'Myst' Film, TV Universe in Development at Village Roadshow
A film and television universe based on the adventure game "Myst" is in the works.
Village Roadshow Entertainment Group has acquired the rights to the classic game and will mine its deep mythology to develop scripted and unscripted projects, in partnership with "Myst" co-creators and brothers Rand and Robyn Miller
The game, which was first release in 1993, challenges players to solve puzzles which allow them to travel to other worlds. Players explore the island of Myst and follows clues to "linking books" that lead to several "Ages," each of which is a self-contained mini-world.
The game was somewhat unusual in that there were no clear objectives or backstory, no obvious enemies, no physical violence, no time limit to complete the game, and no threat of dying at any point.
"Myst" was the best-selling PC game for many years, until The Sims exceeded its sales in 2002. The franchise has included nearly 10 titles which have cumulatively sold more than 15 million copies.
Many content creators — production houses, studios, networks, or streaming services — are hunting for expansive intellectual property they can turn into film/TV universes. Amazon notably spent $1 billion for the rights to the "Lord of the Rings," while Netflix has recently purchased rights to "Magic: The Gathering" and "Chronicles of Narnia."