Released on September 20, 2019, Untitled Goose Game is a puzzle stealth video game from developer House House that took the industry by storm. Loosely inspired by the Hitman series, in the game the players control a mischievous goose, who bothers the inhabitants of a quaint English village; as said goose, they honk and flap their way through a series of trouble-inducing objectives (such a throwing a rake in a lake). Praised by critics and fans alike for its charm and creativity (Game Informer aptly commented “pranking people is fun, and doing it as a goose just adds to the thrill”), Untitled Goose Game was a massive success as far as indie titles go, selling around a million copies in just under three months.
Indeed, ever since the game was released, fans have been clamoring for more opportunities to watch that boisterous bird wreak havoc. On September 23, 2020 (roughly a year after the game’s initial release), a co-operative multiplayer mode was released, allowing a pair of players to revel in the gooses’ annoying antics together. But what if more than two players could share this joy at the same time? What if one hundred could watch it simultaneously, or however many fit inside a movie theatre at once? In other words, what if there was an Untitled Goose Movie?
There has recently been a renaissance of videogame-movie adaptations. The relative success of Detective Pikachu (2019), Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), and Tomb Raider (2018), as well as the upcoming releases of Universal’s animated Mario film and Sony’s Uncharted prequel (starring Tom Holland), illustrates that if there ever was a time to bring a game to the silver screen, it’s now. Moreover, the majority of these films received only middling reviews, with critics often disparaging how the adaptations don’t accurately translate the characters from videogame to movie. Why? Because often the videogame personalities have had decades of characterization built into them, only for the film to throw it all away under the guise of ‘medium specificity’ (i.e., what’s worked for videogames won’t work for films). Untitled Goose Game doesn’t have this problem; it’s new, it’s fresh, it’s popular, and it’s practically beginning to be adapted.
And who better to helm the adaptation than Pixar? The Disney-owned animation studio has been pumping out charming and visually-arresting titles since being founded in 1979, often starring personable animals. From the marine magnificence of Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2019) to the rodent-rich Ratatouille (2007), to the upcoming Turning Red (2022) which centers around a girl who transforms into a red panda when embarrassed, Pixar has an impressive catalogue of animal-centric movies, more than equipping them to translate the charming art style of Untitled Goose Game into film form. Who knows how beautiful they can make the scene where the goose throws a rake in the lake?
Of course, some may argue that the tone and general vibe of the game is rather antithetical to Pixar’s usual output – their protagonists are normally plucky and optimistic individuals (like Wall-E or Remy the Rat), not psychopathic geese that emotionally terrorize a neighborhood hamlet. Equally, however, this film may be a step towards garnering a new audience for Disney: those older than the age of eight.
At their shareholder meeting in December 2020, Disney revealed a new effort to entice older audiences: the ‘Star’ extension of Disney Plus. Launching on Feb 23 2021, Star will be a new area on the flagship streaming service that features ‘adult’ programming, touching on the crime, horror, drama, and romance genres. And, most notably, the area will be subject to parental controls and PIN-protection (i.e., toddlers won’t accidentally watch The Handmaid’s Tale by mistake). This new venture by Disney is being widely seen as an effort to attract new audience demographics to the platform, which has thus far been dominated by families, as a way to further gain subscribers from competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime. If Disney Plus is going to maintain its growth, it needs a way to bring in older viewers to its streaming service.
And what better way to draw them in than with the first-ever adult Pixar animation, centered around an established and popular videogame? Adult fans of that game could log on to Disney Plus, enter Star, and watch how the goose steals a watering can from a geriatric gardener, all in crisp animation offered by Pixar; the idea practically sells itself. Untitled Goose Movie would be a new creative foray by the entertainment company, but one backed-up by economic logic and a proven track-record from a hugely beloved game. Although the idea is admittedly a long-shot (Pixar are reticent to even make sequels/spin-offs of their own feature films, let alone make a whole movie based around a pre-established property), the end result could be a massive boon for both Disney and fans; Pixar should totally make an Untitled Goose Game movie.