The live-action movie for "Metal Gear Solid" just took one huge step forward as it lands a screenwriter in the name of Derek Connolly.
According to Variety, Connolly, who also penned the 2015 box-office hit "Jurassic World" and its upcoming 2018 sequel "Fallen Kingdom," will scribe the film based on the action-adventure stealth video game.
Connolly is collaborating with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, whom he also worked with for the fantasy adventure "Kong: Skull Island," which was released last March.
"Metal Gear Solid" is based on the 1998 Japanese video game designed by Hideo Kojima and developed by Konami. It follows Solid Snake, a soldier whose mission is to neutralize a terrorist threat from an Alaskan nuclear weapons facility, which was invaded by a renegade special forces unit called Foxhound. This unit was able to capture a nuclear-equipped tank called Metal Gear REX, and plans to use it to scare the world into meeting their demands.
There has been many sequels and prequels following its 1998 debut, and it is not clear yet how Connolly will try to fit its interlacing story into one movie.
"Metal Gear Solid" is not the first video game to find itself on the way to the big screen. It was preceded by "Assassin's Creed" in 2016 and "Hitman: Agent 47" in 2015. However, these hit video games received a relatively lukewarm welcome from fans when they were adapted into films.
Vogt-Roberts wants to change that by enlisting a writer he has successfully worked with in the past. After all, "Kong: Skull Island" was a huge box-office hit with a worldwide gross of over $566 million, as compared to the production cost of $185 million.
Previously writing about huge monsters and humans, a story about a walking nuclear tank should be well in his territory.
Connolly, along with director Colin Trevorrow, was discovered by renowned director Steven Spielberg from the movie "Safety Not Guaranteed," which was showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.
