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The Jurassic World franchise’s Derek Connolly has been tapped to write Eternal Champions, a live-action feature adaptation of the Sega video game for Skydance, Deadline can confirm.
David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger will produce for Skydance, alongside Toru Nakahara for Sega. Rob Ree will exec produce, with Aimee Rivera overseeing the project for Skydance.
A fighting game first released in 1993, Eternal Champions is set in a dystopian future where nine fighters from different time periods and backgrounds are resurrected by an enigmatic entity known as the Eternal Champion. The game’s premise revolves around a tournament where only one fighter can win the chance to change their fate and prevent their untimely death.
Despite facing tough competition from giants like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, Eternal Champions developed a cult following that led to the 1995 release of sequel Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, as well as spin-off games Chicago Syndicate and X-Perts. Although the series did not continue beyond the 16-bit era, it remains a memorable part of Sega’s legacy in the fighting game genre.
Perhaps best known for his work on the Jurassic World films, Connolly’s other writing credits include Kong: Skull Island, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Additionally, he wrote and produced the offbeat dramedy Safety Not Guaranteed, marking the breakout project of the Jurassic World franchise’s Colin Trevorrow, earning both an Indie Spirit Award and Sundance’s Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for his work.
Most recently, Connolly has been tapped to work on Sony’s The Legend of Zelda, based on the classic Nintendo game, as well as Paramount’s Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie to star Chris Hemsworth. News of the Eternal Champions movie was first reported by THR.
