Last year was touted as the year that video game movies finally got it right. However Duncan Jones' Warcraft movie came in over-budget and was thus a box office failure despite grossing $433.7 million. Assassin's Creed boasted a lead cast of Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons and Marion Cotillard but still bombed, getting trampled by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Nevertheless, there's still a Minecraft movie, Tomb Raider reboot, Dwayne Johnson-led Rampage adaptation and Pokemon movie in development. Like, 2008's Iron Man, all it will take is one wildly-successful film to kickstart an entire cinematic movement. It's this school of thought that has studios unwilling to give up on video game adaptations despite repeated shortcomings.
Weighing in on the current trend is director Paul W. S. Anderson, fresh off his final installment in that franchise and 2007 Hitman director, Xavier Gens.
"Video game adaptations are more likely to fail than they are to succeed. And it's not because there is anything inherently wrong with the idea of adapting video games," says Anderson, whose Resident Evil franchise is the most successful video game movie franchise of all-time. "It's a fine line that you walk pleasing those two audiences. I think it's a little easier if you are adapting a comic book rather than something that's already a visual medium with moving image."
Gens added that he thinks the Last of Us movie has the best shot of reversing the trend out of all the upcoming titles in development.
"You are seeing a relationship form between the two characters and all the decisions you are doing is impacting that relationship. The Last of Us will probably be the most successful — among audiences and critics — video game adaptation, because the video game is already so well-written in terms of character."
Do you think we'll ever get a critically-acclaimed, box office smash-hit video game adaptation? Or do you agree with Anderson's point of view, that the fact that video games are already filled with moving images is a handicap that's nearly impossible to overcome?