It's been almost a year since a Helldivers movie was announced, so you could have been forgiven for thinking the adaptation of Arrowhead's bug-squishing shooter sequel may have joined several upcoming video game movie projects in development hell.
Not so. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the Helldivers movie is officially moving forward with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin at the wheel.
It and Annabelle writer Gary Dauberman will be penning the script, but it's Lin's reported pitch that might raise a few eyebrows.
According to the outlet, "Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material."
Lin's job helming Helldivers will include "finding the humanity in the characters and weaving timely themes into the story, while building out a world and mythology."
In truth, that feels a step away from Helldivers' lampooning of a culture of war laced with rah-rah motivational speeches and an admission from the upper brass that soldiers are very, very disposable. But we'll have to say how that translates when it dives into cinemas in the future.
Helldivers 2 has proved a multiplayer mainstay over the past 12 months, but its chaotic action has proved troublesome, with performance issues aplenty.
A new patch in October helped stem the flow of issues and bugs (not that kind of bug), with Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani admitting, "Things have improved" but that "there's more work to be done."
Helldivers joins Sony's swelling roster of movies and TV shows, including Uncharted, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and upcoming Horizon and God of War TV shows.
For more, check out our movie release dates calendar.
