Remedy Entertainment has announced that it is partnering with Annapurna to develop film and television adaptations of its popular supernatural game series Alan Wake and Control.
There are no further details about the projects other than this – just the note that the two companies want to turn Alan Wake and Control into multimedia franchises for “film, television and other audiovisual formats.” Or maybe it should be franchise in the singular; there are many references to the first Alan-Wake In controlwhich suggests that the games share a shared universe.
Despite its reputation as a small film studio focusing on artistic, writer-led projects such as Spike Jonze’s Her and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street could talkit sounds like Annapurna sees the deal with Remedy as a respectable entry into the franchise business. “The way we tell stories is changing,” Annapurna’s founder and CEO Megan Ellison said in the companies’ joint press release. “Today, people fall in love with characters and universes, not formats, and we’re excited to leverage Remedy’s popular, immersive narratives in these new mediums.”
As part of the deal, Annapurna – which also owns a successful indie game label, Annapurna Interactive – will develop the Control 2Sequel to the 2019 action adventure about exploring the reality-warping paranormal headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control.
Remedy revived the cult horror world of ghost writer Alan Wake last year with Alan-Wake 2which received much praise from critics and became the studio’s fastest-selling game, although according to a Financial report By April 2024, the studio had not yet recouped its development and marketing costs.
At that time, Remedy also announced that it had acquired full rights to control And Control 2 from its publishing partner for these games, 505 Games. Annapurna is the new partner for Control 2 makes sense and will no doubt bring welcome financial security to Remedy as the company looks to continue on its own as a video game publisher. “By supporting Remedy’s move towards self-publishing, we are putting our faith in their vision,” said Hector Sanchez of Annapurna.
Remedy is currently working on DLC for Alan-Wake 2Codename Condor (a multiplayer control spin-off), Control 2and remakes of the games that made the studio’s name, Max Payne And Max Payne 2.
