A decade ago, renowned video game director and industry visionary Hideo Kojima left Konami, a company he’d worked at for almost 30 years. Under Konami, Kojima produced some ofthe greatest video games of all time, with hisMetal Gear Solidseries taking top spot in most fans' eyes. While Kojima had to leaveMGSbehind, he wasted no time in producing his next passion project.Death Strandinghit store shelves in November 2019.
ThoughDeath Strandingproved to be a rather divisive game upon its 2019 launch, there’s been a general shift in opinion over the last six years. There’s a lot of hype now surroundingDeath Stranding’s imminent sequel, but that’s far from the onlyDeath Strandingproject in the works. And if these projects come to fruition,Death Strandingcould end up beatingMetal Gear Solidto the punch twice in a row.
Death Stranding Could Make It to The Silver Screen Before Metal Gear Solid With a One-Two Punch
The Metal Gear Solid Movie Is Still in Development Hell
All the way back in 2006, Hideo Kojima confirmed that alive-actionMetal Gear Solidmoviewas in development. The project then went dark for four years, with producer Mike De Luca finally coming out in 2010 to state the movie’s production had stalled. Two years later, theMetal Gear Solidmovie returned from the dead, with Avi Arad taking over as producer.
In June 2014, Deadline reported that Jordan Vogt-Roberts was coming aboard as the movie’s director, and a year later Jay Basu was hired as a scriptwriter. In 2020, it was reported thatOscar Isaac would be playing the lead role. For the last decade, theMetal Gear Solidmovie has continued to be in development, with Vogt-Roberts making the occasional comment, confirming that the project is still alive.
The latest official update on theMetal Gear Solidmovie came in July 2024, when producer Avi Arad stated that they were still working on the script, and that he thinks “everyone’s going to be really excited and surprised” by the final product. Filmmaking is an incredibly difficult process with a million different spinning wheels, butMetal Gear Solid’s developmentseems to be far more complicated than the average blockbuster. With updates still coming, albeit irregularly, there’s still a chance fans get to see a live-actionMetal Gear Solidmovie in the future, but it might not be for a while yet.
Punch One - The Death Stranding Live-Action Movie
Announced back in December 2023,Kojima Productions and A24are currently in the process of creating a live-actionDeath Strandingmovie. While there’s no release date for the project yet, it seems to be coming along nicely, with Kojima himself telling Variety a few days ago that he’d like to oversee the project, but he trusts writer and director Michael Sarnoski and the rest of A24 to produce something great.
Though it’s only been in development for a year and a half, there’s a strong possibility theDeath Strandinglive-action moviecould make it to theaters before theMetal Gear Solidmovie, just as long as it doesn’t hit any significant snags during production.
Punch Two - The Death Stranding Animated Movie
On top of a live-action adaptation,Death Strandingis getting its own animated movie as well. Announced just a few days ago by Kojima Productions and animation studio Line Mileage, aDeath Strandinganimated adaptationis now in the works with Aaron Guzikowski signed on as scriptwriter. This project has just entered development, so it probably won’t hit screens for at least another year or two. But even then, there’s still a chance it comes out beforeMetal Gear Solid. And that means there’s a possibilityDeath Strandinghas two adaptations out beforeMGS' one.
