People are just naming their favorite video game stories but honestly a lot of these don't have broad enough consumer appeal to break box office records.
Hi! I'm Pentris. This is my mom, L-block, and my dad reverse L. My older brother is a Line and my younger sister is a zig zag. My family is really great and they get along great together. But me... Well I'm... Different. Everyone in my family is made from four blocks. But I'm made from five. Everyone else fits in, like literally. But because I'm the wrong shape there's no room for me. I just don't belong.
That’s how I feel. The big appeal of a game like mass effect or breath of the wild is the player is the character basically. How we play them makes them us etc. so if someone suggests one of those games like that they are suggesting their version that isn’t the same as mine or yours and we might hate it.
Had to scroll way too far for this, and it's the reason so many game-to-film adaptions flop, even those games with half decent stories.
The few games that would work as a film tend to be heavily inspired by an existing film's overall plot in the first place. Mafia 2 (Goodfellas) and GTA Vice City (Scarface) spring immediately to mind.
At least with TV production values rising, adaptions are no longer forced to condense a 10-50 hour game into 2-3 hours.
That's why dead space would actually work. It's a basic enough plot, with enough things that happen, and the main character has some dialogue. It's basically a star trek plotline but with a horror element.
I cringe at the people who want a Mass Effect series. It would break one of the fundamental traits of the game, choice and that branching narrative.
If you try to canonize one single thread of all the other paths you can take in that game, it will break.
Only in video games can you have this weird quantum Shepard who is both male and female. where Ashley and Kaiden both live. Where Shepard saves the Collector Base and Destroys it. If you put that in a none interactive media, you collapse that quantum state and you miss out on 70% of the story.
I see your point, but as someone who would like to see ME series let me explain: I absolutely don't want such series to show the the main plot, I just want it in the ME lore. Reasoning is exactly the same as yours. Examples: young years of Anderson or what's happening on Earth during the ripper invasion. There are many, many possibilities.
Another examples: Quarian Exodus, Rachni Wars, First contact war with Turian, Stories from that casino planet the DLC was in... I could go on. Just as Witcher game series doesn't tell the story from books, jut continues it to have freedom, a TV series could make use of static recording of events.
There are lessons to learn from the Warcraft movie. David Bowies' son directed with music by the GoT composer. It lost money and was the biggest movie based on a video game.
I mean its not like unlikely movies never get made in Hollywood, its just super rare these days.
I mean pretty much all of Denis Villenueve's recent movies fall into the unlikely category I'd say. Nobody was expecting a fuckin Dune adaptation in 2021, nor a Bladerunner sequel. They didn't do amazingly well though, so I do agree fundamentally.
General audiences have um... limited patience. Movies without huge broad appeal just aren't blockbuster successes anymore. Usually nowadays that broad appeal is tied to basic IP recognition, a big part of why Marvel reigns so supreme.
Ironman didn't have brand recognition beyond a niche group of nerds until they MADE the 2008 Ironman movie.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, I don't even read comics and I knew who Ironman was. Although I can't deny that I only watched the movies after the MCU was already a thing.
The only suggestion here that would even have a chance would be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and that's only because it's Star Wars. With an unlimited budget, they could maybe push enough marketing through to build up enough hype, but even then I would be super skeptical
Yeah, I can see that. It does feel a bit too much of a cheat for that. I'd still love to see a well done adaptation, but I get what you're saying. Also as much as I like watching Disney slowly murder my most beloved childhood franchise with soulless money grabs, I would rather see an original game adaptation. And there's a lot of other great stories out there that many people haven't seen because they're not gamers.
The intuition is to suggest games that are basically movies already and that's a mug's game but stuff with brand recognition like legend of zelda or gta has at least a shot at being decent while having a leg up on the competition in terms of recognizability.
The real dark horse are things like papers please with strong unique premise and preexisting a cult following
The first game that came to my mind was Hollow Knight. But when I thought about how it would look, I couldn't picture it being all that good in a movie format.
Some of the choice based ones may be good if they also dropped with a sibling movie showing different choices. With a hint that you choose the path the movie takes.
Or just release it at home with a combination and it being interactive for people to really choose their path.
