Roblox Games ‘Grow a Garden, ‘Jailbreak’ Clinch Movie Deals
Roblox Corp.’s viral video game Grow A Garden is headed for movie theaters, the second title from the fast-growing online service to become part of a motion-picture deal in the past few weeks.
Story Kitchen, a producer known for work on adaptations like Tomb Raider, has signed an agreement with New Zealand’s Splitting Point Studios to make a film based on the game. The deal was reported earlier by the website Deadline.
Grow a Garden, which came out in March and at one point had 22.3 million concurrent players, is the kind of property film executives should love: a recognizable name with a built-in fan base.
Except Grow A Garden doesn’t have an original story or relatable characters. Roblox’s 150 million daily active users are primarily drawn to its wonky and sometimes addictive video-game activities — like growing carrots, selling them, purchasing expensive seeds and then proceeding to plant more expensive crops.
Story Kitchen envisions a plot involving city kids stumbling onto a portal to Grow A Garden’s vibrant universe. They embark on a crazy journey before returning to the real world.
Grow a Garden “was the game we felt we could do in a way that could be impactful and emotional and take us on an adventure while honoring the game itself,” Dmitri Johnson, co-founder of Story Kitchen, said in an interview. “If we do our job right, this will be a family story and gets people to go outside.”
The agreement follows a similar agreement last month by Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, a Vancouver production company, to base a film on Jailbreak, a cops and robbers Roblox game made by Badimo.
The movie will use the game’s mechanics as a suggestion for the plot, according to Catherine Winder, Wind Sun Sky’s chief executive officer. It will encompass “action, comedy and heart-driven storytelling,” she said.
Roblox doesn’t develop games itself. It provides tools for others to build titles. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment about its role in the movie projects.
Winder sees more games turning into movies.
“Roblox is where today’s audiences already are, and it’s shaping the future of global entertainment,” said Winder, who added that she already has “other properties in the works.”
While Grow A Garden isn’t known for its plot, the game does have quirky features that could find their way into a film. Splitting Point founder Janzen Madsen, who goes by the online name “Jandel,” sometimes goes into the game to create wild weather patterns or give players special seeds — a practice the game’s community calls “admin abuse.”
“A little touch of Jandel Admin Abuse would be fun,” Madsen said.