DJ2 Entertainment specializes in adaptations of video games for TV and film.
Legendary Television has signed a first-look deal with DJ2 Entertainment, which specializes in adapting video games for other media.
DJ2, founded by Dmitri M. Johnson, is among the producers of Sonic the Hedgehog, which scored the biggest opening weekend ever for a video game adaptation with its $70 million haul over the four-day Presidents Day weekend. The deal covers several projects in development at the production company.
“Legendary is an amazing partner whose team truly appreciates our diverse, global slate,” Johnson said Thursday in a statement. “Moreover, we believe that Legendary’s team is the ideal partnership for us to collectively become Hollywood’s best-in-class formula in the IP adaptation space while concurrently protecting our IP creator partners.”
Legendary and DJ2 are together developing projects from Ed Ricourt (Netflix’s Raising Dion), Thor Freudenthal (Amazon/Legendary’s Carnival Row), Matt Hastings (Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale) and Derek Kolstad (John Wick).
“DJ2 Entertainment shares our vision of adapting popular intellectual property into expansive worlds that captivate audiences,” said Legendary TV president Nick Pepper. “We are thrilled to work with them, as well as extremely talented writers and directors like Ed, Thor, Matt and Derek, on future projects and video game adaptations.”
DJ2 is repped by APA and Breechen Feldman.
Video games have a checkered history of being adapted to film and TV but are on a recent upswing with the theatrical success of Sonic; the forthcoming Halo series at Showtime, due in 2021; and HBO’s just-announced development of a series project based on the mega-selling franchise The Last of Us, with Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and the game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, attached.
Legendary TV’s roster includes Carnival Row, Netflix’s Lost in Space, HBO Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood and Amazon’s Paper Girls, based on Brian K. Vaughan’s graphic novel, and it is developing a series based on Frank Miller’s Sin City. The indie studio has overall deals with Vaughan, comics and TV writer Ed Brubaker (Westworld) and Elijah Wood, among others.
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