Perhaps as a way for the universe to offset the bad karma of the Uncharted movie losing its fifth director, today Russian media holding company Gazprom Media announced that it's working on a movie adaptation of Metro 2033, the original novel in the Metro series that also catalyzed the video game of the same name. As Variety reports, Gazprom plans to start filming in 2020, with the movie's Russian premiere scheduled for January 1, 2022.
It's unclear when and how the Metro 2033 movie will debut internationally, but given the worldwide success of the Metro video games and novels, the movie will be released abroad. Producer Valery Fedorovich described the film as "a dream project" for Gazprom Media, and affirmed the group's plan to "invest an unprecedented sum … in the production and promotion of this movie both in Russia and abroad."
Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky - who recently confirmed he's now writing the next chapter in the Metro games - said he was delighted to accept a film offer after dismissing them for over 10 years. "In Russia, I didn’t see any producers who could make a good [screen adaptation of] this book," he told Variety. "It just seemed impossible. But now I finally met a team that I can entrust Metro with. Our ambitions turned out to be similar: to create a world-class blockbuster and stun even those who have read the trilogy and know it by heart. So as not to disappoint them, I am ready to become a creative producer of the movie and help create it with both my advice and action."
For all intents and purposes, the Metro series is to Russia what The Witcher series is to Poland - both an international phenomenon and a point of national pride. It's part of the nation's modern artistic identity, so there's little doubt Gazprom and Glukhovsky will give the Metro 2033 film special attention.
If you need more Metro in your life right now, check out the new Metro Exodus DLC, Two Colonels, which is basically a love letter to Metro 2033.
