Sleeping Dogs | Simu Liu to star in crime videogame adaptation; Donnie Yen no longer involved

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A film adaptation of crime videogame Sleeping Dogs is finally coming together, with Simu Liu reported to play the lead.


After years in development limbo, a film adaptation of the 2012 crime sim Sleeping Dogs finally appears to be gathering pace. Simu Liu, star of Marvelā€™s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, last week took to social media to make the surprise announcement that he was ā€œworking with the rights holdersā€ to get an adaptation going.

More recently, Liu has taken to the web again, confirming that heā€™s working away on a Sleeping Dogs movie ā€“ and also suggesting that a videogame sequel could happen at some point in the future.

“So few film projects make it from pitch phase to greenlight,” Liu wrote. “Pitching execs who don’t understand the game has been tiring. Everyone’s overwhelming love of Sleeping Dogs here has really given us life! First a movie, then a sequel game for everyone… that’s always been the dream.”

Meanwhile, IGN reports that Story Kitchen, the media company behind a number of other forthcoming videogame adaptations, is shepherding Sleeping Dogs to the screen. Other game-based projects in the works at the firm include Tomb Raider, Streets Of Rage, and indie sensation Vampire Survivors.

Read more: Shang-Chi And The Ten Rings review | An unexpectedly moving Marvel outing

IGNā€™s sources also suggest that Simu Liu will play Sleeping Dogsā€™ protagonist, Wei Shein, who in the original game was an undercover cop tasked with taking down a Hong Kong crime syndicate.

Donnie Yen, the action legend who spent years trying to get his own Sleeping Dogs adaptation made, is no longer involved. As IGN spotted, Yen told Polygon as much earlier in January.

“I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights,ā€ Yen said. ā€œI 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. Well, on to better things.ā€

Sleeping Dogs survived a difficult production. It was initially called True Crime: Hong Kong before Activision cancelled it; Square Enix subsequently stepped in, and the action-heavy crime thriller was released in 2012. Although it wasnā€™t a big hit, itā€™s attracted a growing fandom in the years since. A successful film adaptation could belatedly turn it into a multimedia franchise.

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