Kojima Productions And Line Mileage Are Prepping A ‘Death Stranding’ Adult Animated Feature

A new adult animated feature film set in the universe of Hideo Kojima’s video game, Death Stranding, is currently in active development.

The announcement was made by Kojima Productions and Los Angeles-based Line Mileage, the latter of which is a young production company focused on adult animation and headed by partners Jacob Robinson (Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft), Daniel Dominguez (Seis Manos), and Brad Graeber (Castlevania).

The producers describe the Death Stranding feature as being in the spirit of other recent projects like the upcoming John Wick animated prequel and Hulu’s Predator: Killer of Killers, which we just covered. Per the release, the film will “chart a bold, original story within the surreal and emotionally resonant world Hideo Kojima created.”

Newly attached to the project as scriptwriter is Aaron Guzikowski (Raised by Wolves, Prisoners). He was brought aboard for his strength of “blending philosophical depth with gripping genre craft,” which is “a natural fit for the rich, haunting world of Death Stranding.”

“I love the world of Death Stranding, it’s so creatively freeing, so beautifully dark and yet hopeful,” Guzikowski said in a statement. “I’m so excited and honored that Hideo Kojima, whose work I’ve long admired, has invited me to dwell within his creation, to birth new stories into this fertile, mind-bending universe. Drawing and animation have always been near and dear to my heart, so to finally get to play in this space is a dream come true.”

The game, released in 2019, is set in an apocalyptic United States (different from the current apocalyptic U.S.) where a cataclysmic event known as the “Death Stranding” has caused a human-eating breed of creatures to roam the Earth and the remaining human population to find refuge in remote colonies. The game featured performances from Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo Del Toro, and Margaret Qualley.

A sequel game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, is due for release later this year, while a separate live-action feature adaptation is also in the works.

“As an avid gamer I can say, unequivocally, Death Stranding is the most cinematic, thought-provoking video game I have ever played,” Line Mileage’s Daniel Dominguez said. “Playing it gave me the same emotional rush, visceral punch, and intellectual pleasure I had the first time I watched Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell. Adapting it into a form it so naturally evokes is an honor. And for Aaron Guzikowski to lend his talents, whose authorial mind and creative energy humble me… needless to say, this project is a dream come true.”