“We Happy Few” videogame gets film treatment

PanARMENIAN.Net - A movie based on the videogame “We Happy Few” is in the works with “Pitch Perfect” producer Gold Circle Entertainment, Variety has learned exclusively.

Videogame developer Compulsion Games has partnered with dj2 Entertainment on the project. Gold Circle’s Paul Brooks and dj2 Entertainment CEO Dmitri M. Johnson and Chief Content Officer Dan Jevons will produce the project with dj2’s Stephan Bugaj serving as executive producer.

“We Happy Few” is set in an eerie and isolated English town during an alternate-1960s, where the government has imposed a drug-induced happiness to mask gruesome violence and conceal a nefarious mystery. The story revolves around one rebellious resident illegally free of the drug’s effects, who risks his life to learn why his home is a bizarre open-air prison.

Howard Bliss, head of business affairs at dj2 Entertainment, helped land the project at Gold Circle, and the two companies are seeking writers.

“Dmitri, Stephan, and Dan approached us enthusiastically with really solid ideas about how to adapt our game to film while retaining its menace, dark humor, and central themes,” said Guillaume Provost, head developer at Compulsion Games.

“Our commitment is to make a movie that remains true to the source material, while still surprising fans,” Johnson said.

Gold Circle is the producer on the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Pitch Perfect” franchises. Gold Circle is currently in production on “Pitch Perfect 3” with Brownstone Pictures and Universal, and the indie pic “Break My Heart 1,000 Times.”

Dj2 is also producing the Donnie Yen-starrer “Sleeping Dogs” with Original Film, as well as co-producing the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie.