Red Dead Redemption movie unlikely but not impossible, Take-Two tease

If you’ve been holding out hope for a Red Dead Redemption movie, prepare yourself for disappointment because Take-Two’s CEO doesn’t think it’ll happen.

On 9 August Game Rant reported that Take-Two CEO, Strauss Zelnick, believes a film based on the popular gaming franchise is unlikely, despite the success of The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Watch some RDR II wins and fails to soften the blow!

Zelnick said that the company would take “a very selective approach to licensing”, and that, while certain adaptations have been successful, they’ve highlighted “many, many failures where money was lost”.

The final nail in the coffin of this dream, was when Zelnick made it clear that Take-Two wouldn’t put all their eggs into one basket “based on someone else's execution in another area of the entertainment business”.

It doesn’t look good, folks.

As devastating as this news will be to some fans, do keep in mind that Take-Two does have other film projects in the works, chiefly BioShock and Borderlands. Consequently, if these projects generate massive profits for the company, it goes without saying that Zelnick might consider revisiting the RDR question.

While it’s easy to let our grief get in the way of reality, movies haven’t been a winning combination for Take-Two in the past – just look at Max Payne. That film had a $35 million budget, yet only grossed $40.7 million domestically; with numbers like that, caution from Take-Two is wise.

Even if we look at the Borderlands project, it’s yet another grey area for the brand, having faced numerous delays and still a year from release. For fans following these sagas, it’s difficult to get excited when you dread what the next move will involve.

Moving away from games-to-movies for the moment, there’s an obvious elephant in the room we’ve not addressed yet: the Nintendo Switch port of RDR.

Zelnick has had to defend the decision to slap the steep price of $49.99 on a game that’s 13 years old. Yet, when queried about the price, Zelnick simply reasoned that it was “commercially accurate”.

It goes without saying that those two words sent fans spiralling.

The future at Take-Two is unknown, and enthusiasm for a RDR film has officially been depleted. However, whilst there’s even a spec of hope, we’ll try to keep that dream alive.