Film adaptations

How many movies based on video games have you watched, if any? Did you like them (even if others didn't)? Are there any games you'd like to see a film adaptation of?

It's no secret that (current) movies based on video games suck, but why, after 20+ years of trying to bring video games to the big screen, is Hollywood still struggling to make a decent film based on a game? There hasn't been an international film adaptation in history that has received more than 44%, which is pretty sad. And it's not for a lack of trying either -The Resident Evil movie just came out a few days ago, and just last year, Warcraft, Ratchet & Clank, Angry Birds and Assassin's Creed all debuted on the big screen, but they all flopped.


Here's a full list of all film adaptations, and future ones in the works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

Do you have any hope for the future of video game movies, or do you think Hollywood is just never going to understand games?

I forgot Prince of Persia was a film
I liked Sands of Time but it's not a masterpiece.

I loved Ratchet and Clank (it's well received by fans).

I'll link a video when I'm on a desktop, but there's an insightful video as to why games don't really work on the big screen.

EDIT: Found it. Year out but holds true.

I remember watching that Mario Bros. film as a kid and still being able to realize how crappy it was. {XD} Off the top of my head, I watched pieces of FF:The Spirits Within, Dead or Alive (lol) and Silent Hill: Revelations. All equally bad, and delving way off it's source material.

There's a Postal movie?!?! Dear god...

Time to go search the internet

i've seen the silent hill movie with sean bean in it, and i've seen prince of persia (wanted to see ass creed)

thing is, the movies aren't usually bad on their own
it's when they slap that franchise title on it that gives me high standard to compare it to that kills it

I've never seen a video game movie, because they always seem to get bad reviews so I never buy them, but I don't think that video games work as movies at all.

I never watched a video game movie because most of them are based on games that either I never played or dislike.

However, according to this article, J.J. Abrams is working with Valve to make a movie based on Portal.
Now that is a movie I'd watch.

Captain Fabio said:

There aren't many decent ones out there. The RE films can die in a fire. The first was ALRIGHT for what it was, but now it makes me want to cry for ruining some of my best childhood games.
Assassin's Creed was alright for what it was, but I have some bias on that as I worked on it.

Overall, they are normally just poor, because it's very difficult to portray someones experience in a game and put it on the big screen for everyone to enjoy, when it's already a subjective medium.​

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Interesting. What did you work as on AC? What did you think of as a whole?

doa is a work of art and i will not see it treated any less than such

El Héroe Oscuro said:

Interesting. What did you work as on AC? What did you think of as a whole?

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i actually really enjoyed the angry birds movie..it's a guilty pleasure of mine oops. all other video game films i have never seen though bc they're almost always based on games i don't play.

Captain Fabio said:

It's not the best film I've ever worked on, but I enjoyed it and thought it was fine for what it was. It wasn't anything special and didn't break the mold for video game movies, but it wasn't awful, like so many people were ragging on about, imo.​

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If you worked on this particular element than I apologize for the bluntness, but I thought the screenwriting for AC was pretty week. A lot of Fassbender's lines were pretty cheesy and lackluster imo, plus that scene where he decides to go shirtless in the animus seemed really unnecessary considering he never did that before and just felt like a "let's-get-the-hot-guy-to-show-off-his-abs" kind of move. However, AC definiteky had some of the best live action fight sequences that I've seen in a very long time, so I give a lot of credit to the people who choreographed those fight/parkour scenes. They were unreal.

El Héroe Oscuro said:

If you worked on this particular element than I apologize for the bluntness, but I thought the screenwriting for AC was pretty week. A lot of Fassbender's lines were pretty cheesy and lackluster imo, plus that scene where he decides to go shirtless in the animus seemed really unnecessary considering he never did that before and just felt like a "let's-get-the-hot-guy-to-show-off-his-abs" kind of move. However, AC definiteky had some of the best live action fight sequences that I've seen in a very long time, so I give a lot of credit to the people who choreographed those fight/parkour scenes. They were unreal.

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The first Mortal Kombat movie wasn't that bad though it still wasn't exactly what I call a decent film but at least it was way more watchable than its god awful sequel and other fighting game based movies that have come out after it. I mean, Dead or Alive was.... something, but its no Mortal Kombat.

The Street Fighter movie, for what it is, i can easily consider it as a cult hit now. It may have been bad, but at least its entertaining in its own way.

The Warcraft movie wasn't that bad.

An epitomy of a video game based movie GONE WRONG would go to the King of Fighters movie. Dear lord, that makes the Tekken live-action movie look like a Golden Globe Award.

And of course, as a HUGE devotee of Doom, i have a lot to say towards the ill-fated Doom movie. Getting the style and aesthetic of Doom 3, which was the Doom game at the time the movie was made was somewhat of a good move in order to make it quite relevant, but obviously the movie was just SO WRONG in so many mother ****king levels.

But really, turning a medium such as a video game into a hollywood or otherwise independently produced thing is still a challenge for a couple of things. Unlike say making a movie adaptation of a novel, video games in general is quite different in a sense. Obviously since in video games, the audience or more specifically the player(s) are the ones telling the story to themselves and interpreting it in their own way, given to how they play the game. Quoting a source:

"When we go into FPS, the audience is doing the rampage, the audience is doing the work and that is so cool"

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something like that. In short, Video Games are a vastly different creature to make a film adaptation of.

The first Silent Hill is pretty watchable.

Hands said:

The first Silent Hill is pretty watchable.

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that burning scene? would be worshipped in another movie imo