In the last fifteen years the film industry has been inundated with video game adaptations. Though many were mediocre, others helped launch the career of today’s superstars, as was the case of 2001’s Angelina Jolie-starring TOMB RAIDER movie. Whenever adaptations are announced they’re always met with more than a little trepidation, but sometimes there comes along an idea that you can’t help but get excited about. Forbes has announced that Sly Cooper is set to make his silver screen bow in 2016. Queue excitement.

Sly Cooper, as his name suggests, is a cunning anthropomorphic thief and followed in the treasured franchises of the nineties, a worthy successor to the golden ages of CRASH BANDICOOT and SPYRO. Sly also sat nicely alongside his console contemporaries, JAK AND DAXTET and RATCHER AND CLANK. The Sly games were hailed for their invigorating story and setting and, for many, reinforced the core values of gaming. It was special, timeless and life-affirming.

The movie’s synopsis sounds suitably silly and would make for a decent enough game in its own right: “SLY COOPER is a kinetic and comedic heist film that tells the story of Sly Cooper, an orphaned raccoon thief, along with his childhood friends and partners in crime, Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo. In the film, Sly learns of his birth family’s secret legacy; that he comes from a long line of talented and international thieves. Endowed with this knowledge, Sly and his friends are catapulted into a global adventure as they race to reassemble pieces of an ancient book holding The Cooper Clan’s family secrets before it can fall into the hands of Clockwerk — an evil Russian metallic owl bent on ending the Cooper family line. From romantic Parisian backdrops to the lush mountains of China, gritty film noir meets bright, colourful graphic novels in this origin story of the world’s greatest thief-turned-hero.”

The film is being directed by Kevin Munroe (known for the fun 2007 TMNT film), and animated by Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment. This may well just herald the next-gen transition that Sly and his pals deserve. While assumptions are never wise, it may just be safe enough to assume to see everyone’s favourite tea-leaf raccoon on the PS4 sometime soon.

There’s also a RATCHET AND CLANK film in the works, under Sony’s watchful eye, set for a 2015 release.

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