There's Going to be a Saints Row Movie

Saints Row is one of those games we don’t really talk or think about anymore, but on the off-occasion you’re reminded it exists, it can pretty reliably put a smile on your face. It’s easy to forget just what a joy that game was, starting off as a run-of-the-mill GTA knockoff and slowly transforming into the ultimate sandbox that, in turn, became celebrated for semi-accidentally knocking down gender and sexuality barriers that had been prevalent in our culture for years and years. Plus, you got to watch the journey of a man/woman/thing transform from a lowly street thug to the president of the United States punching aliens in VR, and really, what more could you want out of a character arc?

Apparently, Hollywood agrees that this is a money-making prospect, and according to Dateline, F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious, Men in Black: International) is set to direct a Saints Row movie.

And he’s not the only big name working on this hitherto unannounced project: Greg Russo, the fellow working on the Mortal Kombat reboot, is working on the script.

We know literally nothing else about the movie, but looking at the director’s accolades in the past, he’s no stranger to directing high-octane, bordering on comical action sequences, and putting people in some not-very-normal situations. That’s a good fit for Saints Row, although the real question is, which Saints Row story will this movie be retelling?

The plot of the first game would be logical, but it’s also the most boring, weakest game in the franchise. And by that metric, the last game in the series might be a little too crazy to start with. So Saints Row 2 or 3 seems like the logical place to go, which nicely balances the crazy with the realism.

But of course, we’ll have to wait and see.