A few days ago, the lead actor for Shang-Chi ‘Simu Liu’ posted on social media regarding his plans for a live-action movie of the popular video game ‘Sleeping Dogs’. Despite being more than a decade old game, it remains one of the fan favorites thanks to its incredible story and combat. Watching the star working to bring the character to life got fans quite excited.
A new report from IGN now reveals that the movie is in development with Liu taking on the lead role of ‘Wei Shen’ and will also be acting as the producer. The confirmation comes from a source close to the project meaning Liu was successful. Later on, Liu also gave a thumbs-up to the news.
The report further reveals that the movie will be a joint effort from Story Kitchen and Square Enix. Story Kitchen has been quite successful with video game adaptations like Sonic the Hedgehog movies. The studio is also working on an adaptation for Streets of Rage and It Takes Two, two popular video games.
Past attempt for a Sleeping Dogs movie wasn’t a success
This comes as a huge development following the report of the previous attempt being scraped. The previous Sleeping Dogs movie featuring Donnie Yen was canceled. Announced back in 2018, the movie did not see the light of the day.
“I waited for years. Years. And I really want to do it. I have all these visions in my head, and unfortunately… I don’t know, you know how Hollywood goes, right? I spent many, many years on it. It was an unfortunate thing,” Yen said speaking to Polygon.
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Simu Liu wants Sleeping Dogs movie to spawn a game sequel
In his efforts to revive the franchise, Simu Liu also expressed how he wants the move to further push for a sequel. The original game was released back in 2012 and had a great impact on future games. For years fans have been asking for a Sleeping Dogs sequel and while there were talks of a second installment in the franchise, it never happened.
The game was also a direct competitor to other open-world titles like the Grand Theft Auto franchise and while not quite on the same level, it remains beloved by the gaming community.