Home Entertainment Ubisoft admits ASSASSIN'S CREED movie not there to make money but sell games

Ubisoft admits ASSASSIN'S CREED movie not there to make money but sell games

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The words “Hollywood” and “honesty” have never been synonymous. Clearly, somebody forgot to tell the folks over at French video game publisher Ubisoft who have now stepped into the movie making business with an adaptation of the best-selling franchise Assassin’s Creed.

Speaking to MCV, Ubisofr’s Executive Director for EMEA Alain Corr was very upfront about the fact that the upcoming movie starring Michael Fassbender is probably not going to be a huge box office smash, but that’s okay, because they were always intending it for something else.

We are not going to earn a lot of money from it. It is a lot more a marketing thing. It’s also good for the image of the brand. Although we will make some money, it’s not the purpose of this movie. The purpose is to bring Assassin’s Creed to more people. We have our core fans, but what we would like is to put this franchise in front of a lot more people who, maybe, will then pick up future Assassin’s Creed games.

MERCHANDISING! Oh, Yogurt from Spaceballs would have been so proud! I cannot wait for Assassin’s Creed: The Crossbow to show up in the kids’ toys aisle! But seriously though, this type of honesty certainly is a huge change of pace from the normally very PC, very sanitized Hollywood marketing machine. Unfortunately, said Hollywood marketing machine soon got wind of Corr’s statement and frantically tried to do some damage control. Here’s the official corporate follow-up statement:

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Ubisoft’s core vision is to create top quality entertainment and experiences. For the Assassin’s Creed film, we have worked closely with our partners at New Regency and 20th Century Fox as well as the talented cast and production team from the very beginning to ensure we deliver a quality experience to ours fans. We strongly believe the Assassin’s Creed brand has this cross-over appeal that will please both video games fans and movie goers.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Personally, while I really don’t expect Assassins Creed to follow in Warcraft’s box-office record breaking footsteps – it just doesn’t have the massive Chinese appeal that Warcraft did to fuel its earnings – I actually don’t care. I just want a great video game movie. Like, proper good with no “for a video game adaptation” caveats. Is that too much to ask for after decades of attempts at this genre?

On paper at least Assassin’s Creed certainly has the potential to do just that with the aforementioned Oscar-winning Fassbender acting as both producer and star, playing opposite fellow Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, with the two of them being led by their Macbeth director Justin Kurzel. The rest of the cast also boasts the serious talents of Michael K. Williams, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and more. It is scheduled for release on December 21, 2016.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis along with a new poster that was also released over weekend along with the two new images above.

Based on the Ubisoft game franchise, the Assassin’s Creed movie follows a character by the name of Callum Lynch who, through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, is able to experience the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

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Last Updated: July 11, 2016

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