Most people will scoff at the title, and they’re right to do so: game adaptations have notoriously made for poor cinematic experiences. From the very beginning, it looked as though Hollywood lacked the talent to capture the essence of the game, its characters and its story, while also delivering an enjoyable movie. While there have been a few good game adaptations at the cinema over the years, the ocean of bad films greatly outweighed the puddle of good films.
Now, however, things appear to be changing. With a better understanding of what both fans of the games and the casual movie-watcher want, as well as bigger budgets and better technology, far superior game adaptation movies have been seen over the last half a decade.
The worst is surely behind us now
Dwayne Johnson shares a set pic with the gang from the new Jumanji sequel: //t.co/Cdhyz8T0MY pic.twitter.com/5uBu18F8h4
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) March 13, 2019
As mentioned, the game adaptation genre didn’t get off on a good foot with The Wizard (1989) and Super Mario Bros (1993), and it didn’t get much better with Mortal Kombat (1997) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), which couldn’t even convince most of its original cast to perform in the sequel. Jumanji (1995) proved that a good movie based on a game could be done, but little value came afterwards.
More poor or underwhelming followed in the ‘00s and ‘10s, but then, salvation came from the most unlikely of places: The Rock. Having already starred in Doom (2005), many assumed that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson had found himself in yet another poor game adaptation movie. But as it turns out, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) was rather good. Be it due to the film’s quality or the distinct lack of quality of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Jumanji managed to defeat the latest colossus in the main Star Wars film line. After the new Jumanji, Johnson went on to star in Rampage (2018), and while it wasn’t an overly great film, it certainly entertained and brought in a huge sum of cash at the box office.
Also in 2018 was the new Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander. It was a great casting choice, and while the advertising campaign through Lucozade in the UK made it appear to be a tat and mindless film, it was a decent movie. There were some peculiar plot choices, but Vikander was great in the lead role, Walton Goggins made for an excellent villain, and the ending’s twist was just the right amount of divergence from the source material to appease game and film fans.
It appears as though the genre is in an upwards swing, which will hopefully continue to bring more good movie adaptations than bad. So, we’ve come up with some games that are at the top of our list to get a movie makeover next.
Top popular games to make into movies
God of War has won Best Game at the 2019 BAFTA Game Awards. //t.co/tv2F63Qy3s pic.twitter.com/MhZFqg67wJ
— IGN (@IGN) April 5, 2019
Game adaptation movies appear to be more viable, with bigger budgets being dedicated to some of the more recent ones, so hopefully writers and executives will begin to look at some of these incredibly popular games.
Uncharted
Fans have been pleading for an Uncharted movie for years, with the story of the games and the thrills of the settings looking to be ready-made for the movies. Nathan Drake is a grand protagonist in himself, but later games like Uncharted: Lost Legacy bring in even more great characters like Chloe and Nadine.
The strongest push for a film comes from the fan-made version by none other than Nathan Fillion himself. He stars in the live-action fan film, with his rendition of the famous explorer Nathan Drake hailed by fans, leading to many demanding that he stars in a full version. There is said to be a full movie in the works, but development was initially confirmed in 2010, so it’s unclear if anything will come to fruition.
Rich Wilde
Of all of the games across all of the various gaming platforms, the games surrounding Rich Wilde continue to be wildly popular. In the first game, Rich Wilde went to uncover Aztec Idols, and then he went in search of the Pearls of India. But it’s his latest adventure which has proven to be the most popular game of all at online casinos: Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead.
Set in ancient Egypt the player accompanies Rich Wilde through the pyramids in search of the sacred text. The game is so popular that players all over go in search of new casinos to play the game at, snapping up the casino bonuses for some free bonus money to use on the game at websites like Energy Casino and Casumo. The source material is so open that it could make for a stunning modern Indiana Jones-type movie – one without a crystal skull.
God of War
The 2018 release God of War may go down as one of the best single-player games of all time. The franchise pivoted from a using the protagonist Kratos as a hate-filled Greek god in a slasher game to bring him into Norse mythology to follow a story-driven, yet open-world game. Simply put, the game is fantastic in every aspect, from the use of Norse lore to the developments between Kratos, his son, and the many mythological characters that they meet along the way.
If a studio could find a hefty budget, follow the story of God of War closely across a few films, as well as find the perfect star to play Kratos – perhaps Jeffrey Dean Morgan or Jon Bernthal – it could be a cinematic masterpiece. All of the material is there to create an exciting and touching series of movies.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
In the vast futuristic world, robots roam the lands while the protagonist, Aloy, seeks to discover the meaning of how the world came to be and her past. It would require a big budget to do it correctly, and not lean too heavily into the progressive hype that has surrounded the game since its release, but if a movie were to be made based on its story and reflect the game’s tone, a Horizon: Zero Dawn movie could be epic.
The next confirmed game adaptations
There are other great gaming franchises that deserve the movie treatment, such as Gears of War and Metro, and soon we’ll be able to judge if the game adaptation craze truly has footing. In 2019, we get Detective Pikachu, and Sonic the Hedgehog, with Monster Hunter said to be in the works for a 2020 release. If two of these three succeed, more great games may be getting worthy movie adaptations in the near future.
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