Sleeping Dogs Movie Script Is Complete
OPla G
yesterday 21:00
7
0Simu Liu, best known to the general public for his role as Shang-Chi in Marvel’s superhero films, announced that a draft (dated October 3) of the screenplay for the Sleeping Dogs movie adaptation is complete. He also replied to one comment under his post, saying that he has found common ground with Square Enix — the company that owns the rights to the video game — although, in his words, the publisher doesn’t fully grasp the value of this IP. The Canadian actor intends to prove it does.
The project’s journey has been long and winding, stretching back more than 20 years. It all began with the releases of True Crime: Streets of LA in 2003 and True Crime: New York City in 2005. Essentially, they were GTA-clones — but with a key twist: instead of playing as a criminal, players took on the role of a police officer. This completely changed certain gameplay dynamics; for instance, the protagonist could arrest suspects right on the street. For their time, both games were quite solid and were even considered legitimate competitors to Grand Theft Auto. A fun confirmation of that can be found in a GTA: San Andreas easter egg referencing True Crime.
In November 2009, a third installment titled True Crime: Hong Kong was announced. But by February 2011, Activision canceled it despite significant progress in development. That August, Square Enix acquired the publishing rights — though not the entire franchise — and rebranded the game as Sleeping Dogs, releasing it a year later in August 2012. The result was an excellent open-world action game about an undercover cop infiltrating the Hong Kong Triads.
A Definitive Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and modern PCs arrived in October 2014, yet both a sequel (planned for 2013) and a multiplayer spinoff (planned for 2015) were canceled.
In March 2017, a film adaptation was officially announced. Donnie Yen, the star of the Ip Man series, was set to play the protagonist and even claimed to have invested considerable time and personal funds into the project. However, this January he revealed that the movie would ultimately not move forward. Now, Simu Liu has picked up the torch — and fans are getting a second chance to see Sleeping Dogs on the big screen.
in honour of our sleeping dogs script draft being done, here’s my sleepy dog ? pic.twitter.com/l1KsFNDj5V
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) October 18, 2025
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 ?
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) October 18, 2025
In November 2009, a third installment titled True Crime: Hong Kong was announced. But by February 2011, Activision canceled it despite significant progress in development. That August, Square Enix acquired the publishing rights — though not the entire franchise — and rebranded the game as Sleeping Dogs, releasing it a year later in August 2012. The result was an excellent open-world action game about an undercover cop infiltrating the Hong Kong Triads.
In March 2017, a film adaptation was officially announced. Donnie Yen, the star of the Ip Man series, was set to play the protagonist and even claimed to have invested considerable time and personal funds into the project. However, this January he revealed that the movie would ultimately not move forward. Now, Simu Liu has picked up the torch — and fans are getting a second chance to see Sleeping Dogs on the big screen.