Lending further credence to the theory that we’re fully in cinema’s video game era, Split Fiction was clearly fast-tracked to the screen: the game hit shelves on March 6, less than a month later the film adaptation was announced in development, and now we’ve already got a full creative team. No wonder, since the game was an instant hit, selling two million copies in one week. “With its story of two young writers who find themselves trapped in a machine that brings their creations to life, the game is bright and quick-moving, and even, occasionally, brilliant,” The A.V. Club‘s William Hughes wrote in the review of the co-op game with his co-op partner Jen Lennon, who opined that “most of the time, the gameplay simply wasn’t innovative enough to overcome the narrative shortcomings.”
Hopefully Reese and Wernick can shore up those shortcomings for the film. But there was enough belief in this intellectual property to spark an alleged “bidding war” over the rights, and to nab two very in-demand players for the project. Since the success of Wicked, John M. Chu has been tapped to helm adaptations of Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman In Me and Dr. Seuss’ Oh The Places You’ll Go. Sydney Sweeney pretty much always has a full dance card, with upcoming projects including an adaptation of The Masque Of The Red Death, The Cleaning Lady opposite Amanda Seyfried, and Scandalous, the directorial debut of her Euphoria co-star Colman Domingo. She’ll serve as an executive producer on Split Fiction alongside Chu’s Electric Somewhere banner.
