Ubisoft and New Regency's Watch Dogs movie was announced over 10 years ago, but numerous setbacks resulted in the adaptation getting caught up in Hollywood purgatory. But in July, it was confirmed that filming officially began on the movie. Just three months later, filming has now wrapped.
Ubisoft announced on social media that filming for the Watch Dogs movie is now complete. The video game publisher celebrated with a photo of director Mathieu Turi on location filming a scene from the movie.
For those unfamiliar, Watch Dogs is an action-adventure video game franchise that largely revolves around hacking, hence the tweet that reads "run film_wrapped.exe(#watchdogsmovie.mp4)." There have been three games released in the video game series so far, each set in fictionalized versions of real-life cities that follow different hacker protagonists.
While the stories and main characters are different, the core focus involves taking advantage of ctOS (central Operating System), a fictional computing network that connects every electronic device in a city together into a single system. Players can access ctOS and hack the system in order to gain control of various devices that assist them in combat, stealth, and puzzles.
The original Watch Dogs game, released in 2014, was set in a fictionalized version of Chicago and followed hacker/vigilante Aiden Pearce's quest for revenge after the killing of his niece. The sequel, Watch Dogs 2, was released in 2016 and took us to a city inspired by San Francisco. The game followed a hacker by the name of Marcus Holloway who worked with the underground hacking group DedSec to take down the city's advanced surveillance system.
The most recent game in the series, Watch Dogs: Legion, was released in 2020. The game broke from the mold by evolving the hacking mechanic to introduce a new gameplay innovation referred to as "Play as Anyone." Rather than playing as a single protagonist, players could control anyone found in the entire city of London.
We still don't have a synopsis or plot details for New Regency's Watch Dogs movie, though we do know it will feature an original story that is inspired by the video game. Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me) are set to star in the film, [presumably as original characters as well.
A release date has not yet been announced for the Watch Dogs movie.