“Marathon” comes out tomorrow, but the game’s story is already underway thanks to an official short film.
Published by “Marathon” developer Bungie yesterday, March 3, “In Death We’ve Just Begun” is intended to introduce gamers to the world of Bungie’s highly anticipated upcoming extraction shooter title. Co-directed by Sam Goldwater and Harmony Korine, the film features an original song by Poppy and Ryan Lott and has been watched almost 300,000 times in the first 24 hours following its release.
Ahead of the launch of Bungie’s official “Marathon” cinematic, GamesBeat spoke to Goldwater about the inspiration behind the short film and its production process. Here are some of the key takeaways.
A quick turnaround, but a painstaking process
Goldwater first entered discussions with Bungie about the product in July 2025, with full CG production and shooting kicking off in late September and early October of last year.
“For something of this length, that’s quite a short turnaround for a CG,” Goldwater said.
Despite the relatively tight production timeline for “In Death We’ve Just Begun,” Goldwater stressed his production team’s extreme attention to detail throughout the process. In one case, he said that an animator spent 130 revisions perfecting a sequence in which one character repeatedly stabs another.
“He was a great animator, and eerily keen on animating this violent murder sequence,” Goldwater said.
A collaborative process
Although the “Marathon” cinematic was directed by both Goldwater and Korine, the co-directors’ roles in the production were decidedly different. Goldwater was more in the weeds with the production, writing the script and working closely with the animators on the minute-by-minute details, with Korine providing big-picture ideas and directing the production at a higher level.
“There was a moment where the piece was going to be shorter, and suggestion we go more operatic — and that meant length,” Goldwater said. “So, there was a crucial moment where the thing could have been four or five minutes, and we expanded it to eight minutes, which was a tall order at the time, but was to the piece’s benefit.”
Korine is a prominent film director in Hollywood whose resume includes feature films like “Kids” and “Spring Breakers.” His involvement in “Marathon’s” official cinematic short film gives authority to the production and underlines the upcoming release as a significant cultural moment.
“For Hollywood people to be taking games seriously in this way, it’s something that the industry will benefit from,” Goldwater said.
Gamer moments
Goldwater is a gamer, as are many members of his production team — so the director made sure to include recognizable elements of the gamer experience throughout the eight-minute short film. In one scene, for example, an entire squad of “players” gets wiped out, only to start bickering with each other once they “respawn.” Goldwater said that moments like this and others were directly inspired by his experience playing early alpha versions of “Marathon.”
“It’s a funny element of what constitutes realism in a fictional, sci-fi universe,” Goldwater said. “The reality is that we are playing it and having substantial highs and lows — our hearts are racing waiting for the extract, or we are flipping our keyboards in frustration when we lose all our best gear. All that stuff is real, and it was something I was keen to advocate.”