Night City is getting a live-action film. Paramount is developing a movie set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing alongside CD Projekt Red. Di Bonaventura is best known for steering the Transformers franchise. CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio that owns the property, is producing as well.
Not much else is confirmed. There’s no writer, director or cast, and no release window. It also isn’t clear whether the film will adapt the 2020 game’s story or tell something new in the same setting. Netflix’s anime series Edgerunners took the second approach and became one of the best-received game adaptations in recent years.
That question matters because the game’s plot is hard to compress. Players control V, a mercenary carrying a stolen biochip that holds the digital consciousness of Johnny Silverhand, a rockstar turned terrorist played by Keanu Reeves. As Silverhand gradually takes over V’s mind, the two try to separate while fighting Arasaka, the megacorporation that effectively runs the city. A film version would have to deal with Reeves’s absence or bring him back, and fans will push for him either way. The Phantom Liberty expansion, which added Idris Elba, offers a more self-contained spy thriller that might work better as a standalone film.
The turnaround behind this deal is a big part of the story. Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December 2020 after several delays and was in rough shape, especially on older consoles. Years of patches, the Edgerunners boost and Phantom Liberty helped it recover. The game has now sold more than 40 million copies, and the expansion has sold 15 million. A franchise that was once a cautionary tale is now valuable enough for a studio to want it on film.
There is one loose end. In October 2023, CD Projekt Red announced a live-action project with Anonymous Content that was still looking for a screenwriter. No one has explained whether that effort became the Paramount film or quietly ended.
Paramount clearly wants more game adaptations. Its Street Fighter film with Legendary opens on 16 October, and a Call of Duty movie from Peter Berg and Taylor Sheridan is set for 2028. Cyberpunk would give the studio something aimed at adults, unlike the family audiences that Mario and Minecraft drew. Xbox is also pushing into film and TV, and ARC Raiders and The Finals have adaptations in development, so competition for game-based films is growing.
CD Projekt Red is working on the next Cyberpunk game too, though it is expected to arrive after The Witcher 4, likely toward the end of the decade. If the film’s timing lines up with that release, it could help launch the sequel.
