Where recently it was the case that every newly published comic was immediately optioned for a new Netflix or Amazon movie or TV show, Hollywood appears to have now shifted its obsessive focus onto video games. What were once the barrel-bottom residue of the movie world, video game adaptations have found their feet, and all manner of games are getting screen-based treatments. But usually after they’re released. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the upcoming RPG darling of Microsoft events and one of Kotaku’s most anticipated games of 2025, has already been snapped up for the big screen.
Variety reports that Story Kitchen, the media company co-founded by Sonic the Hedgehog movie producer Dmitri M. Johnson, has picked up the rights to Expedition 33, despite the game not being released until April 24. Story Kitchen is the company behind Netflix’s recent Tomb Raider animated series and Amazon Prime’s upcoming live-action Tomb Raider, as well as the announced Universal movie of Just Cause, and Streets of Rage with Lionsgate.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, other than having the most impossible to remember name in all of gaming history, is a turn-based RPG set in a dark fantasy incarnation of the Belle Époque era of French history, and boasts an impressive cast, including Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings).
Clearly the plot—in which an expedition of heroes attempts to defeat a malevolent goddess, the Paintress, who is killing people of a certain age—created by developers Sandfall Interactive, has proven interesting enough to warrant this larger attention. According to the PR guff accompanying the announcement, Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson and Mike Goldberg said “the game’s compelling narrative and complex characters provide a solid foundation for a cinematic experience that will resonate with both gamers and moviegoers alike.”
Choices for director and cast have yet to be made, and while producers are attached, no movie studio or distributor has been named. So, you know, don’t pre-purchase your tickets just yet.
Looking through Story Kitchen’s site, it seems the company has optioned an awful lot of recent games. In the list are Disco Elysium, Dredge, Life Is Strange, Slime Ranger, and, um, My Friend Pedro. They also have a deal with Square Enix for the long-absent Sleeping Dogs movie which was thought dead, but recently given a glimmer of hope by Marvel’s Shang-Chi star, Simu Liu.
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