Epic Games, the developer of the wildly popular battle royale game Fortnite, is funding a CG-animated Gilgamesh movie.
Based on the Mesopotamian hero and funded by Epic’s $100M MegaGrants, the film is being developed with Epic's Unreal Engine by Hook Up, DuermeVela and FilmSharks, with Tomas Lipgot signed on to direct. According to Deadline, Gilgamesh will explore the character's "quest for immortality and his rivalry then friendship with wild man Enkidu."
"It’s an honour to see Epic Games supporting Gilgamesh through the Epic MegaGrants program," FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud said. "Although animation has done an excellent job of entertaining through comedy and colorful creatures, there is also a huge appetite and opportunity to share cultural stories and tell larger-than-life mythical tales."
Epic is the developer of not only Fortnite but Gears of War, Infinity Blade and Extreme Pinball. Outside of Fortnite, the company's biggest claim to fame is Unreal, the 1998 first-person shooter that brought the aforementioned Unreal Engine into the world of video games. Since then, the engine has been used in such games as BioShock, Rune, Deus Ex, the Batman: Arkham trilogy and Arkham Origins, Borderlands and many, many more. It's also been used in the production of The Lion King (2019), The Mandalorian and Westworld.
Source: Deadline