an impression at last year's E3 but still it hasn't actually come out yet. If the game turns out to be shit (and amazing looking games do turn out to be garbage sometimes) it would be kind of embarrassing. The game does look interesting though. Check it out the trailer below:

Ubisoft looks like it wants to be a major player in Hollywood. ASSASSIN'S CREED is the one that interests me the most and I think a lot of these film versions of games are going to need that film to succeed in order for these projects to move forwards.