Something to look forward to: The long-running rumors have been confirmed: indie filmmaker A24 is set to make a live-action movie adaptation of Elden Ring, with Alex Garland directing. Bandai Namco has confirmed that the incredibly popular Soulslike is coming to the big screen.

Movies based on video games have come a long way since Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo appalled the world in the surreally awful adaptation of Super Mario Bros. in 1993.

A24 is known for its often highbrow movies that tackle challenging themes. Its films include Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, The Whale, Hereditary, The Lighthouse, Warfare, and Civil War.

We’re thrilled to announce that Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. and A24 are teaming up with writer and director Alex Garland to bring FromSoftware Inc.’s world-renowned video game ELDEN RING to life as a live-action film.

We’re truly excited to bring the world of ELDEN RING to… pic.twitter.com/E3SJaRX1Jc

– Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) May 22, 2025

Four of the five films in which Garland has been behind the camera were with A24: Ex Machina, Men, Civil War, and Warfare. The only exception was Annihilation. His most recent project has been working as a writer and producer on several movies in a new 28 Years Later trilogy – Garland wrote the screenplay for the original 28 Days Later, released in 2002.

FromSoftware released Elden Ring in 2022. The game is adored by critics and gamers alike and currently has a Metascore of 94. It’s sold over 30 million copies to date.

Garland is a fan of Soulslike games. He told Gamespot in 2020 that Dark Souls was one of his favorite games.

“The Dark Souls game seem to have some a kind of embedded poetry in them. You’ll have this weird bit of dialogue with some sort of broken soul sat with a bit of armour outside of some doorway or gate, and it feels like you’ve drifted into this existential dream,” Garland said at the time. “That’s what I really love about Dark Souls. The different spaces are so imaginative.”

Having a director who knows and loves the subject matter should make for a better movie – Eli Roth, director and co-writer of the atrocious Borderlands, admitted that he was only “familiar” with the games and said he wasn’t a gamer.

A24 is also working on another video game adaptation. Death Stranding, a game with so many lengthy cutscenes – some extending over 30 minutes – that it is almost a movie already, is being turned into a feature film. Michael Sarnoski, known for A Quiet Place: Day One and Pig, will be directing. It’s expected to release in 2027. With the Elden Ring movie in pre-production, Garland’s movie will probably get here first.