Now that’s what I’m talking about. Yesterday, acclaimed studio A24 announced that they’ll be turning the hit video game Elden Ring into a film. Warfare co-director Alex Garland will not only direct the film but also serve as the film’s writer.

The acclaimed video game Elden Ring, whose story is conceived by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, has garnered numerous Game of the Year awards since its release in 2022. An online spinoff title, Elden Ring: Nightrein, is slated to release next week. Elden Ring is a dark fantasy RPG where the player character must explore the Land Between to restore the fractured Elden Ring. The game is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, with Yui Tanimura helping co-direct the game. No word on if either will be involved with the film, but Martin will serve as the film’s producer, alongside Game of Thrones producer Vince Gerardis, with Peter Rice, Andrew Macdonald, and Allon Reich from DNA also producing the film. Elden Ring developer From Software and publisher Bandai Namco will work with A24 in producing the film.

Garland is a regular over at A24, having directed four of his five films over at the studio, including Civil War and Ex Machina. Next on his schedule is writing the highly anticipated 28 Years Later for director Danny Boyle after writing the original film 28 Days Later. He’s also written Sunshine and Dredd, so his credibility as a writer is certainly earned.

It’s still too early to say what kind of film this adaptation of Elden Ring will be. It’s a game where the story is more abstract and tucked away into the background, hidden in visual cues and text that can be found in the game world. Like A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin added quite a bit of backstory to the events of the game to flesh out the world and its these events, including Gods, Demigods, war, and betrayal, and this is where I think the source material is better suited for a cinematic telling and with Martin producing, suggests that this will indeed be the aspect of the lore being adapted. This part of the story covers major events in the timeline, such as the Night of the Black Knives, the Shattering of the Elden Ring, and the major battles that followed suit of this, including the two sieges of Lyndell and the Battle of Aeonia, which we see a glimpse of in the story trailer embedded in this article, where Melania and the giantic General Radahn engage in a fierce battle.

The film could also reimagine the core game as a road trip to gather the shards of the titular Elden Ring, but I think that wouldn’t work as well as an adaptation, seeing as Soulsborne games from Miyazaki tend to be light on actual story and cinematics. Regardless, I can imagine this will be A24’s most expensive film to date, based on the property as well as the art design of the original game, requiring a lot of visual effects to translate to live-action. But I am very excited about this news, and I eagerly await more updates. Stay tuned.