A beloved 2022 video game is being turned into a movie – and it’s a purr-fect choice

I come bearing good mews: Stray, the a-paw-able 2022 stealth adventure which sees you play as a stray cat, is being turned into an animated movie.

Entertainment Weekly has revealed that the project is currently in the works at Annapurna Animation.

Robert Baird, co-head at the animation studio, has teased the premise for the adaptation, which features the player-controlled cat later team up with a robot called B-12 in a desolate futuristic world without humans.

"This is a game that's all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it," Baird explained. "It's a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there's such a hilarious dynamic. So, there's comedy inherent in this, but there's not one human being in this movie. I think it's one of the reasons why the game was incredibly popular, that you are seeing the world through the point of view of an adorable cat.”

While animated movies without humans are nothing new – Pixar has cornered the market on everything from anthropomorphic monsters to elements – Baird reveals that the (mostly) non-verbal element is going to be key to Stray's success.

"How did they pull that off, and how are we going to pull that off in the movie? We will, even though sometimes it feels impossible, but we know that's the essence of the game and the key to telling the story," Baird says.

He also coins the term "hopepunk" – optimism despite resistance – for the upcoming project, which is currently undated.

"I think, if we are going to do this adaptation justice, this is going to be the first and greatest hopepunk movie that's ever been made," Baird says.

For more, here are the new PS5 games and new Xbox Series X games coming your way very soon.