One thing people love seeing in theaters is a movie based on their favorite video game, but these video game adaptations face many challenges that other movies don’t. These films often fail to meet expectations- and in turn let down audiences. However, 2023 seems to have brought a new light to video game adaptations, leaving audiences once again pleased.
Filmmakers are always on the lookout for stories from other popular art forms to adapt. However, the film industry has been dealing with a conundrum on that front for the past three decades. Video games, a rapidly growing art form, replete with great stories and beloved characters, have somehow become the most difficult thing to adapt into films.
For years, Hollywood has been questioning why so many video game adaptations over the years failed to meet expectations. While attempts like the Resident Evil film series and the Lara Croft films were successful at the box office, they were never critically acclaimed. Other attempts like Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, Max Payne, Hitman, and Need for Speed, failed to replicate even a fraction of their respective video game’s successes.
However, video games have never been more requested by Hollywood than they are now, especially in the year 2023: a year marked as a massive success for video game adaptations.
HBO’s The Last of Us came out January 15, 2023, and kicked off the year in a positive direction. This nine-episode series takes viewers through the events of the first game of the two-part series, following Ellie and Joel through a unique take on a zombie apocalypse.
Fans of the games loved this series, as it remained faithful to the game throughout every episode. Along with the fans, non-fans enjoyed this show as well. Although it remained faithful to the game, it didn’t sacrifice any of the good qualities of a TV show: good casting, a great pilot and finale, consistent quality throughout the series, or fitting music to be accurate.
Even before the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, fans were already expecting the worst from this film. With Mario being one of the first video games, the nostalgia of the game brought on expectations exceedingly hard to meet.
The biggest contributor to the fans’ doubts was a questionable celebrity casting choice for multiple characters. Although everyone loved the idea of Jack Black as Bowser, the same could not be said about Chris Pratt as Mario, as fans didn’t believe he would fit the Italian character. However, when the movie was released on April 5, 2023, fans were faced with a pleasant surprise.
Chris Pratt did fit the character of Mario- the movie one at least. Instead of the Mario Bros. holding their usual Italian accent, the characters were changed to be from Brooklyn, New York, holding a Brooklyn accent. This was not the only change made from the games to the film, the most notable one was for the character of Princess Peach.
Princess Peach had always been the damsel in distress for the games, however, for the movie that was changed to be Luigi. Princess Peach was finally able to break her harmful stereotype and was one of the more important characters in the film, training Mario so that he would be able to save his brother.
Although there were changes from the game series and drastically high expectations to meet, fans loved this film and even wanted to see more like it, such as the recently announced Legend of Zelda movie.
While some game adaptations can be incredibly popular, some end up splitting their fanbases. Such was the case for “Gran Turismo.” The basic premise of the film told the real-life story of Jann Mardenborough, the teenage Gran Turismo player who became a professional race car driver.
The film wasn’t too hyped up before its release but leading up to its premiere, fan screenings were done to help promote the film, where audiences came out with exceptionally positive reviews.
The game adaptation was also able to appeal to fans of the Gran Turismo games, while also making it accessible to broader audiences by telling a coming-of-age story.
With an all-at-once episode release on July 27, fans of Twisted Metal were able to experience a ten-episode first-season adaptation of the game on Peacock.
The show transports viewers into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where walls were built around cities to keep the civilians inside and the criminals outside. The story follows John Doe, played by Anthony Mackie, a milkman whose job is to go from city to city to deliver cargo until he’s given a task to deliver a mysterious package across the country. As they go further East, the further the insanity of the characters gets, the perfect example being the deranged clown known as Sweet Tooth, played by Samoa Joe and Will Arnet.
This show took a more comedic approach to the game’s lore, which alienated fans at first who wanted a more serious adaptation. With the first clip of the show featuring John Doe and Sweet Tooth fighting in an abandoned casino, with “Thong Song” by Sisqo playing randomly in the background, it’s no surprise fans were outraged online.
When the show was released, fans were surprised that the show ended up being a lot better than the buildup to its release. Although the series hasn’t been renewed for season two as of yet, it could have the chance given its success and the rise of more video game adaptations.
The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie encountered severe pressure due to the audience’s high standards, much like the Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a multi-part video game series like most of these adaptations, however, unlike the others with crystal clear lore, the story for Five Nights at Freddy’s, although present, is almost completely pieced together by the fans.
Although fans enjoy putting together the lore for the games, fans wanted the movie to stay true to that lore, and potentially answer some unanswered questions. Another reason fans didn’t expect the movie to be up to par initially was because of some fan-made content for the games, mainly the Five Nights at Freddy’s VHS Tape series.
With the excessive release of video game adaptations in 2023, many more are in development for the coming years. From “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”, to the sequel to the 2021 film “Mortal Kombat”, the amount of game adaptations to feature-length movies and shows seemed to have increased dramatically over the last few years.
This year, Hollywood has finally cracked the code on how to deliver video game adaptations that appeal to both fans of the games, and casual movie watchers and TV bingers.
Even with adaptations such as “The Legend of Zelda,” “Borderlands” and “God of War” in development, Hollywood seems to have no plans to stop green-lighting video game adaptations in the future, marking a possible future with much more developed films of game adaptations.
