Roblox games regularly attract millions of players, now a major Hollywood studio is hoping one hit game can get those players into theaters. With video game adaptations finally fulfilling the promise of their potential, franchises like Minecraft, The Super Mario Bros., and Sonic the Hedgehog are bringing in massive box-office. As younger players’ focus has been on Roblox for two decades now, Hollywood is at long last catching up. Jailbreak, Grow a Garden, and Steal a Brainrot all have movies in development, but those projects are all coming from independent production companies. The latest announcement is coming from a major studio with an Oscar-winning filmmaker writing and one of horror’s most recognizable names producing. The game has already generated over 26 billion visits and is the 7th most-played game on the platform. Its main villain is so popular that it has already made the leap off Roblox into another game, and now it gets to make the leap onto the big screen.
Disney-owned 20th Century Studios is developing a 99 Nights in the Forest movie. Academy Award-winning Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley has signed on to write the screenplay and legendary director Sam Raimi will produce. Raimi has a lot of experience with people trying to survive the night in the woods having directed Evil Dead. The filmmaker most recently teamed with 20th Century Studios on the survival-horror thriller Send Help. Cooley most recently directed Transformers One, proving he can ably adapt a franchise for a modern audience. According to the Hollywood Reporter, No director or casting has been announced yet.
Released in 2025 by Grandma’s Favourite Games, 99 Nights in the Forest centers on players search for four missing children. Players have to gather supplies, maintain a fire, and, as the name implies, generally try to survive 99 nights in the forest. One memorable creature wants to keep players from doing that: the Deer. The game’s signature threat stalks players when the sun goes down and there’s no way to kill it. The Deer recently crossed over into Fortnite during its gaming-centered “Override” event alongside Sonic, Mega Man, and Crash Bandicoot. It was the first Roblox-born character to be featured in an official in-game Fortnite event, making the case that the Deer wouldn’t be contained to just one gaming platform.
99 Nights in the Forest isn’t the first Roblox game to score a development deal. Jailbreak: Rising City is on its way as a CG-animated feature. Production company Story Kitchen also announced adaptations of titles Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot in partnership with the games’ creators. 99 Nights is the first property developed on Roblox to set up an adaptation at a major studio, though. Much like how Obsession and Backrooms caused a rush of companies to scour YouTube and Reddit for new properties, the combination of a major studio like 20th Century, an award-winning writer-director, a horror maestro producing, and a compelling evil monstrosity stalking the forest could be the potential hit to send producers racing to Roblox for more IP to mine. Hits like Animal Hospital are ripe for the next wave of property procurement. So, The Deer is moving beyond user-generated content to Hollywood studio-generated content. Could 99 Nights in the Forest be the first Roblox property to win an Oscar? The pedigree of the team involved indicates it could.
