The issue with video game movies is you have to pick two:
- good movie
- related to the game
- actually gets released/exposure/makes money
:/ The ones that are picked up and turned into good movies with box office presence are the ones that are mostly just inspired by the original games--so huge fans of the games feel alienated by the new franchise and the regular movie-goers don't even notice. But if a movie too-closely follows a game, it tends to either suck (trying to cram too much of the game into too little time) and then the masses will dislike the franchise, or else nobody notices, the movie doesn't perform well (financially) and nothing like it is ever made again. :(
I think the issue with video game movies is that people expect them to be as good as or better than the original games when that doesn't really... make sense. Just like how books are usually superior to their movie counterparts, it's gonna be the same way with games. What is a good game (40 hours) cannot easily be crammed into a movie (2 hours). So sacrifices have to be made and quite often, the end result is really muddled.
There are some good movies. I really liked Advent Children Complete (original was just eye candy but the extra scenes in the director's cut made it an actual movie with plot) but it wasn't an adaptation, it was a sequel. Same with Tales of Vesperia's movie--it was a prequel, so it wasn't as bound by the plot of the 60-hour game it drew from. To my knowledge, the successful Resident Evil series is sort of the same way--it draws elements from the games but isn't a straight adaptation in any way. And it's been pretty big at the box office.
idk, any straight adaptations of games are pretty awful. Sequels/prequels are okay (but generally aren't that good, even as games, anyway). And inspired-by or series reboots are hit-and-miss. :( There's rarely a win-win situation with games → movies.