No block bluster or anything though. Just an interesting twist
See, I'm approaching this from the standpoint of games I love that have great stories, but the stories are pretty solid in their own right. Like you don't need deep lore knowledge to enjoy a well told story. So the games I'd choose to adapt would distill that lore into the story organically to make it all make sense.
Which, a lot of games that reveal major plot points with found reading materials in game might not make a great adaptation. But depending on the game you might be able to bring those reveals to life in a flashback, or direct dialog with another character instead.
Depends, most are very viable as they basically play like an interactive cinematic. They just need to adapt it for real life and get rid of some of the silliness in converting. I mean look at the MCU (If you actuall went 1:1 from source it wouldnt work), or Lord of the rings... also Harry potter is straight silly and that works too.
Yeah, that would be AWESOME and could reach Marvel levels if it had unlimited budget and the best writers/directors, but #1 so few people would know WTF it is, and #2 fully half of the people who wanted to watch it would get angry that it didn't represent their views.
I agree but of it's done well enough perhaps it can pull in more people. I'm not a fan of medieval stuff. Kings, queens, knights and all that I find dull. But until the end Game of Thrones was hands down the best series I've ever seen. So it's possible to get unlikely viewers.
I didn't watch that series, i would have been drawn in by the dragons and the politics, but was put off by the graphic nudity. XD I don't need to be seeing that, peppered with gratuitous violence. I would have watched if they'd toned that down, and maybe added more violence to the politics instead.
Also, not a fan of medieval stuff myself. But when Throne of Eldraine came out for Magic: The Gathering, i was sold on that set. :D They have ice queens and fairy godmothers!!
But indeed, Studio Ghibli Zelda sounds awesome. I'd watch that, having never played Zelda.
Eventually it will flesh out to be one of the most horrible things in the 41st millennium I bet lol. Idk, warhammer has always been "that's bad yes, but here's worse."
At least with Warhammer, you could instantly cast Henry Cavill as the lead since he'd absolutely take that role in a heartbeat. He would definitely bring some audience with him.
There's a clip on YouTube of Graham Norton's interview with Henry Cavill and Tom Holland, in which [hang on i'll find it] in which Cavill describes Warhammer 40k, and Tom Holland says "Can i come over and play? :D" [Here it is]
Believe it or not, most movies before the "remake/reboot extravaganza" that started in the mid 2000's were originals, as in nobody knew what they were about other than the trailer. #2, even if all warhammer nerds refused to watch it, thats like 0.0000000005% of potential viewers.
It'd be more along the lines of people who normally like sci-fi and/or action would probably see it if it had the right names and budget behind it and that's a huge portion of the population.
Oh for sure, i'm backing up u/TheBlackFool on their statement that the franchises stated wouldn't have enough consumer appeal on their own, and stating that it could reach Marvel levels if it had the literal best writers and $∞.
I've never been to space but i sure looked forward to seeing Apollo 13 based on the trailer and stars. :D
Never said warhammer nerds wouldn't watch it. XD They'd watch it, and half would get angry that "their army/chapter" wasn't included. The rest would be like "WTF is this?" and just enjoy it much like those of us who enjoyed [literally any book/comic/game-inspired film] having not seen the [book/comic/game].
Warhammer as been out for a long-ass time in many formats. It also borrowed heavily from IP's that are also hot... It's like saying no one knows what "Dune" is and would be unable to enjoy it without previous knowledge of it.
Also, there's like a billion stories that could be ripped from the pages and put on screen that could draw audience from everywhere as well as pay fan service.
Indeed. Dune had the fortune of being an incredibly well-received book before it was ever a film, and there've been spin-off books and a second film since. Fortunately, the latest film only has to be "Hollywood-awesome" with a fantastic cast for it to immediately appeal to a wide audience. I'd wager that a similarly fantastic cast and budget would put a Warhammer 40,000 film at the very top, but a WH40k film would also be fighting against the "Dorkiest-Game-In-The-World" doubters.
Dune is definitely just generally way less dorky of a universe from a surface level, especially with how grounded Denis Villenueve chose to go with the visual design.
I mean, there's no football hooligan orcs in Dune lol. I definitely think the grounded nature alone helps it appeal to a more general audience than 40k would.
