Rockstar Games, the game publisher best known for its controversial and best-selling "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, has entered the film business with a new R-rated documentary, "Sunday Driver."
In an intriguing move, the company has opted to release the feature-length movie in the fall exclusively on the Universal Media Disc format used by Sony's PlayStation Portable entertainment device. Rockstar also will ship an exclusive "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" game for PSP on Oct. 24.
Produced by Rockstar Games, "Driver" is an all-access documentary film that chronicles the Compton/Watts chapter of California's low-rider car club, the Majestics. Directed by Carol Strong, the film focuses on a community working together to build the ultimate customized vehicles while struggling to legitimize their lifestyle under close scrutiny of the authorities.
"Films have always had a hand in influencing everything we create at Rockstar," Rockstar Games president Sam Houser said. "Our goal was to create a film with the same cutting edge (and) uncompromising cinematic content that we strive for in our games. We are extremely proud of 'Sunday Driver' as an evolution of the Rockstar brand into film."
The publisher also licensed Walter Hill's 1979 classic film "The Warriors" and will release it on UMD on Oct. 3, as well as turning the intellectual property into an M-rated game that ships Oct. 17.
Rockstar is part of Take-Two Interactive Software, which reported quarterly revenue that was shy of analysts' expectations because of light sales of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Retailers began returning the game after it was revealed that technically savvy users could access sexually explicit material within it. A new version of the game without that content is now available.