Video Game Adaptations Shouldn’t Be Movies
With Borderlands shaping up to be one of the biggest flops of the year, while Fallout was one of the biggest shows, it seems obvious how Hollywood should handle video game adaptations. Only a narrow segment of games translate to the big screen and they should be considered exceptions to the rule. With large casts and convoluted plots, most plots don’t translate well to movies that have to tell their stories in two hours.
Usually Only Family-Friendly Video Game Adaptations Do Well As Movies
Hollywood has been attempting to make video game adaptations into blockbuster films for decades, with only a handful of successes.
Most attempts have resulted in boring, forgettable films like 2016’s Assassin’s Creed, the Warcraft movie from the same year, and all three attempted Tomb Raider movies. Even most of the most memorable movies in the genre are remembered as camp classics, such as Mortal Kombat and the 1993 Super Mario Bros.
The exceptions are all family movies and adaptations of video games with minimal plot, allowing for greater storytelling flexibility. The Sonic movies, Detective Pikachu, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie are massive hits because they’re kid’s movies with recognizable characters from simple stories.
Simply put, unless the movie is kid-friendly and stars a beloved mascot, it’s going to flop.
The Streamers Are Making Great Series Adapted From Video Games
Unlike movie studios, Netflix and Amazon have proven they can make great video game adaptations as animated and live-action series. Netflix has excelled at making animated series with shows like Castlevania and Arcane, while Amazon and Max have led the charge in live-action with Fallout and The Last of Us.
Those series all tell stories meant for mature audiences, with complex plots, and large casts, the exact opposite of the movies that have worked.
The Stories Need More Time Than A Movie Allows
Most popular video games have complicated stories meant to unfold over several hours of gameplay. Any game featuring numerous cut scenes, or lots of dialogue, is likely too convoluted to work as a movie, a general rule Hollywood needs to learn.
Instead, studios keep making the same mistakes resulting in messy movies like Monster Hunter that barely resemble the source material.
Even video games with relatively straightforward plots can struggle as movie adaptations due to large casts. Fighting games are the perfect example of this, with two failed attempts at Mortal Kombat and the notorious John Claude Van Damme Street Fighter.
While their plots can easily be told in two hours, it’s impossible to do every character justice in such a short runtime, making a series the more logical medium.
Budgets Are Only Getting Bigger
As box office earnings continue to fall and budgets balloon, movies have less leeway than ever and they can’t afford to keep making big video game adaptations that no one wants.
These movies are often special effects heavy, requiring significant budgets, which will make them increasingly risky. They also let down the existing fans that the movies are ostensibly being made for, burning the goodwill needed for a franchise.
Series Aren’t Always A Home Run, But They Beat Borderlands
Halo proves that video game adaptations made as series aren’t always going to be successful, but they have a much better track record than movies. It seems obvious that film is rarely the best option for adapting a game’s story. We’re living in the golden age of video game adaptations, but that’s on the back of great series, not ill-advised movies like Borderlands.
