The Video Game Movie

Video game movies have typically been budget movies including the first one, Super Mario Bros (1993). Even one of the most recognizable characters in video games could not help this movie. There have been a few attempts at big budget video games movies with Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider (2001 and 2003) but even bigger budgets and A-listers didn’t project the video game movie forward. Other works such as novels, fairy tales, and comic books have been adapted into successful movies but video games continue to receive subpar adaptions. These movies are obviously not made for critics or meant to be cinematic masterpieces. Despite their flaws, some of these movies at least tried to have an understanding of the source material and gave fans what they wanted to see.

The 1990’s

The 1990’s saw the first wave of video game movies with the notable Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter (1994), and Mortal Kombat (1995) movies. During its time, the Super Mario Bros movie was considered a flop but the years have been nicer to it, gaining a cult following. The movie gave audiences a different interpretation of the Mushroom Kingdom along with Goombas, Yoshi, and King Koppa himself. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo played a pretty good pair of Mario Bros. Although the two have stated working on the movie was a terrible experience.

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, two of the biggest fighting video games, also received their movie adaptations. While Street Fighter had star power with Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, it wasn’t enough to be the blockbuster producers wanted but it gave fans a glimmer of hope. The movie followed Guile but included other major characters such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Cammy, Sagat, and Bison. Fighting isn’t a major plot point but we do get to see a hadouken, flash kick, and a psycho crusher. A few stages from the game also appear and the characters have outfits similar to their game outfits.

For the most part, Mortal Kombat actually stayed close to its source material. We got all the major characters—Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, and Raiden to name a few—participating in the “Mortal Kombat” tournament. Audiences got two full on fights with Johnny Cage vs Scorpion and Liu Kang vs Reptile. This movie went all in with the special moves. There were bicycle kicks, shadow kicks, Scorpion’s spear, and fatalities. We also can’t forget about that kick-ass EDM soundtrack. This movie understood its audience and gave them what they wanted. The same can’t be said for the sequel but a reboot is in the works.

The 2000’s

The 2000’s gave audiences 17 video games movies ranging from Tomb Raider, Resident Evil (2002), Doom (2005), Dead or Alive (2006), Hitman (2007), and Max Payne (2008). The most notable video game movies of this decade were the Resident Evil films. These films loosely adapted elements from the games and put an original character, Alice, in the middle of the action. The series was successful enough to spawn a six-film franchise with a total box office of $1.2 billion dollars. This franchise started out promising by showing familiar ideas and characters from the games, however, as the films went on, they started to abandon previously established plot points. The franchise delivered on some of its action but its use of fan favorite characters such as Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and Leon S. Kennedy felt wasted in favor of Alice.

The 2010’s

The 2010’s gave us Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), three more Resident Evil movies, Warcraft (2016), Assassin’s Creed (2016), a rebooted Tomb Raider (2018), and the standout movie, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019). Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2010) had the franchise’s lowest opening, effectively ending the series but a reboot is also in the works. Assassin’s Creed starring Michael Fassbender sounded great on paper but released to unfavorable reviews. Warcraft also received negative reviews but stands as the highest grossing video game movie.

We actually got a live action Pokémon movie and it worked. It delivered on the Pokémon with some great designs. PIkachu by far looks the best, Charizard is there, Magikarp evolved into Gyarados, and Mewtwo looks creepy. It is upsetting that we don’t get a full on Pokémon battle. We get an entire underground battle scene with the actual battle in the background. Overall, it stayed faithful to the game and franchise with a bit of nostalgia added in. Detective Pikachu stands as the highest rated and second highest grossing video game movie. A great step in the right direction for the future of video game movies.

The 2020’s: Gotta Go Fast

The original Sonic the Hedgehog trailer received universal dislike over Sonic’s humanoid design. Paramount listened to the outcry and delayed the movie in order to redesign Sonic. The new trailer presented a much better looking Sonic and a different tone. The first trailer almost feels like a completely different movie in comparison. It has potential to start a new wave of more enjoyable video game movies this decade. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu already proved these characters and worlds can work in live action. These movies don’t have to emulate the games they’re based on, radically redesign the characters or even apply logic. They just have to include the characters we like, stay true to the source material, throw in some Easter eggs, and make a decent film.

Blog

Playing the Same Old Game

Video Game Movies Through the Years - “We're not trying to look like a video game, which is a mistake some video game movies make”