After MGM’s planned movie adaptation fell apart last year, Variety is reporting that Russia’s Gazprom Media have picked up the rights to Dmitry Glukhovsky’s cult sci-fi novel Metro 2033, with plans to shoot a feature film next year for release in on New Year’s Day 2022.
“’Metro 2033’ is my first novel. It played a very special role in my life, and, despite getting numerous offers to [adapt it for the screen], I turned them all down for over 10 years,” said Glukhovsky. “In Russia, I didn’t see any producers who could make a good [screen adaptation of] this book. It just seemed impossible. But now I finally met a team that I can entrust Metro with. Our ambitions turned out to be similar: to create a world-class blockbuster and stun even those who have read the trilogy and know it by heart. So as not to disappoint them, I am ready to become a creative producer of the movie and help create it with both my advice and action.”
“The book by this Russian author has become known throughout the world, and it is embedded in the cultural code of sci-fi fans and gamers all over the planet,” added producer Valery Fedorovich. “For us and Gazprom Media Holding, this is a dream project, the most ambitious and large-scale film that we have ever launched. We intend to invest an unprecedented sum … in the production and promotion of this movie both in Russia and abroad.”
Metro 2033 takes place in Moscow’s Metro system following a nuclear war, where survivors of the global apocalypse seek refuge and eventually form various factions which find themselves in conflict with one another. It spawned a host of novels from various authors set within its extended world, along with a hit video game series.