Fans of the Assassin's Creed gaming franchise will already be eagerly awaiting the release of Assassin's Creed III on October 30, but now there's even more to get excited about: Ubisoft's planned Assassin's Creed film adaptation – set to star Michael Fassbender – has got itself studio backing from New Regency and a distributor in the form of Fox.
Previously, Ubisoft had sought Sony's help in getting their movie made, but negotiations broke down over Ubisoft's desire to maintain more creative control. Now that Fassbender is attached to play the Desmond Miles/Altair/Ezio character, a deal has been struck with New Regency – the guys currently producing Steve McQueen and Fassbender's latest collaboration, 12 Years A Slave – to make many gamers' dreams come to cinematic life.
In effect, what this means is that the Assassin's Creed movie is really happening, with Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet hoping that everything will be ready to roll in summer 2013.
This could turn into yet another big league movie franchise for Fassbender, following X-Men: FIrst Class, Prometheus and Shame. Well, maybe not Shame, but definitely X-Men: First Class and Prometheus.
So does this news make you excited? If you're a fan of the gaming franchise, do you think film can do the series justice? If you aren't aware of the games, does the idea of a modern day Regular Joe (Desmond Miles) hooking into a machine that allows him to live the lives of his assassin ancestors sound like a good movie conceit to you? Let us know in the comment box below.