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Video game adaptations in film and television

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A video game adaptation is primarily a film or television series that is based on a video game, usually incorporating elements of the game's plot or gameplay.

History

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1986–1992: First feature films

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Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! and Running Boy Star Soldier no Himitsu were the first two feature films adapted from video games. Both films were adapted from Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System games in 1986. The first live action film adapted from a video game was the 1988 direct-to-video film Mirai Ninja, based on the Namco arcade game of the same name.[1] Between 1991 and 1992, anime films and television series based on Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai were released.

1993–2001: Mainstream breakthrough

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The first live action film based on a video game, the eponymous Super Mario Bros., was released on May 28, 1993, to both critical and commercial failure. Critics including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert criticized the film's lack of faithfulness to the source material.[2] Other films include Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.[3][4]

 
Paul W. S. Anderson in 2012

Super Mario Bros. was followed in 1994 by other adaptations, such as Double Dragon and Street Fighter, which received similarly negative reviews. This changed with the 1995 film Mortal Kombat, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, which was the first adaptation to gain a critical and commercial success;[5] the film remains one of the highest-rated video game films among critics.[6]

Animated films and shows also began gaining mainstream success. The anime series Pokémon (1997–present) became the most successful video game adaptation of all time.[7] The anime films Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994), Pokémon: The First Movie (1998) and Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (1999) became internationally successful. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) was a major milestone in computer animation, but was a box office failure.

2002–2017: Expansion and mixed success

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Video game film adaptations in Hollywood gained notoriety during this period due to large number of films drew mixed-to-negative or panned response.[8][9] Some of the more successful film adaptations during this time include the Resident Evil series (2002–2016), Silent Hill (2006), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Warcraft (2016).

 
Uwe Boll in 2016.

Among one of the most notorious video game filmmakers is Uwe Boll, a German writer, director, and producer whose works include House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal, and Far Cry, all of which were almost universally panned by critics and are considered among the worst films ever made.[10] Conversely, Paul W. S. Anderson has gained a reputation for his panned video game adaptations in the 21st century, particularly Resident Evil series and Monster Hunter.[11]

Critics and developers' response

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Shigeru Miyamoto addressed criticisms of video game adaptation.

Similar to comic book-based films in the past, adaptations tended to carry a reputation of lackluster quality and receive negative reaction from both film critics and fans of the source material.[12] This is generally due to difficulties in adopting a story meant to be played interactively into a linear movie-going experience.[13]

The reason for the failure of video game adaptations is that structural conversion from video game to film format can be challenging for filmmakers. Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Nintendo franchises including Mario and Zelda, said in a 2007 interview:

I think that part of the problem with translating games to movies is that the structure of what makes a good game is very different from the structure of what makes a good movie. Movies are a much more passive medium, where the movie itself is telling a story and you, as the viewer, are relaxing and taking that in passively. Whereas video games are a much more active medium where you are playing along with the story. ... I think that video games, as a whole, have a very simple flow in terms of what’s going on in the game. We make that flow entertaining by implementing many different elements to the video game to keep the player entertained. Movies have much more complex stories, or flow, to them, but the elements that affect that flow are limited in number. So I think that because these surrounding elements in these two different mediums vary so greatly, when you fail to take that into account then you run into problems.[14]

In an interview with Fortune in August 2015, Miyamoto said, "Because games and movies seem like similar mediums, people’s natural expectation is we want to take our games and turn them into movies. … I’ve always felt video games, being an interactive medium, and movies, being a passive medium, mean the two are quite different."[15]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated that video games are "inherently inferior to film and literature" and that "video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control."[16]

2018–present: Modern age

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Observers noted a substantial uptick in the critical and commercial success of video game adaptations in the late 2010s and 2020s.[17][18][19][20] Until 2019, no video game film–live-action or animated–had received a Rotten Tomatoes "fresh" rating, with a score over 60%. Four films since, Detective Pikachu, The Angry Birds Movie 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Detention have been able to break into the "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[21][12] Both Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog have posted better-than-expected domestic takes,[12] with Sonic having the highest domestic opening through 2020.[22] Sonic's success led to its sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 releasing in April 2022 and beating the first film's domestic opening.[23] Upon these films improved since 2019 but not only ones who also received likely below 75% of fresh rating from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, Detention (2019) and Werewolves Within (2021) took over the record with 86% of positive reviews.[24]

