Whilst most of us might be pretty skeptical about movie adaptations of video games and vice versa, there having been a few notable examples that show that the relationship between games and films doesn’t always have to give us duds like the Warcraft movie.
Usually it’s when movies get made into games that this relationship works best. Whether it’s the ultra-creepy Alien: Isolation game giving us chance to roam around a seemingly abandoned spacecraft, or the epic fun of Star Wars: Battlefront, games developers have used the story lines of these movies to great effect.
However, it’s games like Tron 2.0 that seem to be tailor-made for the movie-gaming crossover, as the super-stylized graphics and high speed racing of Tron 2.0 managed to be a critical hit, and even proved to be better than the Hollywood movie.
Some games developers have been a little more creative with how they adapt some big hitters from the cinematic world. Who would have thought that the Transformers movie would have ended up being at the LadyLucks mobile site, and Star Trek: Bridge Crew is looking to give Trekkies their first taste of VR gaming action aboard the USS Enterprise.
So with successful examples of gaming adaptations of movies like these, it’s hard to figure out why there are so few decent films based on video games. Whilst we’d all admit that the plotline of the Doom game is pretty simplistic, surely it’s better than the cinematic travesty that was the 2005’s Doom movie!
Movies like Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil franchise would have seemingly been perfect for the silver screen, and whilst they provided some mild entertainment, they were hardly likely to trouble the Academy Awards judging panel.
However, these movies did manage to learn the lesson that Michael Fassbender’s Assassin’s Creed film missed, they just need to be fun cinematic versions of the game and they don’t need to try and impress the highbrow critics.
And if you’re looking for a great example of a movie that’s based on a game that’s nothing short of light-hearted popcorn perfection, check out the Prince of Persia film. This Jerry Bruckheimer-directed movie was pretty silly, but it was endlessly watchable, and goes to show that these gaming-movie crossovers don’t need to take themselves too seriously!
The idea of movies to games is a common thing as you will find a new game in the app store based from an upcoming or newly released movie. The challenging part is the games to movies. Having a themed movie like that readily restricts the amount of viewers! You only bet on the players and hopefully the curiosity of other people to a game to watch the movie.
Yep, It’s more easier to make movies to games rather than other way around.
I’ve read they’re making a Minecraft movie.
I wonder if it’s going to work out that well.
making a movie based on a game is the best way to promote a game.
It can also have a negative effect if done wrong.
Movies based off games usually are hit and miss types of movies and i hope there are going to be movies that are going to nail it.
Agreed.
It’s a shame, but that is just the track record for video game movies.
Most successful crossover I’ve seen is Detective Pikachu. There was also a Sonic gaming and movie crossover, but I don’t think that one was successful.