It would not be an exaggeration to say that it has been a career-changing 11 months for Vancouver director Zach Lipovsky and his American filmmaking partner Adam B. Stein, who, as it happens, first met as contestants on the 2007 reality show On the Lot, which was co-created and co-produced by Steven Spielberg.
The duo first came onto my radar after watching and reviewing their outstanding 2018 science fiction feature Freaks, which not only made a creative statement, but a budgetary one as well since they miraculously made the movie for only $2,000…CAD! Sadly, while it did turn a profit, its global box office only amounted to $368,410 USD, which certainly didn’t have studios scrambling for their services despite the undeniable quality of Freaks and its unheard-of budget.
However, Lipovsky and Stein are finally garnering the attention they deserve after the release of Final Destination: Bloodlines on May 16th last year, which became one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2025, earning a franchise record $317.9 million on a budget of $50 million, not to mention it was critically acclaimed, earning the best reviews in the longstanding franchise by a considerable margin.
Lipovsky and Stein were suddenly amongst the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood, and the burning question centered on what was next for the duo. Well, we got our first answer in November of last year when it was announced that they were hired to co-write a new Gremlins movie alongside series creator Chris Columbus, while, in a fascinating case of coming full circle, their old buddy Spielberg will serve as a producer. Then, this past February, it was revealed that Sony Pictures had tapped them to direct an animated feature of the Marvel anti-hero Venom, best known for his Tom Hardy-led live action trilogy.
It would be fair to assume that all this was reward enough for the time being, but Sony had other plans, as it was announced last week that Lipovsky and Stein have signed a very generous first-look contract with the studio, whereby, according to The Hollywood Reporter, their “newly-launched company, Wonderlab, will develop films for the duo to direct and original projects that they will produce for other directors. The focus is creating wildly fun, commercial, character-driven, genre-bending films.” And if all this was not enough, Lipovsky and Stein have also been confirmed as the latest directors to take on the long-gestating live action adaptation of the legendary video game Metal Gear Solid.
Created and developed by the incomparable genius that is Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear series ranks amongst the likes of Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda as one of the most acclaimed and influential video game series of all time, and many consider 1998’s Metal Gear Solid to be the series’ crown jewel, with some even calling it the greatest video game ever made. As a ‘90s kid, I played Metal Gear Solid – in addition to every other mainline entry in the series afterwards – and I can promise you that this is not hyperbole.
However, an adaptation of Metal Gear Solid has been stuck in development hell for quite some time, with a film adaptation first announced by Kojima in 2006. The next significant update came in 2014 when it was reported that The Kings of Summer director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was in talks to helm the adaptation, and it appeared that things were still moving forward when Oscar Isaac was cast in the lead role of Solid Snake in 2020, though if this 2024 article is to be believed, he has since dropped out of the project. The announcement that Lipovsky and Stein would be adapting Metal Gear Solid came as a surprise then, as Vogt-Roberts was still presumably attached to the project up until that point, but with him officially out, it makes sense that Isaac would also drop out since he is already too old for the role at 47, and the Lipovsky and Stein adaptation, if it actually happens, is still years away from release.
Nonetheless, this news offers a great deal of hope, not just because it is the first significant update we have heard about a Metal Gear Solid adaptation in years, but also because it is to be helmed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, whose creative talents Sony made a point of securing. The duo will surely have their hands full for the time being between work on Gremlins 3 and the animated Venom movie, but if Metal Gear Solid follows, we could very well get the adaptation video game fans have been clamouring for before we hit the 2030s.