“The Headliners” Video Game Sets a Feature Film at Studiocanal

By Elena Vasquez

More than 1.5 million PC copies of “The Headliners” have sold as Studiocanal’s Sixth Dimension develops a feature adaptation of the multiplayer horror game, Variety reports.

Variety reports that Lucas Bouyoux and Bruno Grégoire developed the game for Kafi Games, which released it in 2025. Up to eight players take the roles of journalists in an alien-infested New York. The journalists are the only people allowed into the city. They must capture front-page-worthy photographs while avoiding dismemberment at the hands of extraterrestrial invaders.

Jed Benedict, head of Sixth Dimension, said in a statement: “In a world where attention is currency, Kafi Games’ indie smash ‘The Headliners’ struck us, along with millions of giddy gamers, as a hilarious and unique entry point into the alien invasion genre.”

He continued: “As if ‘Cloverfield’ met ‘Ghostbusters’ via ‘Nightcrawler,’ we aim to take Kafi Games’ brilliantly original survival-horror game and watch the mayhem unfold through the cameras of the journalists who risk everything, life and limb, for the perfect shot.”

Variety’s game premise supplies the adaptation’s central contest: journalists pursue the perfect image while aliens dictate the risk.

What is known about the film?

Variety reported the project exclusively and describes it as being in early development under Sixth Dimension, Studiocanal’s in-house genre label. Plot details, casting and the creative team have yet to be revealed, leaving the adaptation without a publicly identified director, cast or narrative approach at present.

Benedict’s statement establishes a camera-centered approach but leaves the multiplayer structure and the alien threat unresolved for a feature-length narrative.

For now, the film has a confirmed property and studio, but no disclosed creative team.

Why is Hollywood adapting video games?

Variety describes video games as a once-pariah sector now coveted by Hollywood for its devoted, eager-to-spend fandoms. It identifies “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “The Minecraft Movie” as the successful films that began the shift.

Paramount’s “Street Fighter” recently opened to $31 million, adding a current box-office measure to the case for game adaptations. The studio also has “Cyberpunk 2077” in development and a “Call of Duty” adaptation in the works from director Peter Berg.

Variety adds that A24, which it calls a stronghold of artful cinema, is adapting FromSoftware’s “Elden Ring” with Alex Garland.

Those projects place “The Headliners” within a broader commercial movement from games into film.

What has Sixth Dimension released?

Sixth Dimension launched in February 2025, according to Variety. Its first release was the reboot of the 1984 slasher “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” which reached theaters that same year.

The label also produced this year’s “Ice Cream Man” from director Eli Roth. Upcoming titles include Sean Byrne’s horror thriller “The Mannequin” and “Home Safety Hotline,” based on Night Signal Entertainment’s puzzle video game.

Variety’s record shows a label already working across theatrical horror, franchise reboots and game-based projects.

What comes next?

Variety’s next disclosed milestones for “The Headliners” are plot, casting and the creative team, since all three remain hidden. Those choices will determine how much of the game’s eight-player structure and alien-infested New York setting can survive in a feature film.

The game has already supplied a measurable audience, with more than 1.5 million PC copies sold; the film still has no public creative identity. The next credible update must identify the creative team and show how the eight-player premise becomes a feature-film narrative.