Video game movies have poor track record, most recently with Warcraft and The Angry Bird films, but Ubisoft believes their version of Assassin's Creed will buck the trend. Ubisoft's head of content for Assassin's Creed, Azaizia Aymar, has spoken up to discuss how the movie aims to achieve this.

"What we're trying to do is make sure the [Assassin's Creed] DNA is respected," Aymar said in an interview with the Ubisoft blog. "On top of all of that, we're making sure we're able to move forward on new inspirations and ideas.

"We want everything to feel legit. As you saw with the trailer, we think that part of the job has been done in a really nice way at the moment."

The studio brought in big need actors with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons and Michael K. Williams, but hopes the film isn't just for video game fans.

"The idea was if someone knows the franchise, we want them to see all the references and all the characters they love, but a newcomer should be able to get into the experience without feeling overwhelmed by all the information," he explained. "What we've been trying to do for years is avoid too many self-references. We kind of did the exact same thing with the movie. It has a nice balance of getting a really strong story with a new perspective."

One Ubisoft executive said the company is not expecting to make a lot of money from Assassin's Creed. "It is a lot more a marketing thing. It's also good for the image of the brand," European boss Alain Corre said.

"We have our core fans, but what we would like is to put this franchise in front of a lot more people who, maybe, will then pick up future Assassin's Creed games," he added.

Assassin's Creed arrives in theater on December 21, 2016