Summary

• The Death Stranding movie, based on the 2019 sci-fi game, is in development despite the ongoing Hollywood strikes, and promising news is expected soon.
• Executive producer Allan Ungar assures that Hideo Kojima, the creator of the game, is involved in the movie's creative process every step of the way.
• Compared to the long-stuck Metal Gear Solid movie adaptation, the Death Stranding movie seems to be making faster progress, potentially marking a milestone for Kojima in having the first movie adaptation of his games move forward.

Editor's Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Even with Hollywood in the middle of a historic shutdown, the Death Stranding movie has gotten a promidate from executive producer Allan Ungar. Created by Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima, the 2019 sci-fi game put players in the shoes of Sam Porter Bridges, a courier in a post-apocalyptic world in which otherworldly creatures known as "beached things" (BTs) and a bandit-like cult known as MULE roam the Earth. Pairing Reedus with a star-studded ensemble including Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux and Guillermo del Toro, Death Stranding was a critical and commercial hit, leading to development on both a sequel and movie adaptation.

While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for the Nicolas Cage thriller Sympathy for the Devil, Allan Ungar was asked about the in-development Death Stranding movie. Though acknowledging the importance of the ongoing actors and writers strikes' impact on the industry's future, and indicate it has put a pause on the movie, the executive producer was very encouraging in the project's ongoing development, teasing "very exciting news" coming soon and assuring Kojima is involved "every step of the way." See what Ungar shared below:

Allan Ungar: Yeah, no, listen, this is an incredibly, incredibly important undertaking for [Kojima]. This is his baby, this is the first time that he went out on his own as an independent studio, and made a game, and that game became critically acclaimed, it became very prolific. Unfortunately, due to the strike, and due to sort of everything that's happening in our industry right now, I can't say as much as I'd like to, other than there's going to be some very exciting news coming up soon, and we're incredibly excited about the direction that we're taking it in. I think it's going to be an incredible surprise, not just for video game fans, but for moviegoing fans, and audiences in general, who I don't think have seen anything quite like this before.

Screen Rant: And he's pretty involved in the creative process?

Allan Ungar: Every step of the way.

Will The Death Stranding Movie Mark A Kojima First?

With Ungar assuring that "exciting news" is on the horizon for the Death Stranding movie, it seems likely that he and the team at Hammerstone Studios had intended to make an announcement at the recently concluded San Diego Comic-Con before following in the footsteps of many other studios and pulling out of the event. Kojima even sparked speculation about the franchise on Twitter over the same weekend with shots from an LED Volume set with an unspecified actor filming against visuals reminiscent of the 2019 title, with most believing it to be Death Stranding 2 production while some theorized it to be the movie.

Considering the movie has only been in development for seven months, it seems unlikely Kojima's post was hinting towards its production, though Ungar's confidence in the Death Stranding movie's speedy development could make it a Kojima milestone in being the first movie adaptation of one of his games to move forward. A Metal Gear Solid movie adaptation has been stuck in development hell for nearly 20 years, with Kong: Skull Island's Jordan Vogt-Roberts g on to direct in 2014 and Oscar Isaac having been cast as Solid Snake in late 2020.

Despite having its director and star, the Metal Gear Solid movie has continued to languish as, according to Isaac's last update in early 2022, the creative team were still "looking for the story". While Kojima's Death Stranding was even more of a surreal adventure than the Snake-led franchise, it only having one released title to its name may have helped the prolific game creator, Ungar and Hammerstone make larger strides in progress to bringing the 2019 title to life on the big screen. Regardless of how far along its development is, Ungar's assurance that Kojima is involved "every step of the way" is sure to come as a promising sign.