A Netflix TV show based on the Horizon series has reportedly been shelved (for the time being at least) as its showrunner has been accused of toxicity and bullying. The show was supposed to be helmed by Umbrella Academy’s Steve Blackman, who has denied the allegations.

Netflix’s Horizon TV show was announced in 2022

According to a report by Rolling Stone, Blackman faces the aforementioned allegations from at least twelve Umbrella Academy staffers. He allegedly engaged in a variety of “manipulative and retaliatory behavior,” including but not limited to firing a writer for taking maternity leave because he felt “ripped off.”

Although Blackman has denied the allegations, Rolling Stone reports that his Horizon and Orbital projects, both of which reportedly came in a development deal worth $50 million, will no longer be moving forward.

Blackman’s representatives have not specifically commented on the aforementioned projects, but have claimed that he has an ongoing relationship with the streaming giant and “continues to work on new projects” for it. However, a Netflix representative declined to comment.

It’s unclear if PlayStation Productions and Netflix will find a new showrunner. The Horizon TV show was announced in 2022 along with God of War and Gran Turismo TV adaptations. No further details have been shared.

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Rumor has it that a TV/movie adaptation of PS2’s Ico was recently pitched to Sony, but it’s unclear if something ever came out of it. PlayStation Productions — the team responsible for giving PlayStation IPs the Hollywood treatment — was reportedly seeking a pitch for Ico.

A movie based on PS2’s Ico was previously considered

The aforementioned rumor comes from EasyAllies podcast’s Michael Huber, who mentioned on a recent episode that his “friend” pitched an Ico movie or TV adaptation to Sony because it was “on the list of games they wanted treatments for.”

This isn’t the first time an Ico adaptation has been considered. Back in 2010, Misher Films — the company tasked to make a movie based on Shadow of the Colossus — said that it may make an Ico movie if its then endeavour was successful. However, nothing came out of it and Shadow of the Colossus movie never saw the light of day either.

If Huber’s information is correct, then it looks like Sony hasn’t given up on Ico just yet.

Ico is widely regarded as one of the best PlayStation games of all time. Its developer, Japan Studio, was disbanded in 2021. Ico’s director Fumito Ueda left Sony in 2011 and founded his own studio, GenDesign.

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Sony’s PlayStation Productions has greenlit a movie based on Supermassive Games‘ horror title, Until Dawn. The movie will be directed by David F. Sandberg of Shazam! fame. The script is penned by Blair Butler (The Invitation), with Gary Dauberman (It, Annabelle) doing the latest pass on the script.

Until Dawn movie is being made by a “creative dream team,” says Sony’s Asad Qizilbash

News of Until Dawn movie was first shared by The Hollywood Reporter. PlayStation Studios and PlayStation Productions executive Asad Qizilbash said in a statement that the movie is being made by a “creative dream team” comprised of the game’s fans. Until Dawn released in 2015 as a PS4 exclusive, with Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida describing it as a “sleeper hit.” The company itself was surprised by the game’s positive reception and subsequent success.

“As our partnership with Sony Pictures continues to grow, we’re thrilled to work on our first movie with Screen Gems,” Qizilbash said. “We have a creative dream team working on Until Dawn, all huge fans of the game.”

The movie’s cast and release window have yet to be announced.

Fans recon the game’s cast should reprise their roles in the movie. What do our readers think?

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A known insider has claimed that a Bloodborne movie is in the works at PlayStation Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment. We tend to dismiss Bloodborne rumors without further thought, but a movie project sounds more believable than reports of a PS5 and PC remake or Bloodborne sequel.

Bloodborne movie reportedly being written by Darren Lemke

According to DanielRPK — who’s generally considered reliable albeit for their Marvel leaks — the movie’s script will be penned by Darren Lemke. Lemke’s writing credits include Goosebumps, Shazam!, and Gemini Man, among others. It’s further claimed that Bloodborne will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, best known for producing G.I. Joe and the Transformers series.

