For unfathomable reasons, Hollywood has continually failed to successfully adapt the best video games and video game stories to feature films. And by successful we mean financially and critically.

We've been saying it for years here on Screen Rant (and our sister site Game Rant), but this disappointing trend is on the verge of change. Of the many video game adaptations in slow development, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed already has an official release date, a script being redrafted and one of the most sought after actors in the business playing the lead(s).

After game maker Ubisoft decided to form its own film company, Ubisoft Motion Pictures, they began with a plan to adapt three of their key game franchises into movies: Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed. The plan was/is to maintain creative control over their properties and talent involved - something old school Hollywood shied away from - but after various deals fell through they found a partner at New Regency Pictures who's on board with the plan.

Speaking with The Daily Beast about his role in Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave, Fassbender provides an update on the status of the Assassin's Creed film adaptation.

"That’s definitely happening. We’re just developing the script at the moment. I’d heard of it but had never played the game. I don’t have a video game player … that’s not what they’re called. [Laughs] I met up with the guys from Ubisoft and they told me the story behind it, and I thought it was very interesting—the idea of reliving memories."

The unique plot device behind the Assassin's Creed games, the ability for protagonist Desmond Miles to relive memories of his distance ancestry via the power of a machine called the Animus is an interesting element for Fassbender to play off of - especially if he's also playing the ancestors whose stories are being relived. The other key factor to signing Fassbender long-term is that Ubisoft made him a producer on the film and its potential sequels, making the film a bigger potential payday for the star.

Assassin's Creed 4 Edward Jackdaw
The ancestor featured in Assassin's Creed 4

No stranger to genre film, Fassbender's career skyrocketed after starring as one of the most memorable characters in Zack Snyder's 300 and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, later becoming the fan-favorite mutant Magneto in X-Men: First Class and scene-stealing android in Prometheus.

While not a gamer, Fassbender did voice one of the main characters in the Xbox 360 game Fable III. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag hits store shelves at the end of the month, representing the sixth core installment in the annualized series. If the film follows the story of the first game, the potential for a long-running franchise is there should Fassbender be on-board long-term.

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Assassin’s Creed releases in theaters on June 19, 2015.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Source: The Daily Beast