Will Rockstar Ever Make A Red Dead Redemption Movie?

The Red Dead Redemption series from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive is beloved by fans and critics alike. The story of hardened criminals in the Old West attempting to right their past wrongs and take care of their families seem like they'd be perfect for a film adaptation, don't they? So why haven't we ever seen such a thing?

We may have actually gotten the answer in a 2016 interview with GamesIndustry. Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked point-blank if he thought there was any chance we could see a game made from Red Dead Redemption or one of the publisher's other properties. While the answer wasn't a flat-out "no," it didn't exactly leave much wiggle-room for those hopeful for an RDR film.

"For us to license motion pictures, we have been very selective because the economic opportunity is limited and the creative risk is meaningful," explained Strauss. "Said another way, if a bad movie is made it may hurt our underlying intellectual property, and if a good movie is made the actual value of those license fees is not enormous. So we have to be very, very selective."

Strauss made a good point there. Video game movies have mostly been pretty underwhelming, if not downright insulting to the fans and the property being adapted. Even the most prestigious source material may run the risk of having its brand negatively impacted by a bad film version. For every successful flick like Sonic the Hedgehog, there are just as many (if not more) video game movie disasters like Super Mario Bros. As beloved as Red Dead is, the franchise could take heavy damage in reputation and sales if a bad movie were made from it.

That hasn't stopped a ton of Hollywood production companies from snatching up the rights to several video game properties. However, it looks as though Red Dead Redemption won't ever be one of them, at least not any time in the near future.