Biubiubiu is an upcoming action movie that has taken a lot of inspiration from PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Before you limber up for that long sigh, that's actually not a bad thing. This movie looks... dare I say it... fun.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is immensely popular in China, thanks to Tencent Holdings' acquisition of the rights to publish and operate the successful shooter in the country. Video games are subject to stringent regulations in China, and there is a requirement that the content "promote[s] unity and support[s] the values of the Chinese government," so lots of games from elsewhere don't clear the criteria. Furthermore, there are anti-addiction measures that restrict the amount of time and money that children and teenagers may spend in a game in a day. However, as minors are working out how to circumvent these, Tencent is trialling facial recognition technology to ensure that children and teenagers are following the rules.
Check out the trailer for The Callisto Protocol, a grisly horror that occurs in the PUBG universe from a team of veterans who worked on Dead Space.
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I'm unable to translate the trailer, yet, its premise alone is interesting. According to Niko Partners' Daniel Ahmad, Biubiubiu focuses on a "down and out streamer that forms an esports team with old friends," and will be "the first esports battle royale film" ever. The team is participating in a game that looks a lot like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, including the way the players parachute into the match, the remote desert locale, the weapons and the helmet that the player wears. I don't know of any other games that feature a guy with a gun wearing a welding shield that aren't PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Stay with me though. Rather than describing the way that the game plays out while the actors play, or representing it through excessive CGI or in-game models, the events of the matches appear to be shown in live-action scenes following the same actors as the ones who are sitting and furiously tapping their phones at the same time. Moreover, there are some excellent slow-mo parts, like the shattering of a grenade as the target tries to escape the imminent blast.
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Biubiubiu comes to Youku on August 6th, and sadly, there's no way of accessing the movie outside of China. However, if it rakes in the cheddar, then there could be a chance of it arriving in other countries later on in the year.
Featured Image Credit: Youku, PUBG StudioTopics: TV and Film, News