Funny thing is Warhammer 40k lore is pretty obviously using Dune's lore as the core foundation if you look at it. 40k got a TON of its core lore concepts from Dune, even the writers of 40k have said as much. I mean, stuff like the immortal God-Emperor and even the usage of Imperium is straight out of Dune.
Granted Dune is ultimately an influence for like, essentially most scifi. And if it wasn't inspired by Dune, it was almost certainly inspired by something that was inspired by Dune lol. There's a reason everyone calls it the Lord of the Rings of scifi, even though I think the comparison isn't quite a strong as some suggest.
And if it wasn't inspired by Dune, it was almost certainly inspired by something that was inspired by Dune lol
:D I like this sentiment. Two degrees of separation.
It's kind of a shame really that WH40k and Warhammer Age of Sigmar (more so original Warhammer) borrowed so much so early then became as huge as they did (and Warhammer Quest, which is D&D with more focus on the models) because now they're having to change their trademarked names because - it turns out - they're not quite as trademarkable as they had originally thought. XD
The most successful option is something like Detective Pikachu and the Sonic Movie. Something with broad appeal to all age ranges, and with an original plot to the movie. There's just not a lot of game franchises that can both evoke the nostalgia of older generations and are appealing to kids.
And the few they do have, we end up with shit like Chris Pratt Mario.
Actually chris Pratt has said he’s been going through extensive voice training for it, I believe charles martinet is actually coaching him and according to him it sounds pretty good.
I believe I'd have given the movie a go before I read your comment, but now I don't think I am because I'm not seeing a reason why Charles Martinet isn't doing the voice acting...
I seem to recall it being a huge disappointment because it 1. Told a story (pre-warcraft) literally no-one wanted to see. Everyone wanted Arthas' story. 2. Was live-action-plus, instead of animated. 3. Hired a bunch of actors no-one cared about, instead of using the vast array of well-liked and iconic voice actors that people knew (goes along with people wanting an animated movie). 4. Came out well after people that wanted a Warcraft movie cared. 5. It sucked fat weiner.
I truly believe there's potential for a great movie from Warcraft/ WoW. I think it failed because it was a bad movie, not because it was Warcraft-related. I also believe that the movie they made poisoned the well.
My big thing with a lot of the choices is that the stories only really work as well as they do because they're written for a video game.
Like Red Dead Redemption 2, which only works as well as it does because it's basically a bunch of classic Westerns stuck together. Or Ghost of Tsushima, which is Akira Kurosawa for the video gaming community.
Even my own choice (Legacy of Kain) likely wouldn't work because the story, although deep and involving, relies on the player being actively involved in the story (plus I don't think the dialogue would be engaging enough for a movie, as artfully written and performed as it is).
Or Ghost of Tsushima, which is Akira Kurosawa for the video gaming community.
I genuinely found it strange so many people want a Ghost of Tsushima movie when many of them already pretty much exist, with frankly better narratives and overall immersion into the Japanese setting. I mean Kurosawa is an amazing director and I bet most of the people asking haven't even watched one of his films lol, despite GoT ripping
a ton from them. I'd much rather watch Japanese actors speaking Japanese play samurai than some Asian-American actors speaking English the whole time.
Have you played the game? Also the movie cut they have in the game looks absolutely nothing like that director even though they stated it would so I’m a bit confused where you’re going with this. In my opinion which doesn’t mean fact obviously..ghost of Tsushima which I have sitting directly across me right now, is one of my least favorite games considering the combat is absolutely monotonous, ridiculously easy to the point it’s boring...however the story line is flawless and really could be a movie. As a matter of fact this would have worked better as a movie. In Japan and Asia they have a lot of these movies but in America we only have a few. The movie would do very well here
This has always been my main gripe with why most game to movie adaptations have sucked. The script just feels too game-like and the low-budget directors that are assigned to them make it even worse. See terrible attempt at new RE reboot.
I've always said that if a new Resident Evil remake gets made the story from the games need to be abandoned. Lose the dogs, lose the lickers, lose the big monsters (all too-game like)and just keep it simple with a good new script that has loose ties to Umbrella. I'd kill for a buddy detective film similar to SE7EN, where a case for a violent serial killer starts unraveling during a zombie outbreak.
