Peter Jackson has won countless awards, but he may never have time for Fallout 4

It's alright for you, getting all excited for Fallout 76, but think of the blockbuster movie directors who barely have time to update their console firmware, never mind sit down for a spot of apocalyptic adventuring. Such is the fate of Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and the upcoming Mortal Engines.

"I’m a big fan of Fallout and I haven’t played the latest one of those [Fallout 4]," Jackson told Polygon. "I love Far Cry, but I missed the last Far Cry. I was always so busy because when I play those games, I like to have a clear week or so to just play it. Not to rush home at night at 11 o'clock at night and trying to do a bit before I go to bed. I want to be able to savor playing a game like that so I haven’t had time, really the last year or year and a half, because I’ve been so busy on the film."

Back in 2006, Jackson was tied to a movie adaptation of Halo, but left the director's chair when the movie got trapped in a very nasty corner of development hell. The movie never made it out, and has now morphed into an upcoming, 10 episode live-action series with Steven Spielberg executive producing. In his interview, Jackson touched on the difficulty of the other type of adaptation, when a hit movie gets a game spin-off.

"They very rarely make a game based on the original movie, you know. You generally get the games on the second film when the first one was successful. Games themselves, as you know, are hugely expensive and they take two years to develop. So there’s no game with this first Mortal Engines film, but I’m hopeful there will be - if this film's successful enough to make a sequel, then hopefully a game will arise at that point."

Mortal Engines will be released on December 14 and stars Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, and Robert Sheehan. Check out our list of the most anticipated upcoming movies of 2018 to see what else is on the way to your local popcorn temple.

Rachel Weber is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.