Story Kitchen reels in Dredge for live action movie adaptation

Dredge, the lovecraftian indie darling from New Zealand studio Black Salt Games, is being adapted into a live action motion picture.

Variety reports that Black Salt has partnered with production company Story Kitchen to create the movie, which is being pitched as "The Sixth Sense on the water."

The production's official logline states the movie will be a "grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway."

"We are excited to partner with such an experienced studio team to bring the world we created to live action and ignite the imagination of audiences across the globe," said Black Salt Games in a statement sent to Variety.

Story Kitchen's founding members have previously worked on notable video game adaptations including both Sonic The Hedgehog flicks. They were also involved with some as-yet unreleased projects including adaptations of Tomb Raider, Disco Elysium, and It Takes Two.

The production company said Dredge's "captivatingly eerie and profoundly rich story" attracted them to the project.

Dredge launched in March 2023 and eventually went on to sell over 1 million copies in around six months. Black Salt said the title had completely obliterated its internal expectations, with the studio initially expecting to maybe sell 100,000 copies in one year.

Game adaptations are in vogue right now, with major players and smaller studios all looking to make the trip to Hollywood or captivate new audiences on streaming networks and television screens.

Sonic the Hedgehog, The Last of Us, Super Mario Bros. and Fallout are some of the biggest names to have made the transmedia leap in recent years, and others including Dead by Daylight, Death Stranding, Stray, and Until Dawn are all preparing to make a similar jump.