Bloodborne rumors tend to be fake, but considering DanielRPK’s reputation as well as the fact that Sony’s revived dormant series Twisted Metal in the shape of a TV production rather than a new game, there may be some truth to this one. PlayStation Productions TV and movie endeavors have been commercially successful thus far, and given the high demand for something new in the world of Yharnam, it’s possible that Sony’s gauging interest in the series on a wider scale.

All that said, take this report with a customary grain of salt as well.

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Beloved PlayStation hack-and-slash series MediEvil might be getting a TV or movie adaptation. This “leak” comes from PlayStation Productions‘ own website, where a hawk-eyed fan spotted what looks like Sir Daniel Fortesque’s legs in a promotional video.

MediEvil adaptation rumor prompts responses from Hollywood writers

For the uninitiated, Sir Daniel Fortesque is the protagonist of MediEvil. A still of the video in question can be seen below:

The tweet above caught the attention of Hollywood writers Ben Mekler and Chris Amick, both of whom pretty much confirmed that something related to MediEvil is indeed cooking at PS Productions.

PS Productions’ video also confirms a previous Deadline report that a movie based on Days Gone is in the works. Deadline’s reports are reliable, but Sony never officially announced the movie. The promotional video features protagonist Deacon St. John in what is the first official hint of a Days Gone movie.

It looks like PS Productions is firing on all cylinders after the commercial successes of the Uncharted movie, HBO’s The Last of Us, and more recently, the Twisted Metal TV series. Other franchises getting the Hollywood treatment include God of War, Gravity Rush, and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series.

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PlayStation Studios has dropped the Twisted Metal TV Show teaser trailer, after hyping it up with yesterday’s release date reveal, and fan reactions are mostly mixed. Thus far, fans of the Twisted Metal games have been rather cautiously optimistic about a comedic live-action adaptation of the beloved PlayStation series. This 10-episode Twisted Metal series will debut on NBC’s Peacock streaming service on July 27 in the US.

Twisted Metal fans like Sweet Tooth, dislike light-hearted tone

Let’s go through the positives first. Some users on Twitter reacting to the teaser trailer like the cameo for Sweet Tooth at the end, particularly with the villain being played by Samoa Joe from AEW Wrestling. Some point to Sweet Tooth’s truck and his costume to be authentic to the games.

Others are less than thrilled with the tone of the teaser trailer. Using Len’s “Steal My Sunshine” feels too light-hearted, some say, for a series about heavy-metal vehicular combat with missiles and over-the-top explosions. Fans want a darker undertone and a grittier style from the show.

Some are annoyed that the trailer was only 45 seconds long, though that’s on the longer side for most teaser trailers. Others want a Twisted Metal game rather than a show, but one could already be in the works. (The show could just be a serious marketing campaign for a reboot.)

It’s a bit of a bummer, though, that the show will only be available on Peacock, which isn’t a streaming service that’s particularly popular, unless you follow the WWE. Hopefully, the viewing numbers for this adaptation won’t be hamstrung too much by the distribution model.

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The viewership for The Last of Us HBO show continues to impress. For a third week in a row, the audience for the series has grown, with the third episode bringing in 6.4 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max according to The Hollywood Reporter. This is up 700,000 from the second episode, in spite of the juggernaut that was the NFL AFC Championship game that aired this past Sunday as well.

The Last of Us HBO ratings so far

For a quick comparison, here is the number of viewers for the first three episodes of the show as reported by THR:

• Episode 1: 4.7 million viewers (Jan 15)
• Episode 2: 5.7 million viewers (Jan 22)
• Episode 3: 6.4 million viewers (Jan 29)

This steady growth is even more impressive when considering that Sunday’s Bengals-Chiefs AFC Championship raked in over 53.12 million viewers on CBS, according to SportsMediaWatch.

These figures only seem to show how many people watched the episode on Sunday, since HBO says that The Last of Us, along with three of its other shows (The White Lotus, Euphoria, and House of the Dragon), have averaged more than 15 million viewers per episode.

