Hideo Kojima says he turned down offers to make a big-budget Death Stranding movie with explosions

Hideo Kojima says he deliberately chose not to make the Death Stranding movie a big-budget affair, despite getting offers to make it one.

Kojima and Civil director Alex Garland recently had a discussion with Famitsu (as spotted by Automaton), and the topic of the upcoming Death Stranding movie was brought up.

It was announced last December that Kojima was working with A24 – the film distribution and production company behind movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Talk to Me, Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Lady Bird and Moonlight – to make a live-action Death Stranding film.

Kojima told Famitsu that he chose to work with A24 because he didn’t want to make an expensive blockbuster action movie.

“I have no intention of directing it myself, so I am involved with the producer in terms of the plot, etc,” Kojima explained.

“The other film companies that had approached me had mostly offered to make it with a big budget and lots of explosions’, but I didn’t want that. I want to make a slightly different kind of film with A24.”

Kojima also joked that because his birthday is August 24, it made sense to team up with A24, and that he hoped the success of Garland’s recent film Civil War – which was also distributed by A24 – wouldn’t affect the scale of the Death Stranding film.

“Alex made Civil War a big hit, so I feel that A24 is raising the budget for Death Stranding and making it a big production, so I’m trying to figure out how to keep the budget down,” he joked.

Shortly after announcing Death Stranding 2 last December, Kojima confirmed that a Death Stranding film was in development, saying he was “aiming for a more arthouse approach”.

“A24 was born into this world about 10 years ago, their presence is singular within the industry, they are like no other,” Kojima said at the time. “The films they are delivering to the world are high in quality and very innovative.

“There are a lot of ‘game adaptation films’ out there but what we are creating is not just a direct translation of the game,” Kojima continued. “The intention is that our audience will not only be fans of the games, but our film will be for anyone who loves cinema.

“We are creating a ‘Death Stranding’ universe that has never been seen before, achievable only through the medium of film, it will be born.”