tv series or film based on a video game?

[atlantalliance]

what do you think so far? Sonic the Hedgehog tv, Red Faction origins, Mortal Kombat movie, Wing Commander movie, Zombie Massacre and other notorious Uwe Bowl films, the tv series Defiance....
is the genre working?

 

[JD]

I don't think Defiance should be put in with the others. The show wasn't based on the video game, they were equal companion productions that were both made at the same time.
As for your question, while a lot of the ones made so far have been very good, I don't think there's anything wrong with the video game adaptations in general. It's really not any different than novel or comic book adaptations. There have been a lot of bad comic book and novel adaptations, but they still work. I think all that needs to happen is for them to be given the same kind of attention and care that are given to the big comic book and novel adaptations that have been coming out.
I also wouldn't say that video game adaptations are a genre, the are video games are just the source material, the movies are in a lot of different genres.

 

[atlantalliance]

Personally I don't think video game based adaptations have worked out great yet, there is always something missing and you often feel like you a playing a card game or watching cgi cut scenes from Xbox or Nintendo rather than watching a movie....it's just not there yet. Comicbook adaptations have made that transition, because some comic books have great writers, you only need look to people like Alan Moore, Joss Whedon, JMS, Gene Luen Yang, Stan Lee, Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, and movies like Ghost World, Akira, A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, the Crow, Persepolis, Oldboy...to see how far the comicbook genre has come

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I actually would like to see them do a Gauntlet film. Then at random moments you could hear that snarky voiceover just come out of nowhere, like "Awww...someone shot the food..."

 

[CorporalClegg]

Video games will eventually be the big Hollywood trend. Someone just has to get one right, first. For a while, Warcraft looked like it might be it, but it seems like it's going to be another pile of shit.

But, like every successful media crossover before, eventually someone will figure out how to do it.

 

[JoeZhang]

Resident evil is on its sixth franchise film so...

 

[JD]

Personally I don't think video game based adaptations have worked out great yet, there is always something missing and you often feel like you a playing a card game or watching cgi cut scenes from Xbox or Nintendo rather than watching a movie....it's just not there yet. Comicbook adaptations have made that transition, because some comic books have great writers, you only need look to people like Alan Moore, Joss Whedon, JMS, Gene Luen Yang, Stan Lee, Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, and movies like Ghost World, Akira, A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, the Crow, Persepolis, Oldboy...to see how far the comicbook genre has come

And we've gotten some great games with stories that are just as good as the stories in a lot of TV show and movies. We're pretty much in a golden age of storytelling in video games right now, all we need is talented people to put together movies and TV shows that can bring those great stories into the other mediums. There's nothing to keep that from happening right now, and there's no reason one of the movies being worked on couldn't be the one to do that.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Lara Croft was based on a video game. The movies were quite popular I think.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, it's hard to say. I think for the most part, series or movies based on a game franchise have been terrible, and it's rare that any of them have risen above their stigma. A lot of that has to do with trying to write a story around something that never had any, and while the writers may have the best intentions, often the result ends up being something awkward.

 

[Kelthaz]

A lot of that has to do with trying to write a story around something that never had any, and while the writers may have the best intentions, often the result ends up being something awkward.

Nah, that's not the problem. Most video games have enough story to adapt into a movie and the well known franchises (Mega Man, Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Metal Gear, Castlevania, etc.) have enough lore and story to support their own cinematic universe if the demand was there. The problem is that the studios don't believe that a faithful adaption would appeal to non-fans and would only break even at best. And the sad thing is I think they're right.

Although Nintendo's CEO has recently said that they plan to expand their characters into anime and films, so maybe things will change soon. A CGI Super Mario Bros. movie or live action Zelda film could be pretty cool.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Nah, that's not the problem. Most video games have enough story to adapt into a movie and the well known franchises (Mega Man, Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Metal Gear, Castlevania, etc.) have enough lore and story to support their own cinematic universe if the demand was there.

I'm talking more about the games that don't really have any lore or story to them beyond very thin setups to begin with, like for instance Street Fighter or Double Dragon (both of which had movies), which then try to have a story expanded on for the purposes of the movie. But some franchises do make for better movies, which tend to be franchises that have a bit more built up around it already, like Tomb Raider which was already mentioned.