In fact, HBO also says that the first two episodes have averaged 21.3 million viewers to date across all platforms. Given that only 610,000 people saw the first episode on-air, these figures likely mean that the majority of viewers are watching the series via streaming on HBO Max.

The ratings for The Last of Us have been so impressive that even Xbox boss Phil Spencer has come out to praise the series.

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The Gran Turismo movie has cast Geri Halliwell-Horner, better known as Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls. She will be playing a parent of the teenage protagonist played by Archie Madekwe who goes from being avid Gran Turismo player into a professional driver, as based on a true story. Halliwell-Horner’s husband, Christian Horner, was a British former racing driver and is the current Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team. Directed by District 9’s Neill Blomkamp, the Gran Turismo movie is executively produced by Jason Hall and the Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

The principal Gran Turismo movie cast is pretty much known now

Geri Halliwell-Horner, as reported by THR, will be joining David Harbour who will play a retired driver who becomes the protagonist’s racing mentor and Orlando Bloom who will play a marketing executive attempting to sell the sport of motor racing.

Other revealed cast members include Darren Barnet, best known for Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, playing a top-ranked GT Academy participant who isn’t thrilled with the ascent of a new upstart. Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou will join Halliwell-Horner as the other parent of Madekwe’s character. Actors Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, and Thomas Kretschman rounds out the star-studded cast.

The Gran Turismo movie continues to maintain its course toward a release date of August 11, 2023.

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Fancy an Elden Ring movie? It looks like PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst might be entertaining the idea. In a new interview with Reuters, the head honcho revealed that Sony Interactive Entertainment’s minority stake in FromSoftware might not be limited to video game collaborations. With PlayStation Productions off to a successful start, the company is eyeing movie and TV show collaborations as well.

Is a PlayStation Productions-produced Elden Ring movie possible?

Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment has previously expressed its interest in turning Elden Ring into an IP that goes beyond video games. As a matter of fact, the company was talking about exploring other media with Elden Ring as early as June last year, well before the game released. It’s hard to say if Bandai Namco would opt for the Hollywood or Netflix-style treatment via PlayStation Productions or not. Sony’s PlayStation movie/TV show wing has seen significant success with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg starrer Uncharted, and HBO’s The Last of Us looks like it’ll be another strong entry.

All that said, a Bloodborne movie isn’t outside the realm of possibility either. “You should think of collaborations on the game development side first and foremost, but it’s also not unthinkable with our PlayStation Productions efforts that we explore opportunities,” Hulst told Reuters.

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PlayStation Productions is going all out when it comes to its movie projects, building yet another star-studded cast for its upcoming Gran Turismo movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Orlando Bloom has been tapped for a role this time. After the success of Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg starrer Uncharted, Sony Pictures Entertainment is gearing up for a number of movie and film projects based on PlayStation IP. After originally being scrapped sometime around 2015, Gran Turismo is being given another shot under the watchful eye of game creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

Orlando Bloom will star alongside David Harbour in Gran Turismo movie

The news of Orlando Bloom’s casting came a day after it was revealed that Stranger Things star David Harbour will play the role of a racing mentor. He will portray “a retired driver who teaches the teen to drive.” The teen here is the protagonist, a Gran Turismo player who ends up becoming an actual race-car driver. The movie is based on a true story but there are a couple of “teens” who fit the bill so we’re not sure yet whose story is getting the Hollywood treatment.

As for the role Bloom is playing, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he “will play a hungry marketing exec who is selling the sport of motor racing … and just may believe in its art, too.” Gran Turismo movie will begin shooting in Europe next week, and is currently slated for release in theaters on August 11, 2023. District 9’s Neill Blomkamp will be directing the movie, with PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash co-producing. Yamauchi will serve as one of the executive producers.

In other news, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has finally explained why Yakuza games will be called Like A Dragon going forward, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer doesn’t think it’s a good time to increase console prices right now.

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