If you haven’t seen Fast X, the latest installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, you’ve at least heard of it. Apparently, its director, Louis Leterrier, wants to make a Fortnite movie based on the popular video game developed by Epic Games.
Leterrier opened up on this dream at the San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. The Transporter director appeared on a Directors for Directing panel with fellow filmmakers Justin Simien and Gareth Edwards.
Leterrier said, “Because the game is incredible. The characters… I mean there’s so much more to be told. It’d be funny. It would be full of action and everything. I think I’d love to do that.” Even though we didn’t catch the question that sparked the response, we think it has to do with what project he dreams of helming.
Director Louis Leterrier says he would love to direct a #Fortnite movie during #SDCC2023 pic.twitter.com/cyraAVfBN6
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 21, 2023
Nevertheless, we understand Leterrier’s wish and approve of it. Fortnite is one of the most popular online video games in the world and its fans deserve to see it come to life on the big screen. To illustrate its popularity, one of its three modes, Fortnite Battle Royale, had grossed over $9 billion as of December 2019.
Besides, video game adaptations, whether for the big screen or the small screen, have been gaining ground recently. They have proven very popular with audiences and many of them have proven to be big box office draws.
In the past year alone, there has been The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Uncharted, and The Last of Us, among others. The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s success alone is enough to inspire a Fortnite adaptation.
But if that is not enough, you only need to look at the fact that there are many more of these projects in development. In our opinion, we think this points to sustained interest in video game adaptations on the part of audiences.
Two of the projects involve some of the most popular video games. One of them is the Warhammer series, another title from Epic Games, while the other is the God of War series, which is from Sony’s PlayStation.
With everything going on, we think this is the best time to talk about adapting Fortnite for the screen, too. For Leterrier’s sake, and ours, we hope that the brass at Epic Games took note of Leterrier’s interest and that they work on an adaptation of the video game.
By the way, Simien and Edwards both have original projects arriving this year.
Simien’s film, The Haunted Mansion, is a Disney production and will star Jared Leto, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, and Lakeith Stanfield, among others. It will premiere in cinemas on July 27.
Edwards has The Creator, from 20th Century Studios, on the way. It will star John David Washington, Ken Watanabe, and Gemma Chan, among others. The film will arrive in September.
Up next, Leterrier will direct what could be the final installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. At the moment, we don’t know much about the film beyond the fact that it will arrive sometime in 2025.
