Fortnite movie reports are “false”, says Epic boss

Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has snuffed out reports that a Fortnite movie is the “next” video game to get a silver screen adaptation.

Sweeney was responding to a tweet from movie industry insider Daniel “DanielRPK” Richtman, who’d suggested in a since-deleted post that whilst some studios had already “passed” on a Fortnite movie, the recent success of game-to-film adaptations like A Minecraft Movie and Super Mario Bros. Movie meant a Fortnite movie was likely to be “next”.

“You just know Fortnite is next,” Richtman wrote in the deleted tweet. “There was already talk of a Fortnite movie, but some studios passed on it. That’s obviously gonna change now.”

Sweeney shot down the speculation with a succinct “False”.

Despite trying to clarify which specific part of the statement was incorrect, at the time of writing, Sweeney has yet to respond to Richtman’s follow-up tweet (thanks, TheGamer).

Sweeney wouldn’t be blamed for considering it, though; earlier today, we reported that A Minecraft Movie has generated $301m worldwide – that’s £233m – on its opening weekend. That’s the biggest US domestic debut of any video game movie adaptation ever, with an opening weekend of $157m (£121.5m).

Fortnite recently returned to the world of The Walking Dead by offering up a cache of assets for players and developers to go build themed mini-games with.

Whilst characters from The Walking Dead TV show such as Rick, Michonne and Daryl have previously popped up in Fortnite as player skins, this latest crossover with Robert Kirkman’s zombie franchise will add antihero Negan, as well as his infamous baseball bat, Lucille. A selection of comic book-inspired walkers (zombies) will also be included.