‘Splinter Cell’ Film Updates: Ubisoft Confirms Tom Hardy still Attached as Lead Protagonist; Video Game Industry Prove to be Lucrative Business in U.S.

‘Splinter Cell’ is an upcoming action-adventure film based on Ubisoft’s video game series of the same name. Ubisoft confirmed that Tom Hardy is still attached to play the lead protagonist. Meanwhile, the video game industry in the U.S. proved to be lucrative business after a report revealed that revenue from the sector reached $23.5 billion last year.

According to Games Radar, Hardy is still involved with the upcoming ‘Splinter Cell’ cinematic adaptation even though production updates are taking a while to roll out. The Oscar-nominated actor is set to play lead protagonist Sam Fisher, a former Navy Seal operator and CIA paramilitary ops officer who became a commander of the Fourth Echelon in the original video games.

Former CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures Jean-Julien Baronnet explained why actors such as Hardy and Michael Fassbender of the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ adaptation were ideal for their film projects. He emphasized that their capacity to do independent films and big-budget blockbuster films at the same time made them the best casting choices.

Baronnet said, "Tom is doing indie movies like Bronson and he’s doing Batman [The Dark Knight Rises] or whatever or Mad Max [Fury Road]. So this combination of factors for us was very important because it was a symbol for what we want to do in a movie – which is to do a movie of course that should be mainstream, but with the content we would like to have, so Michael does exactly this kind of stuff".

Doug Liman of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ fame was originally tapped to helm the film but he later exited the project in 2015. No replacement director has been announced as of the present.

U.S. production company New Regency is exploring the possibility of giving both ‘Splinter Cell’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ sequels long before the first films are actually released. Catchplay CEO Daphne Yang also commented that since both are adaptations of highly successful video games, they would make “ideal sequels”.

An article on Yahoo! Movies suggested that the trend in Hollywood’s film industry is moving from comic book films towards video game movie adaptations. It noted that several big names in the film industry are signing on to take part in the trend and that more gaming adaptations are lined up for the next couple of years.

The latest video game cinematic adaptation released was Duncan Jones’ ‘Warcraft’. The action-adventure and fantasy film featured Travis Fimmel, Dominic Cooper, Paula Patton, and Toby Kebbell. It had a production budget of $160 million and grossed $308.87 million worldwide since its release on June 10.

These adaptations still prove to be lucrative strategies for Hollywood filmmakers since the U.S. video game industry is one of the country’s fastest-growing sectors. According to Market Realist, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and NPD Group reported that the U.S. computer and video gaming industry generated $23.5 billion in revenues for 2015 alone.

‘Splinter Cell’ is an upcoming action-adventure film scheduled to be released sometime in 2017.