First Resident Evil, then Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and now it’s Angry Birds turn to get the Hollywood treatment. The Daily Shift’s Mark Hogan has the latest…

Angry Birds set to explode onto the big screen in 2016

Seven uniquely talented birds, a family of evil green pigs, and one billion downloads. Angry Birds turned three on Tuesday and to add to the occasion announced it will be hitting the big screen.

After months of rumours, Rovio Entertainment, the developer of the hugely popular game, confirmed it will be producing a 3D feature film. Due out in summer 2016, the plot is not yet known.

The talents of Producer John Cohen (Despicable Me) and Executive Producer David Maisel (Iron Man) have been enlisted to help tell the tale. CEO of Rovio Entertainment praised his new “dream team” by saying “both professionals have the ideal skills and vision to achieve incredible things.”

The movie will be entirely funded by the game’s developer, with what must be a massive fortune built up through Angry Birds. However the film is not the first addition to the franchise; clothes, dolls and even a theme park have already been added to the game’s empire.

Angry Birds was first released on iOS in December 2009. Travelling successfully across mobile platforms, its simple, addictive gameplay has seen it become a favourite amongst gamers of all ages. The object of the game is simple; knock down structures using a variety of birds, destroying the pigs that snatched their eggs along the way.

The popularity of the Finnish development has not only lead to this 3D film, but five versions of the game too. Most notably was this year’s Angry Birds Star Wars, which saw the birds transformed into characters from the popular movie franchise, attacking the empire, which, inevitably, was represented by the pigs.

Converting a game into a movie isn’t anything new, but Rovio will hope our favourite birds can slingshot from mobile screens to cinema screens with as big an impact as possible. It’s difficult to see what kind of story will be conjured up and how it will capture the audience’s imagination but whatever they decide to do, it better outweigh the notion of those upset looking birds flying at us.