Stray Is Getting a Movie Adaptation

BlueTwelve Studio’s Stray game is being adapted into a movie, an announcement from the spearheading companies confirmed this week. The adaptation will be handled by Annapurna Animation, the arm of Annapurna that focuses on animated movies like this upcoming one similar to how Annapurna Interactive published Stray initially. The movie will be directed by Nick Bruno, the same director who helmed Nimona which released on Netflix earlier in the year. Beyond Stray, Annapurna has also expressed interest in adapting more stories from its games. and for those who have any knowledge of what Annapurna has worked on, you’ll know the company has no shortage of those to work with.

Aside from Bruno returning to direct the Stray adaptation, we know from a press release that Julie Zackary from Blue Sky Animation Studios who served as a producer on Nimona will be working on the movie, too. Zackary will be the head of animation production at Annapurna Animation. 

No release date for the Stray movie nor any other details about whether it’ll follow the story of the game exactly or will strike out on its own have been revealed at this time.

What Is Stray?

Stray made quite the splash when it released with many people eagerly awaiting the game even prior to its launch as Stray topped wishlists. It came out last year and was initially only available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC platform before coming to Xbox later, and aside from already being popular on Steam, the game got a huge bump for its PlayStation launch by being a day one release for many PlayStation Plus subscribers which was a rarity for games compared to how Xbox handles lots of those releases with Xbox Game Pass.

The game itself is about a cat who lives in a dystopian world populated by robots. Players control the cat and must navigate the city while solving puzzles and dealing with combat scenarios and also doing just normal cat things like swatting odds and ends around. It’s hovering right around n 83 on Metacritic regardless of the platform you’re looking at, and from that as well as the general positivity towards the game from its community, it’s easy to see why it’d be picked for an adaptation.

“Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed, neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited by curious droids and dangerous creatures,” a preview of the game explained. 

You can find out more about Stray from our review of the game here.

Other  Annapurna Projects

So, if Annapurna is interested in adapting some of its other projects, what might those look like? While Annapurna is developing a Blade Runner game called Blade Runner 2023: Labyrinth, it seems more likely that the company would look to its published games for inspiration. Annapurna Interactive is known for games like What Remains of Edith Finch, Flower, Journey, Outer Wilds, Last Stop, and Twelve Minutes, to name a few.