Sydney Sweeney to Star in ‘Split Fiction’ Movie

Preview:

• Sydney Sweeney is aboard to star in ‘Split Fiction.’
• ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu will handle the game adaptation.
• The duo is currently looking for a distributor for the project.

There are, it appears, two things that Hollywood just can’t get enough of for its project: video game source material and Sydney Sweeney in a lead role.

In the cinematic equivalent of “two great tastes that taste great together,” Sweeney is already on board for a film based on arcade and console classic ‘OutRun’ that also happens to have Michael Bay attached as its potential director.

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Based on the SEGA arcade driving game where the player must avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations before time runs out. Plot TBA. Read the Plot

Yet that’s clearly not enough for the actor, who is also now part of a package that has companies ready to open their wallets to score it: Variety reports that Sweeney’s on for an adaptation of Hazelight Studios and Electronic Arts’ ‘Split Fiction,’ with red-hot ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu also involved.

According to Variety, the package also includes script work from ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ duo Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese that already has big bids under way from companies such as Sony and Amazon MGM (which Deadline reports appears to be closer to a deal).

Related Article: Sydney Sweeney and Michael Bay to Make a Movie Based on Sega’s ‘OutRun’

What’s the story of ‘Split Fiction’?

‘Split Fiction’. Photo: Amazon.

‘Split Fiction’ blends fantasy and science fiction, following a pair of authors, Mio and Zoe, who become trapped in the worlds they wrote.

Written by director and Hazelight studio chief Josef Fares and Sebastian Johansson, the title is a co-op adventure game that features gameplay mechanics involving split-screen combat, platforming challenges and differing abilities for each character.

The game has been a rising star of the industry since its release in March. game quickly became a hit with players and critics alike, receiving positive reviews and massive sales. According to Hazelight, the game sold more than two million copies in the first week following its launch, and that number continues to rise at a rapid pace.

Any new movie will be produced by Mike Goldberg and Dmitri M. Johnson’s Story Kitchen (formerly dj2 Entertainment), Chu’s Electric Somewhere. Sweeney is set to be an executive producer.

What else is Sydney Sweeney working on?

Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.

Sweeney’s current schedule is as packed as anyone’s in Hollywood.

Her rise really kicked into high gear with  ‘Anyone But You’ opposite fellow star Glen Powell and Neon horror thriller ‘Immaculate.’

She followed those up with one that she might wish to vanish from her resume, misfiring Spider-Man spin-off ‘Madame Web.’

The actor also filmed the Ron Howard-directed thriller ‘Eden’ about a society of people who opt to start a new life in the Galapagos islands, only for things to wrong. That one should be in theaters this year.

She has shot the Lionsgate adaptation of the novel ‘The Housemaid,’ which has Paul Feig in the director’s chair, and has worked on two other movies, ‘Echo Valley’ about a woman (played by Julianne Moore) whose life is turned upside down when her daughter (Sweeney) shows up covered in someone else’s blood, and a biopic of real-life boxer Christy Martin, with Sweeney in the lead role (not to mention it’s another movie she produced).

Still to come is a starring role in Colman Domingo’s film ‘Scandalous!,’ which will see her playing Kim Novak in the story of the actor’s controversial relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. (played by ‘Alien: Romulus’David Jonsson).

And that list doesn’t even include the potential movies to which she is attached: that list includes a remake of sci-fi comedy ‘Barbarella,’ thriller ‘The Caretaker’ and a drama called ‘The Registration.’

More recently, she was linked to the attempt to make a live-action ‘Gundam’ movie.

Finally, we have HBO series ‘Euphoria,’ whose much-delayed third season which has at least been shot for a 2026 release.

What else does Jon M. Chu have going on?

‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu.

Right now, Chu is deep into the editing and fine-tuning process for ‘Wicked: For Good,’ the second film about the witches of Oz that serves as a prequel to what happens in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’

‘Wicked,’ based on both the stage musical and the Gregory Maguire novel it itself is sourced from, became one of the biggest box office hits of last year, with more than $755 million at the box office and two Oscars in its trophy cabinet.

‘For Good’ will be with us on November 21st.

Beyond that, Chu is also a man in demand. He’s the director attached to an animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss tome ‘Oh! The Places You’ll Go!’ which has quite the team behind it –– J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot team are aboard to co-produce, and the movie will boast song by no less a duo than ‘La La Land’ and ‘The Greatest Showman’ EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Jon M. Chu accepts the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 5, 2025, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘Oh! The Places You’ll Go!,’ written in the author’s usual rhyming form, begins with the narrator, relating the decision of the unnamed protagonist (who represents the reader) to leave town.

The protagonist travels through several geometrical and polychromatic landscapes and places, eventually encountering a place simply called “The Waiting Place,” which is ominously addressed as being a place where everyone is always waiting for something to happen.

As the protagonist continues to explore, spurred on by the thoughts of places he will visit and things he will discover, the book cheerfully concludes with an open ending.

And then there’s the new TV version of ‘Swiss Family Robinson,’ which he’s aboard as director and producer, and the small screen spin-off of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ that now appears to be the way that story will continue after Chu’s successful 2018 movie.

When will ‘Split Fiction’ arrive on screens?

Without a studio home in place yet, it’s far too early to tell when this might get anywhere near theaters or any other screen.

Sweeney, as we note above, has a variety of projects on the go, and Chu will be in ‘Wicked’ world at least until November when the second movie is released.

Sydney Sweeney talks ‘Immaculate.’

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