Fans of actress Jessica Chastain were elated when Ubisoft announced that the Hollywood star would be part of the cast of The Division movie. This film is based on the video game of the same name, which has become a major hit this year and the fastest-selling game ever yet for French video game company Ubisoft.
And even if video game movies have a history of not being very good, Jessica Chastain’s addition to The Division’s cast is certainly a boon, as Chastain is currently one of the most highly-regarded Hollywood actresses. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the 2011 period drama The Help, but arguably her best role to date was in 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty, a movie in which she played a CIA agent.
Jessica Chastain will act alongside fellow Hollywood star Jake Gyllenhaal, who’s well-known for starring in movies like End of Watch and Nightcrawler, and also in 2010’s ill-fated Prince of Persia movie. That film was based on another Ubisoft video game series, and wasn’t well-received by the critics, even though it is still the second-grossing video game movie to date.
The more recent Warcraft movie also proved that video game films don’t have to be “good” in order to be box office successes, and given how popular The Division video game has been, it is clear that the movie has a good chance of success, especially taking into account the top-notch Hollywood talent attached to it.
The Division is a pretty good video game, but will it work as a movie?
Let’s not forget too that Ubisoft will have creative control over The Division movie through its Ubisoft Motion Pictures studio, meaning this could be a faithful movie adaptation of the post-apocalyptic action game set in New York City.
The movie will have to deliver a compelling story and have great production values in order to succeed too, but the fact that big-name actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain are on board will undoubtedly help its case significantly. Ubisoft also signed top-notch talent for its upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie, including well-known stars like Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons and Michael Fassbender, and it will be interesting to see how well the first big Ubisoft Motion Pictures feature film does at the box office, as this could be an indicator of whether upcoming movies like The Division could triumph or not…
But still, it’s great news that an actress like Jessica Chastain has joined the movie’s cast, and it would surely be great for fans of The Division video game and those of Hollywood star Jessica Chastain if this movie adaption turned out to be a success when it hits the theatres in the future.
COPYRIGHT: Ubisoft Entertainment.