*This movie has not been rated.
Today we’re proud to announce the Heavenly Sword feature film. This is a CG animated film based on the game that originally launched in 2007. The Heavenly Sword film is slated to be released digitally worldwide, as well as theatrically in select global markets, in Spring 2014. The film stars Anna Torv, Alfred Molina, and Thomas Jane.
Heavenly Sword is a dramatic tale of revenge that sees Nariko (Anna Torv), a fiery red-haired heroine, embark on a quest of vengeance against the invading King Bohan (Alfred Molina) and his army. Once considered the failure of a legendary prophecy, Nariko must wield a sword that was ultimately meant for another. This ancient Heavenly Sword, once belonging to a powerful deity, can never be wielded by a mortal without slowly and inevitably killing them. For Nariko, it’s a race against time to avenge her clan before her life is irreparably overtaken by the omnipotent Heavenly Sword.
I think it’s important to understand where Heavenly Sword stands for us, as many of you know Blockade Entertainment from our Ratchet & Clank movie announcement. In fact, Heavenly Sword came before Ratchet & Clank, and ultimately started everything for us. You see, we had an idea we presented to Sony a few years back. We asked them to allow us to use the existing game assets and development materials from a Sony game to make a movie. Sony could pick the franchise we would adapt, as we loved all of the franchises within PlayStation — how could we go wrong?
They chose Heavenly Sword.
We’re fortunate to work with the Heavenly Sword game franchise. Andy Serkis, along with Ninja Theory, had created an extensive library of material to access and use in the film. In addition, Anna Torv, while a relatively unknown actress when voicing the video game, has grown tremendously in popularity thanks to her role on Fringe.
Initial feedback on early cuts of the film encouraged Blockade, Sony, and the film’s financial partners to take the film to the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year with TriCoast WorldWide. The reaction to the film was very positive, with multiple buyers looking to release the film theatrically in their markets.
After a few exhausting years, working with a very small crew, the film is done and we can tell the world about it. We hope you enjoy it!
About my previous comment, forget what I said. Anna Torv is the original VA for Nariko. Now curious why they couldn’t get her back for PlayStation All-Stars. Another question I have is will the film be a re-telling of the game or is it an original story? I never played Heavenly Sword so I don’t know.
@Brad – OMG! Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash is playing Kai!?! :O
Huh. This is damn awesome. I loved the game, hope this sparks interest in a new one :)
PLEASE MAKE A HEAVENLY SWORD 2 SONY!
Btw Bohan is completely not the same without Serkis. :(
Monkey Peaches! Glad Anna is back. I welcome any new content from the IP.
Narikoooo!! :D
Definitely one of the most underrated PS3 games, and one of my favorite games on the PS3, especially story & character-wise! Looking forward to how the movie will turn out, even though it’s disappointing to see that Serkis won’t be in it…
Most of all, I really hope this means Sony is preparing Heavenly Sword 2 for the PS4 behind the scenes!!
Heavenly Sword was one of my favorite PS3 games and I’ve been hoping for HS2 for years now.
SONY – Please, please, please tell me that we’ll see a Heavenly Sword 2 on PS4!!!
Horrible CGI. looks worse than those Barbie movies.
This is cool and all but im just iffy on there being an actual person who can hold the sword.I just dont like the thought of nariko pushed into the background for some other person that was thrown just for the movie. Hopefully you prove me wrong.
I loved Heavenly Sword. I hope this movie is good, but what I REALLLLY want is Heavenly Sword 2.
Thank you so much!! I’m so excited to see features on two of my favorite Sony franchises.
Heavenly Sword was the reason I even bought a ps3 and Ratchet and Clank is truly one of my favorite gaming experiences. I hope if these do well it’ll mean movies for some more Sony properties.. It’d be awesome to see a god of war or inFamous movie later. For now I’d like to say thanks again, I’ve missed Nariko.
Please add trophies to Heavenly Sword so everyone can see how awesome this game is!
the lack of original voice actors and unnecessary plot “twist” makes me lose any interest in this project. and that’s ashame as this game is one that definitely deserves a sequel.
This was a underated fantastic game. I wished that it had more of an success. I really felt at the time they did a wonderful job with capturing facial animation with the mo-cap actors. I did want to see the sequel. I am happy that Sony hasn’t really abandoned this franchise. I will support this movie and hopefully a sequel to the first game comes out!
makes me want to go back and play HS. I always loved the Shorts they did for HS and felt it had the potential to be a great anime or film. This definitely looks great and has my full attention. Can’t wait to watch it. Great Work!
Sucks that Kai’s VA isn’t returning. She was perfect. D:
It better get its own Blu-Ray release too!! It’d be so wrong if it’s distributed digitally only! But if we do get a theatrical release domestically, I’d definitely go there first!
I bought the game thinking it would be really cool, but the gameplay just didn’t do it for me. Very odd and infuriating QTE segments, and the amount of screen-tearing and jagged edges in the game was ridiculous. I wanted to like it, I really did.
I really have no interest in the movie because of this and that’s a shame. I also don’t find Ninja Theory to be a capable developer outside of facial animation. They should stick to what they’re good at. The Unreal Engine is so overused it’s not funny.
Best of luck with the animated feature.
Fantastic news, can’t wait to see it. Now, we just need a confirmed sequel.
You know, I think a digital re-release of some of the titles in the first 2 years would be great. Valkyria Chronicles, Folklore, Heavenly Sword, R&C Crack in Time and Tools of Destruction and some others would benefit from the larger install base now.
I am going through Valkyria Chronicles again at the moment and would love for more people to get a chance at it.
As a gamer, it’s cool they went with this game.
On a business stand point, not so much, there’s only been 1 game of it. I don’t know if it’ll be popular enought.
Never played the game but…I know a lot about it…played the demo though…the game does have a good story but stiff gameplay.Looking forward to the movie..great job guys.
I’d heard a Heavenly Sword movie was in the works, but I’m stunned that it’s actually a done deal. Looks interesting!
Hopefully this spurs interest in the game again, and gets development teams talking about making a next-gen sequel on the PS4!