Volition's action-adventure open world Saints Row series gained a foothold in the mid-2000s and has not gone away since. Saints Row: The Third Remastered released in May, and some have speculated that one of the two AAA games announced to have been delayed by THQ Nordic's parent company Embracer Group was Saints Row 5, which is confirmed to be in development. However, the Saints Row movie appears to be coming along smoothly according to screenwriter Greg Russo.
A silver screen adaptation of the largely comedic Grand Theft Auto-styled series was announced in May 2019, and this February Russo said they want Saints Row to be the start of an "insane film franchise." At that time, all the screenwriter confirmed was that he had a "great writing session" with Director Felix Gary Gray, but yesterday Russo confirmed via Twitter that he is officially finished with the second revised draft of the script.
Not to be confused with Anthony and Joseph Russo, who have recently gained acclaim for their work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — particularly Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Greg Russo currently has his hand in a number of video game films. Notably, Russo is working on a Mortal Kombat movie that he hopes will look better and bloodier than cutscenes in NetherRealm Studios' modern games, as well as a reboot of the Resident Evil franchise and a movie based on Space Invaders.
The overarching story and presentation of Saints Row make it a series that seems fit to translate into a film more than others, but another big driving force behind the movie is Saints Row's popularity. Even SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk listed Saints Row 4 as one of his favorite games, right alongside other heavy-hitters such as BioShock and Half-Life 2.
That most recent entry in the mainline series of games, first released in 2013, has also been relevant as of late. THQ Nordic published Saints Row 4 on Switch earlier this year, helping to keep it in the limelight during the long wait for a fifth main title.
In the meantime, fans who are looking forward to the next game can also look forward to the movie. Russo provides no specific updates as to when production on the film itself will begin, and given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic it is hard to say when the entertainment industry as a whole will return to normal, but Saints Row has not been forgotten in the shuffle.
A Saints Row movie is currently in development.