Though the video game adaptation genre is more alive than ever,Donnie Yen’s long-gestating adaptation of an underrated action game has found itself scrapped. Having begun his career as a stuntman in the Hong Kong film industry, Yen steadily enjoyed a rise to stardom as an actor in the ’90s with the TV adaptation ofBruce Lee’sFist of Fury, as well as making his directorial debut with 1997’sLegend of the Wolf. The 2000s, however, would see him break out on an international scope as he began choreographing and appearing in many Hollywood action movies, namelyBlade IIand the Oscar-nominatedHero.
Yen would go on to find further acclaim with his leading role intheIp Manfranchise, leading the four mainline movies and gearing up to return for the in-development fifth movie. He wouldlater find himself regaining success in Hollywood with his roles as Chirrut Îmwe inRogue One: A Star Wars Storyand Xiang in Vin Diesel’sxXx: Return of Xander Cage. While his turn as Caine inJohn Wick: Chapter 4has set him up to lead his own spinoff of the action franchise, it looks like one passion project won’t come to fruition for him.
Yen’s Sleeping Dogs Adaptation Is No Longer Happening
Amid his resurging popularity in Hollywood, Yen became attached to a film adaptation ofSleeping Dogs. Developed by United Front Games and published by Square Enix, the 2012 game put players in the shoes of Wei Shen, an undercover Hong Kong police officer who works to infiltrate and bring down the Sun On Yee Triad organization. Yen was set to play Shen, whileFast & Furiousfranchise vet Neal H. Moritz was attached to produce, withthe last update coming in September 2024 whenNobody 2’s Timo Tjahjantorevealed he had once been attached to directbefore it fell into development hell.
Now, during a recent interview withPolygonto discuss the American release of his new action-legal thrillerThe Prosecutor, Yen was asked whether hisSleeping Dogsmovie adaptation was still moving ahead. Beginning by reflecting on the long road to trying to get the movie off of the ground, including investing “some of my own money” to get drafts written and the rights to the game,Yen indicated that the movie was unfortunately dead, chalking it up to an unfortunate victim of Hollywood development hell. Check out what Yen said below:
I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights. I waited for years. Years. And I really want to do it. I have all these visions in my head, and unfortunately… I don’t know, you know how Hollywood goes, right? I spent many, many years on it. It was an unfortunate thing. Well, on to better things.
Our Take On Sleeping Dogs' Cancellation
Another Unfortunate Blow To An Overlooked Property
While Yen’s comments do sound like there’s still a sliver of hope it can escape development hell at some point, his update on theSleeping Dogsmovie proves to be yet another devastating blow to the title. Even before the movie’s development, there had been attempts to develop both a sequel and a spinoff entitledTriad Wars, the latter of which would have been akin to an MMO and slated for a PC release in 2015, having made it as far as the beta-testing stage before shutting down.
Why Sleeping Dogs Is The Best True Crime Game
At one point in development, Sleeping Dogs was going to be True Crime: Hong Kong, but in the end, it managed to become so much more.
Even the sequel, as ambitious as it was said to be, didn’t even make it to the production stage and United Front shut down in 2016. With Yen’sSleeping Dogsmovie now also shut down, it’s really a disappointment that the hard-hitting and often funny world of the source material continues to not get the love it deserves.
Source:Polygon
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is an action-adventure game set in modern-day Hong Kong. Having started life as part of the True Crime series, it was eventually picked up by Square Enix after the original project was canceled by Activision Blizzard. The game sold more than one and a half million copies in its first year, prompting the release of a remastered edition of the title in October of 2014.
