Simu Liu isn’t ready to let Sleeping Dogs stay six feet under. After years of false starts, studio indifference, and Donnie Yen trying to play a character half his age, the long-dormant adaptation of the 2012 cult video game might finally be waking up.
If you’ve ever played Sleeping Dogs, you’ll know it’s basically Grand Theft Auto with kung fu. The game follows Wei Shen, a Hong Kong cop who goes deep undercover in the Sun On Yee Triad. It had slick combat, a great story, and a recreation of Hong Kong so detailed you could almost smell the street food. But when its developer, United Front Games, shut down in 2016, so did any hope for a sequel.
For years, Donnie Yen tried to get a film made. He even poured his own money into it, but by 2024, the martial arts legend admitted defeat. “I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers,” he said. “I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights.”
Then came Shang-Chi star Simu Liu, the self-proclaimed Canadian nice guy who apparently never got the memo about letting sleeping dogs lie. In January, Liu took to social media, posting: “Working with the rights holders to bring Sleeping Dogs to the big screen!” And he wasn’t bluffing.
This month, Liu posted a photo on X of the film’s completed script draft, though he conveniently covered up the writer’s name. In a now-deleted Instagram story, fans discovered the screenplay was written by Tze Chun, known for Gotham and I’m a Virgo. Liu celebrated the milestone with a photo of his own actual sleeping dog.
When a fan asked if Square Enix, the game’s publisher, was on board, Liu replied: “They’re absolutely great, it’s the studios that don’t seem to understand how important this IP is, BUT we will get them there.” It’s a very polite way of saying Hollywood is sleeping on a goldmine.
The adaptation is being developed by Story Kitchen and Hill District Media, two companies with solid credentials in bringing games to life. Story Kitchen is behind the Sonic the Hedgehog films and Netflix’s upcoming Tomb Raider series. So at least Sleeping Dogs is in good hands.
The movie will reportedly follow the game’s main storyline: Wei Shen infiltrating the Triads while struggling to keep his cover intact. If Liu’s high-flying combat scenes in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings are anything to go by, the action should be nothing short of cinematic carnage.
Of course, a finished script doesn’t mean a release date. We’ve seen plenty of video game films announce drafts and disappear into development purgatory. But for a project that’s been “dead” since 2017, even a draft feels like a small miracle.
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