Alex Garland’s Elden Ring adaptation is on course to be Hollywood’s goriest ever fantasy movie

The forthcoming film adaptation of the video game Elden Ring is reportedly the most expensive standalone project ever offered for sale at the American Film Market. The project has a reported budget of close to $200m, which is intended to fund the creation of the game's repulsive resident monstrosities.

Amazon MGM has reportedly snapped up streaming rights for the film across numerous international markets. The movie is already shot and in post-production, with a cast that includes Cailee Spaeny, Ben Whishaw, Nick Offerman, Sonoya Mizuno, Peter Serafinowicz and Jonathan Pryce.

Elden Ring has sold more than 30m copies and is widely regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made. The game's foundational mythology was written by George RR Martin, who created the backstory of warring demigods that underpins the fantasy hellscape.

The film is expected to be the goriest fantasy ever made, drawing on the source material's horror elements. The game features creatures with writhing worms for faces, enormous bodiless hand spiders, and mechanical iron maidens that hurtle towards players on wheels, swinging enormous blades.

Leaked images suggest a Leyndell, the world's capital, populated by living people and hint at the execution of a hideous character known as the Dung Eater. This suggests some sort of prequel might be in play, as the game's world is one where almost everyone is dead and survivors are coping by eating their lovers' corpses.

Garland has a record of denying audiences conventional Hollywood-style reassurance. In his previous films, he brought a married couple back together while leaving viewers wondering whether either remained human, let a gorgeous AI escape and left her would-be rescuer locked up to die, and overthrew a tyrant but made the victory photograph look like evidence for a future war crimes tribunal.

The uncertainty is whether Garland will get the same creative freedom with a film costing close to $200m. The film is expected to be released in 2026, and prospective purchasers need to be aware that they are unlikely to be buying the 2026 equivalent of a return to the Shire from The Lord of the Rings.