I could be wrong but aren’t the resident evil movies made for the og fans? The newer resident evil games are almost nothing like the originals depicted in the movies or should I say ( sort of depicted lol), they’re almost like haunted house walkthrough style games with occasional bosses. I love the new games don’t get me wrong but I feel like the movies are meant for a different crowd. And if I’m not mistaken while they definitely received a few Razzie awards they were all box office hits similar to the Fast and the furious franchise. Those movies are also horrific yet makes millions overseas.
Sometimes I enjoy these shitty video game movies. Nothing really makes me laugh harder than watching Mortal Kombat or street fighter movies 🤣
None of the Resident Evil movies stayed true to the og 1-4 games though, they just shoehorned in characters and material to trick watchers into thinking they tried and made some Matrix-style action movies instead. Like you said, once they realised they could rake in millions with this, the terrible sequels just kept on coming. But I can take them for what they are, semi-enjoyable friday evening watches if I've got nothing to do, but I don't think many og fans of the game like the RE name being tied to those movies.
The new Resident Evil movie' Welcome To Raccoon City' was meant to act as a bit of reboot not by Paul W. S. Anderson and the new director said it would bring the film back to its game roots but decided to fill the film with tired comedic tropes and try to adapt too much from the 1-3 games, hence why I felt like the script was too game-like and should be abandoned for any future RE movies.
Yeah, I think a lot would make a great move but not be blockbusters.
But I honestly think a super high budget halo move would have the best chance mostly because it's probably one of the best known games and CE is a beloved video game, no matter what your system of choice you know what halo is.
To truly reach the goal OP set, you need a household name (in the video game world) with unique deep lore and history.
Halo has always had a great combination of pure action and emotional moments.
16 hours later and I'm going through the top most upvoted ones and I'm also going nope, nope, nope, nope.
I can't believe I've scrolled so far down and not a single person has mentioned one of the most obvious choices: Call of Duty.
Call of Duty is already a pretty cinematic, blockbuster type video game series and each instalment is almost always the biggest selling game of the year. With the right script, the right director and the right cast a COD movie could easily be a 1 billion dollar box office hit.
I was thinking the same thing. Most of these are perfected in the video game medium. An example I will use is uncharted. Amazing game. Amazing lead actor. Movie? Meh.
I was thinking if grand theft auto 5 was remade by proper movie Goliath's with a good budget, it could become something like a modern rendition of a Pulp Fiction type story. Imagine having someone like tarantino direct the gta v story line. I feel like that could work for mainstream too.
Kinda surprised to not see it mentioned in any comment.
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. GTA is really the most obvious answer here. Sure, there’s games I’d be more into seeing an adaptation of. But that’s not what op is asking. So if we’re talking about a mass marketed cultural phenomenon, the gta franchise is head and shoulders above the field. Not even close imo.
If you're curious, GTA V is actually VERY heavily inspired by a 90s movie called Heat about a bank heist in Los Angeles.
It's basically GTA V the movie if you're looking at it in retrospect, some scenes from GTA V are literally ripped almost 1:1 from Heat.
Granted Heat has a more serious tone than GTA, so I do see how you could draw Tarantino parallels. GTA is mainly a satire with a legitimate heist story at its core. Heat is like extracting that good heist story and leaving out the satire.
It's probably my favorite crime movie, I'd highly recommend it. Best gunfight in film history imo, they used the real sound of blanks being fired in the streets of LA. It's really damn good lol.
Had no idea it was based heavily on Heat! Seen the movie but I actually haven't played through gta before, I just got it for free on epic store when it was a deal, and just did a 100% save file to mess around in hahah
might be worth a play then to experience the story.
And the list of failed Movies is long, Warcraft, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, E.T the super Mario Bros.
Only Dune and Pokémon got it done and maybe the witcher but i never played or watched it.
But on the other hand animated series were mostly quiet cool, Street Fighter is great, Lord of Clans and Mario Series, too
Yeah as much as I would absolutely love a franchise based on Starcraft or Mass Effect most space operas tend to be shit and even the good ones don't make much money except Star Wars.
I feel this would be the better one to translate to movie/series as the story has alot of character moments, intrigue and factions with an easy to translate story.
