Shang-Chi Director Destin Daniel Cretton to Produce Sea of Thieves Movie

Hollywood’s push to turn video game franchises into cinematic spectacles continues, and the latest title to join the fray is Sea of Thieves. Xbox has officially announced that a live-action feature film based on the popular pirate sandbox game is in development, with an eye toward bringing its unique high-seas antics to the big screen.

The production is set to be spearheaded by Destin Daniel Cretton, a filmmaker known for his work on Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Cretton, who also directed the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day—slated for release in late July 2026—will serve as the project's producer.

Translating a Sandbox to the Big Screen

While the production team is beginning to take shape, the film remains in the early stages of development. Crucially, the studio has yet to announce a director, leaving the creative vision for the project open as they search for the right person to helm the production.

Translating Sea of Thieves—a game developed by Rare and published by Xbox Game Studios—presents a unique structural challenge. Unlike narrative-heavy games that follow a specific protagonist, Sea of Thieves is defined by its open-ended, multiplayer nature. The game lacks a single linear plot, instead relying on the player and the community to generate their own experiences.

Matt Booty, Xbox’s chief content officer, addressed this hurdle, noting that the game’s core identity lies in its social mechanics. "The main character of a Sea of Thieves game is actually the player and the community," Booty explained. "It's not [about] the main characters [or] the plot. It's a super social game, but there's a tone to Sea of Thieves. It's built on a very cooperative community, so you can start to sense what that's going to be like."

As the project moves forward, the industry is looking toward recent successes in the space, such as the Fallout series on Prime Video, as a potential roadmap. That adaptation famously prioritized telling an original story within the franchise’s established world rather than strictly retelling events from the source material. For now, fans will have to wait for further updates on the casting and the creative direction of this upcoming pirate adventure.