Thief movie rights sold to LA company

Square Enix have announced that Los Angeles-based production company Straight Up Films has acquired the film rights for the THIEF videogame franchise.

With an initial launch in 1998, THIEF was rebooted in 2014 by Eidos-Montréal. THIEF is set in a dark, fantasy world ruled by a tyrant who exploits dark magic as a means of establishing control. The story is told through the eyes of a master thief who must use his skills to restore freedom and prosperity to the people.

Straight Up Films will produce the feature adaptation with Roy Lee and Adrian Askarieh. The company’s President of Production, Sandra Condito, will serve as executive producer, along with Khalid Jones of Source Rock and Square Enix’s subsidiary, Eidos-Montréal. Feature film writing duo Adam Mason and Simon Boyes (Misconduct, Hangman, Not Safe for Work) will write the screenplay.

Lee, who will produce under his Vertigo Entertainment shingle, was a producer on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and is currently developing sequels to 2014’s The Lego Movie. Askarieh’s film credits include 2007’s Hitman, starring Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko, and its sequel Hitman: Agent 47. He will produce the movie under his Prime Universe production banner.

Founded in 2008 by Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen, Los Angeles-based Straight Up Films is a fully integrated production company, focused on developing and producing motion picture, television and commercials for its distribution partners. The Company is backed by attorney and producer David Boies, among other private investors. Straight Up produced the feature film “Transcendence.”

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