“At this point, we can only say that we definitely don’t want to make a film adaptation of the game,” CD Projekt Red CEO Michał Nowakowski said in an interview with Polish outlet PAP Biznes. “We want to tell a story in the world of Cyberpunk, but it won’t be a one-to-one translation of the game’s story.”
CDPR took a similar approach with the Netflix animated series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The company teamed up with Studio Trigger, the Japanese studio behind Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia, to tell an original story set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. Studio Trigger co-founder Hiroyuki Imaishi directed the series, while CDPR franchise creative director Bartosz Sztybor co-wrote the screenplay alongside Masahiko Otsuka and Yoshiki Usa. The show is returning for a second season on Oct. 20.
Cyberpunk 2077’s previous adaptation helped save the game
Beyond telling an excellent standalone story, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners helped rehabilitate Cyberpunk 2077’s image after the game’s botched launch. While Cyberpunk 2077 sold millions of copies after years of hype, its disastrous console release and numerous problems on PC tarnished CDPR’s reputation. Edgerunners was released in 2022 to widespread praise, drawing attention back to its source material, which had changed significantly after years of reworks and bug fixes. A movie based on the game could once again bolster its player base.
What else do we know about the Cyberpunk 2077 movie?
While details about the upcoming Cyberpunk film’s cast and crew are limited, previous reports indicate that producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is attached to the project. He is currently working on a new Transformers live-action movie with Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay at Paramount Pictures. Bonaventura has executive produced video game adaptations in the past, including 2015’s Dead Rising: Watchtower and 2019’s Doom: Annihilation.