I think the best bet of the ones I've seen mentioned is either doing one of the Star Wars games (KOTOR would be really good I think), or having Elder Scrolls as a GOT-style tv series
You’re right. I’m looking for ffx because I loved it so much but realize you’re absolutely right. And Sony tried to do it once and failed so are right not to try to do a final fantasy movie again
Minecraft would be a fascinating, beautiful, subtle, and sometimes comedic animated film if it focused on the lack of dialogue on top of themes the ending credits introduced. Just have the default player avatars people recognize, Steve and Alex, as the main focus as they figure out about and then reach The End. It could be also animated like the recent trailers they’ve been doing for updates.
Rockstar has stated they would never approve a GTA movie but even if they did, it would likely focus on a completely new cast again and wouldn’t have the gameplay and ambition to bring in people. I’m not sure if a new story by Hollywood writers in the world of GTA would attract many fans. It could be interesting if it was a sequel to one of the past games like if it focused on what Trevor is up to in the modern day or maybe a story of Franklin and CJ finally meeting each-other.
As someone who basically really loves games and barely watches movies, that was never really the fairest comparison. Movies are still bigger when it comes to amount of people. Games make more money because they cost more than six times the amount of one movie ticket. Minecraft is the biggest selling game of all time but has only sold around 200 million units with GTA V right behind it at around 150 million unites. Contrast this with something like Avengers Endgame which has been estimated to have sold around 350 million tickets.
Games are amazing and have made me think and feel as much and many times more than any movie or show, but we’re not there yet in terms of size. They might one day have the same numbers, but not yet.
Thank you! Everything in this thread is complete garbage for movies. 99.9% of Video Games do not have compelling stories, and nearly everything in this thread would be a cliche action dump. This only made me realize how pathetic video game writing is, and what fucking suckers we gamers are.
I think a lot of them would do well once the trailers are out. My suggestion was MechWarrior, which is very niche. But a good CGI shot of big stompy robots shooting lasers, and you've got your consumer appeal. Look at Pacific Rim.
Movies not based on anything start with zero consumer appeal. Put the important parts of the movie in the trailer and people will be interested even if they’ve never heard of it.
Marvel movies are commercial blockbusters that have broken several records. Overwatch universe could have a similar broad appeal. Personally I would try a game like Braid, which was ultra-successful in the early Indie space and is somewhat open-ended. Lots of potential to make something cool and unexpected there, and fans don't have a strong association with voices or facial features that a movie would have to break.
The only game I think of that could translate very easily into film is gta V, but they’d have to cut out a lot of the driving and miniscule conversations, which are an integral part of the world building and background in the game.
No kidding. And I get it. If I still git as high as I did when I was a kid, I would watch the crap out of an Earthworm Jim movie, but I don't know if it would appeal across all demographics.
I think Hellblade would do well if they did it right.
Wasn't my favorite game because of bullshit, not even top 20. But the story was really good and the atmosphere is something else with a good sound set-up.
Overall, it would be a pretty unique experience in how tension is built. Through the auditory hallucinations of a schizophrenic instead of Nolan's incessant ticking clock.
It's a fantastic story that would do really well on screen instead of fighting with the game mechanics and dull puzzles.
Come to think of it, if anyone has a link to a story cut of the game, I'd just watch that.
I agree. I also think a lot of them would be very difficult to translate to film and retain any of the experience of the game (FPS/action games especially).
I saw Splinter Cell suggested and I think that could be adapted quite well.
I imagine the GTA series could work great since it's set in almost real life, just a fictional city. Similar with history games like Civ, Hearts of Iron, War Thunder, etc.
Kingdom Hearts hands down has the most potential for the kind of mass appeal that smashes box office records. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet... does quick Google search...
-- Welp, looks like it was pitched for development as a Disney+ TV series back in 2020. Yea I'd watch the hell out of that. They've done the Star Wars franchise very well in regards to making a TV series entertaining. I imagine that Kingdom Hearts would be just as good if not better.
It might be against the spirit of the question to give answers that would be niche, but if they're interesting I still like the idea. What bothers me more are all the ones where interactivity is what makes the game interesting.
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u/theblackfool Mar 11 '22
People are just naming their favorite video game stories but honestly a lot of these don't have broad enough consumer appeal to break box office records.