Video game movie adaptations are becoming more and more popular, so why haven’t we seen a Grand Theft Auto movie yet? Given that Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are two huge franchises for Rockstar and its parent company Take-Two, it seems like both would be a phenomenal pick to get that big-screen treatment. It hasn’t happened yet, though now we know why thanks to Take-Two Interactive’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, Zelnick revealed that it wasn’t for a lack of want, rather a lack of resources to do it right. “Part of it is, if we were to do something like that, we’d want to have complete creative control to make sure we expressed it the way we wanted,” the CEO mentioned. “And that would mean we’d need to finance that motion picture. While we have the balance sheet to do it, we don’t have the corporate expertise to do it. Only a handful of people inside Take-Two have ever worked in that business. I’m one of them. But that’s not what we do for a living.”
He also mentioned that Grand Theft Auto is one of the most successful franchises in gaming history, it wouldn’t be a business-savvy decision to hand over the rights to such a fruitful property to another company. It makes sense and given the wild love for such a universe built within gaming, the movie would have to be absolutely perfect in order to satisfy a large part of their fan-base. A lot could go wrong, especially given how video game adaptations are viewed by the general public, so it makes sense that the team would choose to stay focused on building the game franchise as it is.
Thanks to our sister site GameDaily, Prima Games has a subscription to The Wrap’s Grill series, which can be found here. For those that want to see a clip without having to pay, here’s part of the conversation between Straus Zelnick and The Wrap’s Sharon Wasman:
Ever wondered why there hasn’t been a @rockstargames #GrandTheftAuto movie franchise yet? Allow @StraussZelnick, Chairman and CEO of #Take2 to explain… #gaminggrill pic.twitter.com/rnyqscxRYx
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) November 20, 2019
What do you think about his take on a Grand Theft Auto movie? Agree, or do you think they’re being too protective? Hit is up with your thoughts over on Twitter @PrimaGames!
