There's Apparently a Sleeping Dogs Movie In the Works Starring Rogue One's Donnie Yen

ffronw

I am a meat popsicle
Oct 24, 2013
2,804
0
0
There's Apparently a Sleeping Dogs Movie In the Works Starring Rogue One's Donnie Yen

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1386/1386403.jpgWe might not have a Sleeping Dogs sequel, but it sounds like we're going to see a movie version of the game starring Rogue One's Donnie Yen.

When developer United Front Games shut down last year, we assumed that we had probably seen the last of Sleeping Dogs, the 2012 action game set in Hong Kong. There's still no reason to think that there will be a sequel, but there's a report from Deadline [http://deadline.com/2017/03/donnie-yen-sleeping-dogs-neal-moritz-original-film-1201948700/] that there's a movie coming based on the game.

The Sleeping Dogs movie will reportedly star Star Wars: Rogue One's Donnie Yen in the role of Wei Shen, or at least in a role similar to that. Deadline says that Yen will play an "undercover police officer on a mission to take down one of the most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations in the world: the notorious Triads." The movie will be produced by Fast and Furious producer Neal Moritz.

Videogame movies have a less-than-stellar reputation, but that hasn't stopped studios from rolling the dice on new films. Hopefully the Sleeping Dogs movie can buck the trend and do well.

[gallery=7013]

Permalink
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,415
3,393
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
The question of "why?" comes to mind. I mean while sleeping dogs were pretty good games, they weren't huge hits as far as I know, I mean the studio did close. And plus its just a gangster/undercover cop setup anyway, not like thats rare.
 

Samael Barghest

New member
Mar 5, 2014
145
0
0
How will this be any different than Flash Point where he plays a loose cannon cop doing whatever it takes, Special ID where he plays an undercover loose cannon cop willing to do whatever it takes, or any of the other dozen movies where he's an undercover cop doing whatever it takes to get the job done. I swear Yen has been type-casted hard.
 
Mar 29, 2016
11
0
0
Oh God, is Donnie Yen going to be 'Rogue One's Donnie Yen from now on. The guy's a legend of East Asian cinema and modern martial arts films, but this is what we're recognizing as his most significant work. Jeez, that's depressing.

And Samael Barghest above is completely right, this is exactly the same role he's played many times. I'm pretty sure Yen himself is annoyed and frustrated at how typecast he is, and how little dramatic roles he gets. Even the awesome Killzone SPL (one of the films very similar to the above synopsis) felt obligated to add crazy action scene fights when Yen came aboard.

Still, I'm hoping Yen is given the freedom to do what he does best. I'm interested to see how a film staring Yen produced by the guy from The Fast an the Furious ends up. Yen himself directed the fights in Killzone, I hope they let him do it here.
 

Zulnam

New member
Feb 22, 2010
481
0
0
We live in a time when corporations are so afraid of new IP risks that they are willing to take an existing IP that has failed to become a franchise, because the charts say it's safer.
 

Callate

New member
Dec 5, 2008
5,118
0
0
"We're making a movie based on 'Sleeping Dogs'."
"Oh! That's nice."

That's about my reaction. It doesn't even rise as high as my occasional "Why is this getting green-lit while works far more imaginative and interesting are lingering in limbo" or "The world is a meaner and dumber place that this has been set free to find an audience".

It's just, "Oh! That's nice."

If it went as far as

"We're making a movie based on 'Sleeping Dogs', and we hope you'll buy a ticket to see it"

I might be bothered to stifle a snicker.
 

Elijin

Elite Muppet
Legacy
Feb 15, 2009
2,045
1,007
118
This is confusing to me because Sleeping Dogs was essentially "Hong Kong Police Movie: The Game".

I mean it was super fun, but the story felt like an adaptation of Eastern film. This seems like a weird loop, to make a movie based on it.
 

Chewster

It's yer man Chewy here!
Apr 24, 2008
1,050
0
0
Samael Barghest said:
How will this be any different than Flash Point where he plays a loose cannon cop doing whatever it takes, Special ID where he plays an undercover loose cannon cop willing to do whatever it takes, or any of the other dozen movies where he's an undercover cop doing whatever it takes to get the job done. I swear Yen has been type-casted hard.
How is this going to be any different from Infernal Affairs which is the same basic premise, minus Edison Chen's character. Incidentally, Chen voiced Jackie in Sleeping Dogs (EDIT: not to mention Tom Wilkinson and frigging Emma Stone, hard to get much more Hollywood A-list than that) meaning the game already had real actors in it, like most other AAA modern releases.

This begs the question: why do we need a film? I'd much rather see an proper game sequel. As rife with cliches as it was, Sleeping Dogs was still hella fun to play.
 

Cowabungaa

New member
Feb 10, 2008
10,806
0
0
Worgen said:
The question of "why?" comes to mind.
Because it's Donnie Yen. You'll know if you've seen Ip Man. If you haven't seen Ip Man; go see Ip Man. Because this:


And considering Sleeping Dogs is all about martial arts, oh my yes. I still can't believe he only got one good scene in Rogue One. Calling him "Rogue One's Donnie Yen" does not do him justice.
Detective Cosmic McBeardyface said:
And Samael Barghest above is completely right, this is exactly the same role he's played many times. I'm pretty sure Yen himself is annoyed and frustrated at how typecast he is, and how little dramatic roles he gets. Even the awesome Killzone SPL (one of the films very similar to the above synopsis) felt obligated to add crazy action scene fights when Yen came aboard.
At least with Sleeping Dogs you don't have to bend over backwards to add fight scenes, so hopefully that'll flow nicely.
 

LunarRepublic

New member
Oct 23, 2016
26
0
0
Erm, as much as I liked Sleeping Dogs, that game's story was basically a distillation of every single Hong Kong triad/cop movie ever made, but through a Western perspective. I'll watch it if it's good, but the movie might come across as a pale imitation of better Hong Kong movies, but tuned up for American consumption like a cinematic Panda Express. The deal-breaker for me is if most of the movie is in english (the game was already pretty egregious when it came to having characters speaking english with random cantonese thrown in).
Plus, I know they got Donnie Yen because of his experience with action, but I think Wei Shen's character should call for a younger actor. I'm guessing they just grabbed him for star power.

Honestly, I rather see another publisher pick up the Sleeping Dogs IP and give us another game.
 

Poetic Nova

Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus
Jan 24, 2012
1,974
0
0
Hey, if the movie ends up being decent, I may like it more than the game itself.
 

wings012

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 7, 2011
853
305
68
Country
Malaysia
You could take one of the many HK triad movies, slap Sleeping Dogs on the title and probably get away with it.