A viral poster for an alleged Castlevania live-action movie starring Johnny Depp has fan demand skyrocketing for a film adaptation of the iconic video game franchise.
Konami's series of gothic action fantasy games is a fan favorite. Gamers worldwide love its broody world, stellar lock-and-key action gameplay, and iconic cast of characters.
However, despite such a fanbase gathering around the Castlevania titles, the long-running franchise has never got the big-screen treatment.
Demands for a Castlevania Movie Rise
Fans are clamoring for a Castlevania movie after a viral poster for what seems to be a Johnny Depp-led adaptation of the classic video game franchise appeared online.
The alleged movie marketing appeared in several popular Facebook groups. It shows Johnny Depp as the franchise's take on Dracula, standing in front of the series' iconic Dracula's Castle.
The movie is fake, being either a clever Photoshop job or the work of a generative AI model, but that has not stopped fan demand for a film like this from reaching a fever pitch.
Some in the Castlevania fan community have long dreamed that a movie based on the games would eventually be made; however, the sentiment toward a potential film adaptation has not been all sunshine and rainbows.
A few Castlevania fans think Hollywood would "ruin" the series (via Reddit), especially since video game adaptations have not had the best track record over the years.
In 2005, Dimension Films and Crystal Sky Pictures started work on a Castlevania movie with Resident Evil filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson set to write and direct the project.
In the following years, work on the film slowly continued in the background. In 2007, Anderson passed off directing duties to Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard and Slender Man) after several years of budgetary back-and-forth and studio turmoil.
Active development on Castlevania was eventually halted in late 2007 with the looming Hollywood writers' strike (via Variety). It would be picked back up in 2009, with Saw director James Wan at the helm.
Since then, the film was reportedly canceled, per Bloody Disgusting, but no official confirmation on the project's fate has ever been made public.
More than a decade later, a film adaptation of the video game franchise has not been revisited. Instead, it emerged as a critically acclaimed anime on Netflix, with the second season of its Nocturne spin-off having recently hit the service.
The Castlevania anime has satisfied fans' dreams of seeing the series adapted to the screen and caused many to think a movie could make sense. This has especially been the case since the release of projects like Nosferatu (read more about Nosferatu now), which proved that a gothic world like Castlevania can work on the big screen.
The Netflix Castlevania titles have become the only new thing from the franchise in over a decade. Outside of several remasters of classic games in the series or clever brand partnerships with other titles like Vampire Survivors and Dead Cells, the last new Castlevania video game was Castlevania: Lords of Shadows 2 in 2014.
And with more of the anime seemingly on the way and no new games announced, adaptations will be the only place for fans to get their Castlevania fix for the foreseeable future.
The Castlevania anime is streaming on Netflix.
