Will video game movies ever be good?

[Karnak 187]

Over the past decade we have seen talented and acclaimed filmmakers and actors attempt to make the Spider-Man of video game movies.

And they keep failing with zero improvement

Tomb Raider looks awful.

 

The only one I have hope for of is Rampage and only cause, that game had no story, it just just three monsters smashing a city.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Karnak

[Scrubbed user 3,415]

They've been doing them for over 20 years, and they still haven't got it right.

[Karnak 187]

Just now, Vulon Bii said:

They've been doing them for over 20 years, and they still haven't got it right.

Only Wreck it Ralph worked the rest is garbage.

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

In terms of a video game property being made into a movie, I think the closest to the mark was the Ratchet and Clank movie. It's not a good movie by any means, but it did get the proper voice actors back, and at least looked like the games. It's a shame the story was such a cliched mess and the fact it kept using slapstick as it's main source of jokes when the games are known for their stellar writing. It's not horrible just really bland. I know it went through a troubled production with kicking out one of the games writers. The 3rd Future game, A Crack In Time made for a much better Ratchet and Clank Movie than the actual movie. To this day I still think its the closest I've ever seen a Video Game get close to something Pixar related, even after the Remake Game which just used the movie scenes for some strange reason.

Edited January 7, 2018 by ultrairongorilla

[Ganondorf8 11,121]

Most of the time, the movies don't respect the source material of the game resulting in them becoming disasters. As long as this continues to happen, we'll end up with mediocre movies that are based on video games. Granted, some of them are so bad that they've since become a guilty pleasure that you want to watch them just to see how bad they are.

[Megas 27,103]

Never gonna happen unless we get a director and/or a team of people who actually give a shit

[Prometheus 3,038]

In all honesty, I think it's entirely possible. The main problem with adapting a video game to a movie script is that of course most of it has to be cropped and condensed down in order to fit within a 90 minute or 120 minute running time. I believe it's all about the execution of such, a good example is the Lord of the Rings movies; nobody thought it would be possible to adapt the books to the big screen, it was believed to be impossible. Yet, we ended up getting one of the most critically, financially and fan-loved trilogies of all time. There are definitely stories/concepts within games that would make excellent movies, but the problem is that major studios typically dump the responsibilities of producing, writing and directing onto people who have little to no interest in what they're actually making or they are just too inexperienced and haven't had to tackle the situation of adaptation before. The Lord of the Rings was a huge risk with it's production, and yet it was a passion project by those who'd made it. 

That's all it would take really; directors, writers and producers that are competent enough and have a passion for what they're doing. Unfortunately there aren't many movies made today that had a creative vision behind them, now most movies are sequels or soft-reboots that are only made to turn a profit. It still is possible, but unlikely in today's climate of cinema.  

[BlueCoats 19]

Really if people who make these movies put more effort into them and treat them like other movies, there would be a massive increase in quality.

You should also think about the companies making these movies. For example, Sony is NOT the company you should turn to for movies of games or trends.

[Jordan D 149]

The Ace Attorney movie wasn't bad actually. Not what I would consider a stellar film, but it looked like the games and felt like the games. It was a fun, enjoyable movie and I really did get the impression the folks who made it were fans of the source material, or at least knew about it.

If you count animated films, Digimon X-Evolution is based more or less on a video game/TCG event and is intertwined with a series of games. It's not a bad movie, but it's not amazing either. Kind of feels like edgy fanfiction at times with the scenes of Digimon getting slaughteed and Omnimon killing baby digimon, but it's not a soulless cash grab or anything. 

That said, the upcoming Monster Hunter film sounds like trite. The pre-release synopses for the movie don't even sound real, but they apparently are...

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

I mean I thought Warcraft was a great movie, despite changing some of the lore. Might be a bit biased though because I've been a Warcraft fan for over 10 years. Still does a great job at showing the events of the first war when the orcs invade Azeroth for the first time. Me and my family are hoping they make a sequel showing the events of Warcraft II.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

It depends on the people behind the project, and their respect and/or understanding of the source material and fan audience. Yes; it's certainly possible. It's not a movie, but the NefFlix Castlevania series is a DAMN fine example of what happens when you have people who know what they want and how to do it, and it helps when the financial backers actual support that enthusiasm.

Until that happens with a movie tho; mediocrity is the best we're going to get.

[Yamato 1,347]

Y'all can't tell me that the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie wasn't a work of art in its own right.

[Here No Longer 5,270]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: No, because the people behind the movie will never actually care about what they're making, because they almost always do it for the money and brand recognition when it comes to making movies like that.

[EpicEnergy 22,203]

I don't really watch movies based on video games, but I'm sure there are good ones out there.

[Tom Gallagher 33,523]

Sonic was pretty good! 

[Vefka 1,499]

No, because directors don't give a fuck about games and scriptwriters put their "important" changes in the story to make it better in their eyes

[Sonic Shimmer 4,116]

It could happen, if it gets the right budget and the right director.

Remember that superhero movies were seen as a complete joke and almost all critically panned until about 2008.

[Megas 27,103]

Sonic and Detective Pikachu is proof that it's possible.

And if a video game franchise as infamously cursed as goddamn Sonic can pull it off then there's no excuse for them not to try at this point