Creators of film and television adaptations found quickly that to help appeal these shows to video game audiences, they had to assure the work showed respect for the video game it was based on, both in narratives and appearance, following the online fan backlash to the original appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog that had been shown in the original trailers for Sonic the Hedgehog, which the studio reworked before the theatrical release.[25] Video game adaptations in film and television have also led to growth of players in the original video game work, such as the case with Cyberpunk 2077 and Fallout games.[26][27]

Shows were all critically-praised series based on video games since 2017,[28][29][30][31] allows American streaming companies began to air television series based on video games. Successful animated series during this time include Castlevania (2017–2021), Arcane (2021–2024) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022).[32] The first success of a live-action series is a British crime drama series Gangs of London (2020–present). Successful high-budget live-action series include The Last of Us (2023–present) and Fallout (2024–present), both were nominated the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.[33][34]

Reception

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Revenue

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Main article: List of highest-grossing films based on video games

Though video game films are generally critically panned, they tend to do well from the international take at box offices. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, based on the Mario game franchise, holds the highest take of any video game adaptation with US$1.36 billion, and was considered the most profitable film of 2023 by Deadline Hollywood, while the six Resident Evil films hold the highest take for a live-action series of US$1.2 billion on an average production budget between US$30 to 50 million and Pokémon is the overall highest-grossing video game film franchise with US$1.5 billion.[12][35]

Only six films have grossed more than $400 million in the box office worldwide as of April 2023: Warcraft (2016), Rampage (2018), Detective Pikachu (2019), Uncharted (2022), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), with the latter becoming the first video game film to ever pass the $1 billion mark, making it one of the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time.

Awards

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Video game adaptations have top-notched the main recognitions in major award ceremonies, most primarily the divisions of Emmy Awards, started in the late-2010s.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Chute, Harrison (13 January 2023). "Best Video Game Adaptations That Prove They're Not All Terrible". Collider. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  2. ^ Siskel, Jean; Ebert, Roger (18 August 2008). Siskel & Ebert Review "Super Mario Bros.". YouTube. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  3. ^ Weaver, Ross (24 September 2021). "A Brief History of Video Game Movies". Film Cred. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  4. ^ Partin, Will (7 April 2017). "The Golden Age of Shitty Videogame Adaptations". Medium. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  5. ^ Hogan, John (18 August 2020). "Still Sinfully Good | Mortal Kombat Turns 25". HeadStuff. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Every Movie Based on a Videogame, Ranked Worst to Best". www.metacritic.com. 8 August 2024. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  7. ^ Bailey, Kat (17 November 2016). "Why the Pokemon Anime is the Most Successful Adaptation of a Videogame Ever". VG247. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  8. ^ Donato, Matt (23 January 2023). "The Video Game Adaptation Curse Is A Myth". IGN. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  9. ^ Martinez, Marina. "Breaking the "Video game curse"". Three Penny Press. Archived from the original on 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
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  15. ^ Morris, Chris (21 August 2015). "Shigeru Miyamoto Talks Nintendo's Return to the Movie World". Fortune. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
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  26. ^ Batchelor, James (22 January 2022). "Cyberpunk 2077 ramps up to 1m active players following Netflix anime, Edgerunners update". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
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  43. ^ Vary, Adam B. (12 July 2023). "'The Last of Us' Emmy Noms Make It the First Live-Action Video Game Adaptation to Earn Major Awards Consideration". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  44. ^ Tangcay, Jazz; Littleton, Cynthia (6 January 2024). "'The Last of Us' Grabs Eight Wins on Night 1 of 2023 Creative Arts Emmy Awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
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