With trying to adapt a franchise as massive as Assassin's Creed into a movie, setbacks are bound to happen, so it should come as no surprise that Fox has announced that the Assassin's Creed movie has been nailed with a delay.
The bad news is that according to The Hollywood Reporter, distributor Fox has pushed back the movie's release. The good news is that it's not a major delay. Originally set to hit the silver screen on June 9, 2015, the movie will now premiere roughly two months later, August 7, 2015. The movie's script underwent a rewrite not too long ago, but there's no news on what caused the delay this time around.
Ubisoft is playing the Assassin's Creed movie pretty close to its chest, choosing not to reveal a great deal of information about the film.
Late last month, actor Michael Fassbender, who's not only set to star in the movie, but produce it as well, assured fans that the movie is "still happening."
"We're just developing the script at the moment," Fassbender told The Daily Beast. "I'd heard of it but had never played the game. I don't have a video game player ... that's not what they're called. [Laughs] I met up with the guys from Ubisoft and they told me the story behind it, and I thought it was very interesting-the idea of reliving memories."
As one of Ubisoft's biggest franchises, it was only a matter of time before Assassin's Creed made it's way to the big screen. The movie is being penned by Scott Frank, and Fassbender's production company, DMC Film, has partnered with Ubisoft Motion Pictures to make it happen.
"Michael Fassbender was our first choice" to play the franchise's iconic hooded hero, said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Paris-based Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "Michael is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor." Fassbender's profile in Hollywood has definitely risen as of late. First gathering attention as Stelios in "300," he went on to hunt down nazis as Lt. Hicox in Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," and gave a great origin story for the mutant Magneto in "X-Men: First Class" (a role which it seems he'll be reprising), and later carried on the role of creepy Weyland androids as David in "Prometheus." His next film, "The Counselor" sees him teaming up again with director Ridley Scott, and opens later this week.
But under which Assassin hood will we see Fassbender? The Florentine nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze? The Syrian Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad? Or the tomahwak wielding Connor Kenway?
Apparently, none of the above. It seems as though Fassbender will play the tie that binds all three together, that of Desmond Miles, which would mean we won't be seeing Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway either.
According to Variety, the movie's plot "revolves around a man who learns his ancestors were trained assassins after he is kidnapped by a secret organization with ties to the Knights Templar, and sent back in time to retrieve historical artifacts." Yep, sure sounds like Desmond all right.
If Ubisoft and DMC can get this right, they'll have a great set up for an amazing trilogy. The movie will be shot in 3D, and is set to be released June 19, 2015.