New Regency and Death Row Games are teaming up to bring library film titles to Fortnite, starting with sci-fi action thriller In Time.
The 2011 release, directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Cillian Murphy, Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde, will reach Fortnite via Epic Games’ Unreal Editor. Death Row’s Good Game Champ division is handling the effort.
Fortnite has hundreds of millions of registered users and several million generally play at the same time. Some are there for straightforward game play but the platform has also become a wide-reach venue for a range of other activities, including concerts and movie premieres. The acronym UEFN, short for Unreal Editor for Fortnite, is an increasingly common one in the gaming world, where increasing numbers of projects are migrating to the space.
A press release said New Regency was aiming to find “fresh ways for audiences to experience storytelling while aligning with Death Row Games’ forward-thinking business ethos.”
News of the initiative comes as the video game sector has seen fewer breakthrough franchise titles of late. While it remains a powerful generator of revenue, dwarfing the movie and music businesses, but many stakeholders have been turning to familiar IP.
According to the official logline, In Time is set “in a dystopian society where time serves as currency, the film delves into a world of stark inequalities, where survival hinges on every second. Its gripping narrative and themes of resistance provide a wealth of rich storytelling potential.”
Cordell Broadus, CEO of Death Row Games (and son of Snoop Dogg), said New Regency “has produced some of my favorite films.” He added that working with CEO Yariv Milchan and his colleagues “has been seamless. They understand that UEFN is at the heart of the creator economy. When we built the Tee Grizzley map, we wanted to depict spaces that resonate emotionally with our culture. This partnership allows us to bring that same authenticity to the Fortnite world and ensure cultural representation within IP integration.”
Milchan said the In Time project “marks the start of a groundbreaking journey into immersive storytelling. We have long admired Snoop’s remarkable and varied body of work, his ongoing creative journey, and have deep respect for what he and Cordell are building at Death Row. This timely and exciting collaboration resonates with our ethos at New Regency.”
New Regency’s film library spans several decades and includes Fight Club, The Revenant and Birdman. Its current release is Steve McQueen’s Blitz. Its TV operation has Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Prime Video.