Hollywood Embraces the Apocalypse With Planned 'Metro 2033’ Film

It’s been a tentative love affair between Hollywood and games. What began as more of a rough, back-alley screw has somehow turned into a promising relationship of equal respect. That relationship looks to blossom further with the news that producers Michael De Luca and Stephen L’Heureux have optioned the film rights to Dmitry Glukhovsky’s Metro 2033.

For those unfamiliar with the popular first-person-shooter series, Metro 2033 is the story of a young Russian fella named Artyom, a survivor of a nuclear blast that decimated the population. He’s a young man caught in the growing bloodshed sweeping through his metro-station home. As two factions prepare for war, Artyom embarks on a journey that threatens to change the very fabric of humanity’s existence. It’s typical sci-fi stuff on paper, but it’s masterfully executed in Glukhovsky’s prose.

Fans of the video game and 80-book novel series can feel reasonably comfortable that Metro 2033 is in good hands. De Luca has several impressive film credits on his resumé like Moneyball and The Social Network. But of course, he also produced Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, so his judgement isn’t flawless.

Certainly, buying the rights to Metro 2033 is also an incredibly shrewd choice on the part of the producers. As most gamers are well aware, film adaptations of video games don’t exactly boast the best track record. Though this year might provide a few promising twists on that trope (like the upcoming Assassin’s Creed](https://www.inverse.com/article/4815-the-assassin-s-creed-adaptation-will-be-the-best-video-game-movie) and Warcraft films), it’s safer to assume that if you’re adapting a video game for the big screen, it’ll most likely suck.

Metro 2033 is different, though; it won’t be a video game adaptation. Yes, the series of novels from Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovsky have spawned a kickass series of eponymous video games that I have gleefully used to animate this otherwise-basic article. However, De Luca and whatshisface have optioned the books. This subtle difference implies that producers are approaching the property with a bit more respect than is typical. After all, it’s a lack of respect for the source material that inevitably ruins video game adaptations, right?

Of course, whether or not the film succeeds is a debate for the distant future. There’s still a script to be written and talent to be hired (and inevitably bickered over) before Artyom’s movie can be a reality.