Assassin's Creed Movie and its Importance

Leading up to the announcement and release of the Assassin’s Creed Movie (2016), fans were eager to see a film adaptation of the franchise, and hoped to follow an original storyline in a unique historical setting. The movie, created by 20th Century Fox and New Regency, did exactly that. It excited fans of gaming who enjoyed seeing popular games adapted to the big screen. This strategy used widely by film companies who tried to expand the universe of several major video game franchises, worked at times, and at other times, did not quite as well live up to fan and critical expectations. The Assassin’s Creed Movie was an exciting project for the franchise as the year of its release, 2016, was set to be a quiet one for the series in terms of mainline games. Ubisoft committed to taking the year off of making a new game in the series for the first time in many years. Ubisoft instead put their focus on the movie along with the Ezio Collection, which was a remaster of the three beloved games in the series featuring fan-favorite protagonist Ezio Auditore. Overall, it was considered a quiet year, but there was still much to look forward to for any Assassin’s Creed fan.

The movie boasted a serious star studded cast, with big names such as Michael Fassbender in the leading role, popular actress Marion Cotillard, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, and other big names that signed on the project. The cast certainly did not disappoint, and the film also hired Justin Kurzel to direct who was best known for directing the Shakespearian play remake Macbeth, ironically also starring Fassbender and Cotillard (2015). The cast and crew was well crafted by the producers and creative team. It made the movie so much more convincing with a cast full of stars.

The story follows the journey of Spanish Assassin, Aguilar de Nerha, played by Michael Fassbender, and his life during the Spanish Inquisition and the Granada War. The plot of the film mirrored the modern day part of the story of Callum Lynch, also played by Fassbender. It told the story of the everlasting war between Assassins and Templars and their fight for freedom. This time fans got to experience a project in the series based on historical Spain, an era never touched upon by the games. The story of the film showed Callum, or Cal for short, synchronizing with his ancestor, Aguilar, and the journey he follows to transform himself from criminal misfit to a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. 

The movie released on December 21, 2016 and went on to gross $22 million in its first six days at the box office. The film ended up not living up to financial expectations, but there’s no doubt the film itself was quite selective and had a more complex following. It went on to gross a total of $240.9 million in its full theatrical run. The film also experienced mostly negative critical feedback, but on some sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, it has a significantly higher fan score than critical, suggesting most fans who watched were satisfied in the end. Since the film’s release, it has gone through several streaming services and most notably recently became the number one most watched movie on HBO Max for over a week and beyond. Sometimes films get overlooked during its initial release and eventually find their footing years later in the streaming category.

The idea of a movie based on Assassin’s Creed actually began in October of 2011. The film flipped through studios and development phases several times before Ubisoft Motion Pictures announced a year later that Michael Fassbender would be starring in the film. The film also flipped through directors and scriptwriters many times until they settled on Justin Kurzel taking over. After the film got its foundation started, it was initially planned to be the first film in a new series. After finalizing the cast and crew, filming began on August 31st, 2015. Pre-production was in full effect. There were several teases and hints as the film grew closer and the movie trailer was even revealed on TV during an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. The trailer was very popular during the show and later after being posted shortly after on YouTube where it gathered over 2 million views on just one channel, not counting the dozens of other official and fan pages who released the trailer too.

One thing that is a debate is the potential confusion of the story to casual fans who could be unaware of the games and what they are about. The movie was perceived as a bit tricky to understand mostly over the use of the Animus, which is a device used in the games that allows the modern day protagonist the ability to access their ancestors' genetic memories. The portrayal of the Animus in the movie was difficult to understand to more casual viewers. In the end, the movie was and is a big part of the Assassin’s Creed community. Many fans alike went on opening night to movie theaters to see it. It definitely holds a soft spot for fans of the series and gamers in general, and really defined how much bigger Assassin’s Creed is than just a video game series. It's a worldwide media giant. The expansion Ubisoft took to the big screens was a bold move as it showed that the franchise was so much bigger than some fans may realize. It extends deeply into entertainment in general.

The movie originally had a sequel announced by 20th Century Fox, but after the Disney acquisition that took over all of 20th Century’s properties, Disney went ahead and canceled the sequel shortly after purchasing Fox, leaving some fans disappointed as the ending to the movie left the door open for potential sequels. This was news to fans thinking the Assassin’s Creed franchise was all but dead in anything aside from gaming, until Ubisoft announced a partnership with Netflix in 2020 to develop a variety of projects based in the Assassin’s Creed universe. Including a live-action TV series and an animated show. This announcement proved Ubisoft was able to bounce back after missteps before and after the Assassin’s Creed Movie. The Netflix show is still in active development, and fans are looking forward to seeing what Ubisoft can bring to the small screen.

The mixed reception of the Assassin’s Creed Movie was a continued chain in the overall bad luck of video games adapted into films. This became so prevalent in the movie industry that most expected every new adaptation to fail, that was until an idea shifted to instead of adapting games to a film each time, instead try adapting into a television series, and this worked perfectly. Many major games have since been adapted to television formats such as The Witcher on Netflix, The Last of Us on HBO, Twisted Metal on Peacock, and others that strayed from the cinema path to instead try the small screen, and the continued success of this idea has only ballooned. Many other video games are set to get the TV treatment aside from Assassin’s Creed partnership with Netflix. The infamous failures of video game movies changed the way the industry thinks and has so far hit the jackpot with TV shows.

The Assassin’s Creed Movie is beloved by many fans of the series, and memories shared outside of just the movie releasing itself are important as well. There were countless memories made in anticipation of the film that brought the community closer and of course its surprise success all these years later on streaming platforms. Whether the film was a critical or financial success or not, it created golden memories for the community and all those involved. The impact of the movie is more important than the box office. The time leading up to the movie was one of the best times to be an Assassin’s Creed fan, and regardless of its impression, it was a great experience for the community and the fans.