Assassin’s Creed is based on the video game series of the same name, and 20th Century Fox planned for the 2016 movie to be the first of a long-running franchise, but it seems the Assassin’s Creed 2 Film will not happen. The first movie is set in the future and follows Cal (Michael Fassbender), who travels back in time to the 15th century to try to extract information from his ancestors. The character travels through time using genetic memories in his DNA, which is how he learns to become an expert fighter, assassin and free runner.
There were a lot of mistakes with these Assassin’s Creed movie, including overcomplicating the story, Resulting in negative reviews and a low 18% Rotten Tomatoes score. The video game adaptation grossed $240 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), underperforming given the film’s $125 million budget. However, that didn’t stop 20th Century Fox from developing not one but two sequels (via Play place). Producers even speculated about a cold war setting for Assassin’s Creed II. Unfortunately, while this idea has huge potential to be a massive improvement over the original movie, the Assassin’s Creed 2 Film never materialized.
Why the sequels of the Assassin’s Creed movie were scrapped
Disney canceled the Assassin’s Creed sequels after buying Fox
Despite 20th Century Fox’s confidence in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, even after the first movie’s underwhelming box office performance, there wasn’t much that could be done once Disney acquired Fox in 2019. After the deal, Disney canceled dozens of Fox projects in development, two of which were the Assassin’s Creed Sequels.
It is not known how far along in development these Assassin’s Creed 2 Movie and the threequel were or even if they were in active planning, but they were not officially canceled until the franchise was handed over to Disney. The Studio probably thought its resources would be better spent on a movie with more box office potential.
Disney has had little success with video game movie franchises
They were behind the notorious 1993 box office bomb, Super Mario Bros.
Notable video game movie adaptations:
Movie |
Rotten tomatoes |
Worldwide Box Office |
---|---|---|
Super Mario Bros. (1993) |
29% |
$20.9 million |
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) |
59% |
$1.3 billion |
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) |
36% |
$336.4 million |
Need for Speed ​​(2014) |
23% |
$203.2 million |
Gran Turismo (2023) |
65% |
$122.1 million |
It’s hardly surprising that Disney has little interest in the property, because not only would the studio have considered it pointless to invest $100 million in a movie that makes $200 million, but Disney has had no success with video game movies in the past. The House of Mouse formed Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeAnother swords-and-scandals movie based on a video game that also underperformed (by Box Office Mojo). however, The studio’s conflict with video game movies goes back decadesAs Disney released the first blockbuster video game movie, 1993’s much maligned Super Mario Bros.
While 2023s The Super Mario Bros. Movie Was a huge success, leading to a sequel, the 1993 Disney release was a box office bomb that the studio would rather forget. Disney’s subsequent video game movies didn’t help erase the stigma, either Need for Speed And these Prince of Persia Movies were negatively received, too. in That respect, Disney is canceling these Assassin’s Creed 2 movie and the threequel might have been the best thing the studio could have done For the franchise.
An Assassin’s Creed sequel or reboot could be in the works now
Studios are getting smarter about video game adaptations, like with the Super Mario Bros movie in 2023
Unfortunately, Disney didn’t talk about these Assassin’s Creed 2 movie since its cancellation in 2019. However, with a new approach, the franchise could be rebooted, and it could be much better received. The 2016 movie was criticized for being too slow, confusing and downright boring. Given that the video game series is set in different periods in history and about a secret society of free-flowing killers, it is almost impossible to make a movie adaptation of the property that is not fun and entertaining at least.
Video game movies have improved significantly in recent yearsWhich is evident given that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is in production, The Super Mario Bros. Movie Made $ 1.3 billion, and even Uncharted Was finally a successful popcorn flick. Although not much is known about the project, Netflix is ​​developing a Assassin’s Creed series, which could fix a lot of the movie’s problem. However, a big-screen audience-pleasing reboot instead of the Assassin’s Creed 2 Film or Netflix series has so much more potential.
Assassin’s Creed could work better as a TV series
Storytelling and budget concerns are resolved on the small screen
Assassin’s Creed 2 Could be a lost project, but the idea of ​​a TV series adapting the game is far more intriguing than a movie sequel to a dead-on-arrival feature film. The expansive and complex history of the video games simply didn’t have enough time to be explored in a movie while also delivering the kind of action fans expect from such a series. However, television offers a lot more freedom in terms of time, allowing the mythology to be developed and expanded over the course of a season rather than a single movie.
The show also provides the opportunity to embrace the wider universe of storytelling within the games. Assassin’s Creed Had to pick one time period to explore as it would be too difficult to dive into any other time periods. however, A show could allow the series to explore several new times with each new season, or even more of a “case of the week” format with endless jumping back and forth in time..
Television also offers salvation to the franchise, which is likely not a popular property for film studios at the moment. The failure of the first movie would probably cause a lot of trepidation about greenlighting a blockbuster budget for another attempt. Television’s more modest budgets may make this an easier choice to make, especially with the recent success of video game adaptations on the small screen, from The last of us to Fallout. Assassin’s Creed 2 Won’t happen, but the future looks bright for the franchise moving forward.
Assassin’s Creed (English: Assassin’s Creed) is a 2016 action-adventure film directed by Justin Kurzel. Starring Michael Fassbender as Callum Lynch, the film follows Lynch as he relives the memories of his ancestor, Aguilar, through revolutionary technology. In a secret society of assassins that protects free will against a powerful Templar organization that seeks control, the story weaves through historical and contemporary settings, illuminating ancient conflicts. The film also stars Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons.
- Director
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Justin Kurzel
- Release date
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December 21, 2016
- Figure
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Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling
- runtime
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116 minutes