“Game Creator: 70% of my body is made of movies.” That simple sentence makes up Hideo Kojima’s Twitter bio. Even without this brief introduction, any fan of Kojima knows that movies are one of his main passions. A few months ago, it was announced that his first project since breaking away from Konami and founding Kojima Productions was getting the big screen treatment.
Death Stranding is being adapted as a movie in collaboration between Kojima Productions and Hammerstone Studios. The former is a branch of the video game creator’s company with a focus on film, television, and anime. The latter is a production studio behind movies such as the 2022 surprise horror hit Barbarian. But what other companies may be playing a role in the game-to-movie project?
What Studios Are Involved?
Whether it is the beginning title cards or the lengthy credits that roll when the story concludes, there tend to be more than a few companies involved in the creation of a movie. Much the same way that games, more often than not, have a developer and a publisher, movies have different studios that hand financing, the actual creation of the movie, and distribution.
Visiting A24 pic.twitter.com/PgII0BmGCe
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 17, 2023
One such company has been garnering a rather large and cult-like following in recent years. With titles such as Midsommar, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and The Whale A24 Films has cemented itself as a place where genre movies that would often be overlooked by more traditional distributors find a home. This very company hosted a visit by one Hideo Kojima just earlier this week.
A Familiar Face
On January 17th Kojima took to both Twitter and Instagram to share pictures of himself at A24 Films. This could be seen as an indication that he is at least in talks with A24 to distribute and potentially partially fund a film project. A further interesting point is that he posted a photo with Margaret Qualley, the actress who played Mama in Death Stranding. Since the movie announcement, a major question has been if the original powerhouse cast from the movie would return to embody their characters once again on the big screen.
With Margaret. pic.twitter.com/gb8XTfiXCa
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 18, 2023
Another strange and possibly telling post came the day before. On January 16th, Kojima posted a picture with Jane Rosenthal. Known mostly for being the co-founder, CEO, and executive chair of Tribeca Enterprises, she has been credited as a producer or executive producer since 1992. Some of her projects include A Bronx Tale, Rent, and The Irishman. She personally has no direct professional connection to A24.
With Jane Rosenthal. pic.twitter.com/uyYZdvoEYz
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 17, 2023
It is still unclear if there has been any such progress with the Death Stranding film. All of this could purely be a fan of film with more than a few Hollywood connections visiting a studio that he loves. But Kojima is also known for sharing hints and clues to the progress of projects as they happen, so the chance that this is an indicator cannot yet be ruled out.
