The cinematic (and very bloody) adventures of Spartan warrior Kratos have been entertaining PlayStation fans for 15 years now, and we still haven’t seen a movie adaptation. Which is weird. The series’ heady mix of brutal action, epic storytelling and mythological spectacle is pretty much tailor-made for the big screen – think Ray Harryhausen meets Game Of Thrones.
Unsurprisingly, a movie version of God Of War has been in development for some time now, but it has never quite managed to get off the ground. Still, the project soldiers on, with various screenwriters and directors coming and going over the years.
With all the gods and monsters involved, many feared that the colossal budget that would be needed to turn God Of War into a live-action extravaganza was just too steep. After all, spending that much moolah is a big risk even for a widely known and established Hollywood property, let alone a video game adaptation (and especially an R-rated one).
But there was some hope last year that we might still see Kratos kicking ass on the big screen.
In 2019, Sony Interactive announced that it was forming its own movie studio, PlayStation Productions, to handle the in-house production of films based on its gaming IP – à la Marvel Studios. The God Of War franchise is a big jewel in Sony’s crown and, if the upcoming Uncharted movie with Tom Holland does well, this could be next on the list…
Keep reading for everything we know about the God Of War movie adaptation.
God Of War movie cast
Production on the God Of War movie hasn’t officially started yet and, as such, no casting decisions have been announced. Casting the right actor to play hulking antihero Kratos will be crucial to the film’s success.
Wrestlers-turned-actors Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Dave Bautista have both been the subject of internet rumours. They’re both likeable – an important trait, given that they’d be playing someone with a lot of skeletons in his closet. They could both portray the character’s sheer size and brute strength, too. But have they developed strong enough acting chops to inhabit Kratos’ tortured psyche?
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God Of War movie plot
There are no plot details as yet, but it’s unlikely that the film will follow Kratos’ Norse adventures from the most recent PS4 game. Instead, it looks like we’ll be heading back to ancient Greece.
Not only that, but it’s been hinted that the film could serve as a prequel of sorts to the original trilogy, finding Kratos in the days before his journey to Olympus begins.
The last we heard about God Of War’s script was that it was being penned by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton – the scriptwriting duo behind Piranha 3DD and several Saw sequels. “In the same way that Batman was grounded with Christopher Nolan’s rendition, we were attempting to do that with Kratos,” Dunstan has been reported as saying. “We’re seeing him before he became the Ghost of Sparta, when he was just a Spartan warrior and he had a family.”
Whether that’s still the direction the film will take is anybody’s guess.
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God Of War movie trailer
Hold your horses! It’s a bit early for a trailer – the film hasn’t even officially entered production yet, let alone started filming. Which means it’ll be quite some time before we'll be seeing any footage from a God Of War movie adaptation.
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God Of War movie release date
As we’ve mentioned above, the film is still in the early stages of pre-production. There seems to be no timeframe on when it might materialise – though seeing as it has spent the last decade in development hell, don’t expect it to be anytime soon.
However, it does seem likely that a next-gen God Of War game sequel will be announced for the PlayStation 5 at some point in the next couple of years. Perhaps the hype around that could finally kickstart the God Of War movie adaptation into gear.
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