The next fantasy epic from A24 has the potential to marry the immersive storytelling style of Game of Thrones with the epic world-building of The Witcher franchise. Ever since Game of Thrones season 1 became a global phenomenon back in 2011, mature dark fantasy shows have been everywhere on streaming services and TV. From Starz’s Outlander to AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, everyone wants a slice of this profitable proverbial pie.
As well as the official Game of Thrones spinoffs House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO has His Dark Materials. Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina can rival Game of Thrones in its brutality and unpredictability, as can their second Critical Role show, The Mighty Nein. Meanwhile, Netflix’s expensive League of Legends series Arcane is a genuine masterpiece that was met with massive critical acclaim upon release.
Of course, that isn’t the only Netflix video game adaptation that has earned comparisons to Game of Thrones. The Witcher franchise, based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel series and their video game adaptations, was a huge critical and commercial success early on. Now, the studio A24 hopes to recapture this hype with Annihilation director Alex Garland’s upcoming epic dark fantasy Elden Ring, an adaptation of the 2022 game of the same name.
The Elden Ring Movie Can Herald A New Era Of Big Screen Fantasy
Set in the sprawling open world setting of the Lands Between, Elden Ring has various immersive settings, including the undead-ridden Caelid and the combatively idyllic Limgrave. Players assume the role of a Tarnished, a member of a group who were exiled from the Lands Between after the immortal Queen Marika shattered the eponymous Elden Ring that previously allowed her to control the six lands of the setting. Now ruled by her warring demigod children, the lands are home to the game’s story as the player travels through them, attempting to repair the ring and become the new Elden Lord.
With a plot that borrows elements from the Lord of the Rings franchise, Game of Thrones, and The Witcher novels and games alike, it is no surprise that this epic fantasy game earned comparisons to these earlier hits in the genre. What was surprising is just how beloved the game became, with critics praising the game as one of the most immersive and memorably designed games of the last decade.
Frequently listed as one of the best video games of all time, Elden Ring invented a world that could match the setting of any earlier fantasy franchise in its depth and complexity. Of course, this presents a unique challenge for a director hoping to bring this story to life onscreen, since even the most big-budget movies have limited screen time to work with, and therefore limited time to explore their fictional world.
Elden Ring Is A Different Kind Of Movie For A24
This isn’t always a problem for filmmakers. Famously, the Lord of the Rings trilogy director’s Peter Jackson managed, in the space of three movies, to depict a vision of Middle-Earth that felt as real, lived-in, and immersive as the far longer novels by author J.R.R Tolkien. However, Garland is a fascinating choice here.
His earlier movie Annihilation was praised for bringing an immersive fictional location to life convincingly, but he is just as often criticized for failing at this task. Garland has a massive budget of around $100 million to work with, meaning Elden Ring will be A24’s biggest movie to date.
Although 2024’s Civil War impressed some critics, Garland’s $50 million also earned the ire of many reviewers, who found its fictional future laughably underdeveloped and politically ambiguous. Thus, it is not yet clear whether A24’s chosen director is up to the task of convincingly realizing the world of Elden Ring onscreen and matching the success of Game of Thrones and The Witcher in the process.
- Release Date
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March 3, 2028
- Producers
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Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald, George R. R. Martin, Vince Gerardis, Matthew Penry-Davey