Developer Monomi Park's Slime Rancher is one of Steam's highest-rated games and an enormous commercial success, having sold over six million copies since launching in early access in 2016. The game recently received a sequel, Slime Rancher 2, which launched in September 2022 and remains in early access: and now as first reported by Deadline it's getting a film adaptation.
Well, if you can turn Mario or Sonic into Hollywood blockbusters then why not the adventures of a Slime Rancher called Beatrix Lebeau? Monomi Park is partnering with Story Kitchen for the adaptation, which was specifically founded with videogames in mind: the senior talent includes John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, Sonic the Hedgehog producer Dmitri M. Johnson, and former APA agent Mike Goldberg. Story Kitchen's currently working on film and TV adaptations of games including Tomb Raider, Streets of Rage, Sifu, Splinter Cell and Toejam & Earl.
There are no details on the film including whether it will focus on Beatrix Lebeau, though as she's the lead character in both games you'd expect so, and there's a good foundation already in place with her story being setting out to find new opportunities away from Earth. Monomi Park co-founder Nick Popovich says simply, "Yes, I'm excited," and the reaction of fans is as enthusiastic as you'd expect: there's a huge amount of love for this game and world out there.
There's no release date for the film yet, so you'll need to check out the games for a slime fix in the meantime: and be warned that, as PCG's Chris Livingston recently found out with the sequel, they'll suck up your time the same way you suck up slime. With the sequel repeating the original's trick of blasting past sales expectations and sitting pretty on overwhelmingly positive reviews, there's clearly a lot more slime ranching to come.
