1996’s Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars was recognized at the time for its cinematic delivery of a point-and-click adventure, in a time when the genre was best known for outlandish cartoon goofs. Revolution Software’s approach was a lighthearted but far more grounded tale of international conspiracies and Indiana Jones-ish adventure. Rumors of a movie version have been around for its entire 30 years, but it seems that this time—via Variety—something might actually be happening, this time helmed by Story Kitchen, the production company behind the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
An overtly British game, but with an American main character, Broken Sword told the story of George Stobbart and French journalist Nicole Collard as the two became embroiled in a complex, Templar-based conspiracy set all around Europe. Famous for its bright wit, incredible hand-drawn art, and the extremely engaging interplay between the two main characters. George is brash, over-confident and convicted, while Nico is smart, grounded and cynical, and the pair have gone on to pair up in multiple games across the Broken Sword series. Yet it’s always the first game that is best remembered, in part because of its legendarily terrible goat puzzle, and often because it’s so incessantly remade and re-released. Also, it’s splendid.
Broken Dreams
2007 was the first time there was a louder buzz around a movie being made based on the game, with Castlebright Studios said to be attached. A year later other studios were being talked to, then by 2009 it was with Riddick studio Radar Pictures, but nothing came of any of the discussions. It’s then rumbled around as a possibility ever since, always with lead developer Charles Cecil’s insistence that he be heavily involved, but it’s not until late yesterday that a far more convincing story emerged from Variety.
Revolution are developing the movie with Story Kitchen, alongside live-action Beauty and the Beast screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos (who has more recently been writing middling horrors), although it’s slightly unclear if the movie will be a direct adaptation of the first Broken Sword game, or be more “inspired” by it. Variety quotes Story Kitchen’s co-founders as saying, “Our work here isn’t to adapt a game into a film. It’s to move a world that has been building for three decades into the next medium it deserves, working hand-in-hand with the people who built it.”
Disclaimer: In 2009 I worked with Revolution on the Nintendo DS remake of Broken Sword 1, writing much of the new content, but Charles Cecil forgot to put my name in the credits.