Video game film adaptations are coming thick and fast at the moment, but Monkey Island's creator Ron Gilbert has stated during a recent panel at Devcom that he isn't necessarily convinced the game would translate well into a movie (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz and spotted by Eurogamer).
The panel, called "Beneath The Return of Monkey Island: Q&A with LeCrew", covered the development of the most recent release in the Monkey Island series (excluding the Sea of Thieves expansion The Legend of Monkey Island which was released last month). During the talk, Gilbert and the rest of the game's creators discussed how that game came together before a fan asked them during a Q&A whether there were ever any real attempts to try and adapt Monkey Island into a live-action or animated movie.
Gilbert responded, "I know there was a movie [project] after I left that they started to do but I don't know what happened and why it was cancelled."
Gilbert, we have to assume, is talking about the animated project that was in development at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) in the late 90s to early 2000s (which the author of this article previously dug into back in February 2021 in a feature for Polygon). This project didn't include input from the game's original developers, except for the writer and artist Steve Purcell, who just so happened to be working at ILM at the time. While a bunch of work was done on the story for the film (including a storyboard and various scripts — some of which we've read), it was ultimately abandoned when ILM struggled to find outside financing.
At Devcom, Gilbert went on to discuss his worries about potential future adaptations, stating that he felt a film or TV show might not do the main character of Guybrush Threepwood justice.
Gilbert said, "I think he works well in an interactive medium where the player can identify through him, but I would worry if there was a Monkey Island cartoon or TV show that Guybrush would turn into too much of a buffoon. And he's not a buffoon at all."
He continues, "He's caused a lot of damage but he always has really good intentions. And I'm not convinced that would translate into a film well. That would kind of worry me."
What do you think? Would you like to see a Monkey Island movie or should it just be left alone? Let us know!