Sleeping Dogs movie reportedly in development, with Simu Liu attached

Posted on February 2, 2025

A movie based on United Front Games and Square Enix’s 2012 open world martial arts game Sleeping Dogs is reportedly in development. As per the report, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu is attached to both produce and star in the film.

The Sleeping Dogs movie’s existence was first suggested by a post on X by Simu Liu last month, in which he stated that he is “working with the rights holders to bring Sleeping Dogs to the big screen!“. A source close to the project has reportedly confirmed to IGN that the film is in fact in the works. Liu will be working as a producer on the movie, as well as playing Wei Shen, the game’s undercover cop protagonist who infiltrates Hong Kong’s underworld while balancing his loyalties to his friends with his duties as a police officer.

As per IGN’s report, video game adaptation production company Story Kitchen will be producing the Sleeping Dogs film. Story Kitchen is already attached to another adaptation of a Square Enix game with an upcoming Just Cause movie, which was announced last year. Aside from Simu Liu as the lead, no other cast members or other notable crew, such as who will be directing the film, have been announced as of yet.

Sleeping Dogs was already heavily inspired by Hong Kong action cinema, and featured a fairly star-studded voice cast including Tom Wilkinson, Emma Stone, Lucy Liu and James Hong, among others. This upcoming Simu Liu project is not the first time Hollywood has tried to adapt Sleeping Dogs to another medium. As initially revealed by Deadline back in 2017, John Wick Chapter 4 star Donnie Yen had been attached to star in a Sleeping Dogs film. According to a recent interview with Polygon, that project was no longer in development.

News of this film adaptation is still technically in the rumour stage for now. Hopefully we will get some sort of official confirmation before long.