Some Nintendo franchises like Zelda would make for interesting movies, I admit, but that already has a bit more going for it than something thin on backstory. Plus, we did have Mario and Zelda cartoons in the 90's.

As for Sonic, I remember two Sonic series both airing around the same time. One had bright colours, and the other had a darker palette.

I watched the Need for Speed movie recently, and that was surprisingly fun with some good stunts. But at the same time, they could just as easily given it a different title unaffiliated with the games.

 

[Kelthaz]

I'm talking more about the games that don't really have any lore or
story to them beyond very thin setups to begin with, like for instance Street Fighter or Double Dragon (both of which had movies), which then try to have a story expanded on for the purposes of the movie.

Street Fighter has tons of story. Here, just take a quick look at what the Street Fighter wiki has for story on Chun-li, a single character among dozens. You could probably make a film or two for every character in the franchise. As for Double Dragon, I really don't know much about that franchise but I'm sure there's enough story there for a few action movies. G.I. Joe has a third film in production, so I'm pretty sure Double Dragon would be okay.

 

[JD]

Nah, that's not the problem. Most video games have enough story to adapt into a movie and the well known franchises (Mega Man, Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Metal Gear, Castlevania, etc.) have enough lore and story to support their own cinematic universe if the demand was there. The problem is that the studios don't believe that a faithful adaption would appeal to non-fans and would only break even at best. And the sad thing is I think they're right.

I'm really hopeful that the studio's attitude that you are talking about might be starting to change. I don't really know the lore, but a lot of the fans seemed to be pretty happy with what they saw in terms of the story in the Warcraft trailer, and they do seem to be putting quite a bit of money and support behind it.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I really, really want a Mass Effect movie.

The problem with a lot of the attempts to make movies out of video games is that the video games they pick have really simple characters and worlds that lose their magic and charm if you try to give the characters dialog and tell a two hour story. Also they tend to hand these worlds to middling writers not that familiar with the franchise so they just plug the characters names' into their default story ideas.

Now on the other hand we have a lot of very cinematic video games that do lots of world building, which would transition a lot more easily to a good film. Franchises like God of War, Mass Effect.

Hell, all the films that aired previews for Star Wars TFA lived in the same sort of world as God Of War. Giant monsters and Roman mythology, the only tricky part is casting Kratos.

I don't know how you would do it with games driven by a single non-speaking protagonist like Zelda. It'd take a really good writer who is very familiar with the series.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Street Fighter has tons of story. Here, just take a quick look at what the Street Fighter wiki has for story on Chun-li, a single character among dozens.

Ok, but how much of that backstory is due to the original movie? Also, if I remember correctly, there was another movie released which focused on her. The original movie was made due to the popularity of Street FIghter 2, but the game itself was thin on story.

Also, I want an Uncharted movie.

 

[Taylirious]

I'd watch a Street Fighter, Double Dragon, Metroid or Ninja Gaiden series.

 

[Kelthaz]

Ok, but how much of that backstory is due to the original movie?

You're under the impression that fighting games lack plot, but that's not true. The developers put an enormous amount of effort into creating the backstory for their characters and lore for their world. Just google a random character from a popular series like Mortal Kombat or Guilty Gear to see what I mean.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Fighting games might have backstory and skits in between fights but the gameplay is not designed to relate to the story, so you have to stretch and really go far outside the source content to build a story, which only works if they hire a good writer which they don't want to pay for in that kind of film.

It's more adventure games and RPGs that can naturally become movies, because they do worldbuilding and the goal of the gameplay is based on what's going on in the story.

 

[Owain Taggart]

^^ Exactly. Backstory will only do so much before they have to stretch if there's not really much there to begin with. I think of backstory as a guideline or framework. Often the end result is a movie that strays far what fans find ideal. Even Doom worked barely and technically had interesting backstory.

 

[tomalak301]

Do we really want another Super Mario Bros. Movie.

I did enjoy Mortal Kombat though, corny as it was.