Whatever you may think of the prospect of video game movies, Hollywood clearly thinks they're the next big thing to join comic books, classic cartoons and 1980s action figure lines as the go-to material for big-budget blockbusters. Much of the recent glut of gaming green-lights has centered on recent hits from the PC and mobile scene like Angry Birds, Five Nights At Freddy's and Minecraft; but so-called "Triple-A" console titles are also getting a shot in the form of the Assassin's Creed adaptation set to hit theaters in December as a star-vehicle for Michael Fassbender.

How is the movie? Nobody knows, but New Regency and Ubisoft Pictures must think they have a hit on their hands, because they're already making plans for the sequel.

Industry business-watcher Tracking Board reports that the same producers and star Michael Fassbender are already on board for the prospective sequel, despite the film being many months away from release and without so much as a trailer having been released to the public. The news comes amid a "transitional" period for the Assassin's Creed game franchise, which is still reeling from the mixed-reception of the last two main-series releases in the series and was recently put on indefinite hold by developer Ubisoft.

Assassin's Creed - Michael Fassbender as Callum Lynch

The film, which aims to tell a new story set within the mythology of the Assassin's Creed series but with a new set of main characters, stars Fassbender as a modern day man who uses ultra-advanced technology to enter a simulation of the "genetic memories" of his ancestor, a 15th century Spaniard named Aguilar de Nerha - a member of an ancient justice-seeking guild of Assassins waging endless war against The Templars amid the tumult of The Spanish Inquisition. While more specific details of two dual characters' situation are yet to be revealed, in the games present-day characters typically use the virtual time-machine technology ("The Animus") to unravel clues in their ancestors' past in order to thwart evil schemes by the present-day incarnations of The Templars.

Notably, the games' premise allows for present-day protagonists to experience the memories of multiple different ancestors, meaning that while Fassbender's 21st century self would likely appear in the sequel, there's no guarantee (or requirement) that he'd also be reprising his Aguilar performance - hypothetically, he could have an entirely new adventure with a different persona and setting. The original game took place during The Crusades, with future installments visiting Renaissance Italy, The American Revolution, the Piracy-Era Caribbean, The French Revolution and Industrial-Era Great Britain among others.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate artwork

It's important to note, however, that a studio making plans for a sequel is not a guarantee that said sequel has been greenlit or is officially heading into production. In this age of franchises and shared-universe continuity, its not unusual for studios to set up extensive plans for a franchise in the hope that, should a sequel be called for in the first place, they'll have already taken care of the necessary preparations. For example: Sony's now-aborted Amazing Spider-Man series was at one point in the "planning stages" of multiple sequels, a Black Cat spin-off, a team-up movie featuring an all-female cast and (allegedly) even a Young Aunt May movie... all of which were quickly scuttled when Marvel Studios reclaimed partial control of the franchise - though a spin-off about the villain Venom is apparently being revived.

Assassin's Creed is set for release on December 21st, 2016.

Source: Tracking Board