Justin Lin, best known for his work on the Fast and Furious action movies, is set to direct Sony Pictures’ and PlayStation Productions’ adaptation of Helldivers, based on the popular video game franchise from Arrowhead Game Studios.
Lin will also produce the feature via his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner, along with Hutch Parker and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan.
Gary Dauberman, the scribe behind the hit It and Annabelle horror movies, wrote the script.
The game received critical acclaim when it first came out in 2015 and the sequel, Helldivers 2, sold more than 12 million units across PS5 and PC in the first four months after its launch in 2024. The game recently expanded to Xbox, and is built on teamwork, camaraderie, humor and action.
The concept, which recalls Sony’s Starship Troopers movies, centers on an elite unit of shock troopers, known as Helldivers, who must battle aliens known in simple terms as Bugs, Cyborgs, and Illuminate, threatening to destroy the fictional interplanetery and faux-democratic empire of Super Earth. Throw in some spores and genetically engineered decomposed Bug corpses come to life, and you’ve got yourself a sci-fi monster party.
Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material, said insiders. He aims to find the humanity in the characters and weave timely themes into the story, while building out a world and mythology. There are plenty of details waiting to be drawn in, something that is compelling to the filmmaker.
And it gives Lin a second potential franchise at Sony that has an upward trajectory. On top of now working in the growing video game adaptation sphere, Lin remains in development and is attached to direct One-Punch Man, which adapts the hugely popular manga.
He remains on Brzrkr, the adaptation of the Keanu Reeves-created comic set up at Netflix, though he is off of crime thriller Stakehorse at Amazon MGM.
The director is known for turbo-charging the Fast & Furious franchise into a multi-billion-dollar global phenomenon. After directing The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, he went on to direct Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and F9: The Fast Saga, which have collectively earned $2.66 billion globally. Lin also helmed Star Trek Beyond, the final film in the modern Star Trek trilogy. He most recently returned to his indie roots for Last Days, a true-life drama that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions previously worked together on Uncharted, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, which earned $407 million globally and is one of the top ten highest grossing video game adaptation globally. PlayStation Productions is also a producer on Peacock’s hit series Twisted Metal and HBO’s award winning The Last of Us.
Lin is repped CAA and Sloane Offer.
