Could An Upcoming ‘Gravity Rush’ Film Revive The Franchise? New Sony Video Reveals Our First Look
First released in 2012, Gravity Rush, an action-adventure game from Keiichiro Toyama, creator of the Silent Hill franchise, earned a cult following with a sequel being released in 2017. Although both games were met with mixed reviews from various critics, Scott Free Productions, in collaboration with PlayStation Productions, announced a film adaptation for the franchise in 2022.
On its announcement, Anna Mastro was listed to direct the film using a script written by Emily Jerome. Mastro has previously worked on the Disney+ exclusive film, Secret Society of Second Born Royals, alongside having produced credits in various music videos and television series episodes, while Jerome previously wrote a script for a film titled Panopticon that had placed her in the 2017 Black List, a collection of the best-unproduced scripts in Hollywood.
That was the majority of information fans were able to access regarding the film before Sony’s recent YouTube video that revealed a first look into the film’s production.
This video, released on January 8, showcases Sony’s recent initiative, Torchlight, which looks to integrate recent technologies, such as using Unreal Engine 5 for assistance in visual effects, into the filmmaking process. This project combines the knowledge of both game development and filmmaking to create better-looking scenes for movies.
Midway through the video, at the timestamp 2:14, we see a glimpse of the production process of the upcoming Gravity Rush film by showing a scene of the game’s protagonist, Kat, falling through the sky before transitioning to show that the character model for the movie’s character was being rigged through a motion capture actor behind a green screen. This effect shows that the movie is going to be animated, with the rigging techniques used by AAA games being one of the many ways to make the movie feel more realistic.
Outside of this, not much information regarding the movie’s plot or a release timetable has been announced. The game’s plot follows an amnesiac protagonist, Kat, exploring the open world of Hekseville while learning how to harness her ability to manipulate the gravity around her.