One of the biggest enigmas in commercial cinema is the failure of video game films. Around 30 films have been adapted from video games and only one film has received a rating of over 50 on Metacritic. That was Mortal Kombat that received an 55. These films don't just perform badly critically. At the Box office they are generally failures. So what's to blame for the correlated failure of video game films? Is there hope for video game films? Or should they just end the game?
Source Material Ravaged?
The first ever video game film, Super Mario Bros (1993), was a massive failure. The biggest criticism for this is the look of the film and the source material looking so polarised to the game. The film took a more 'human' approach. , King Koopa shouldn't of been the main villain and shouldn't of been human. Bowser has been and mostly been the central villain to Mario. The look of the film was nowhere near the resemblance of the fun tone of the game. the only connection the film had with the game was the title of the film and the character names. This is not the only film that ignored the origins of the game. Later on, the film Doom (2005), ignored the actual plot of the game. Doom, the game, relied around an invasion from Hell but in the film a virus was to explain for the monsters of the film.; likely to try and pass itself for the hugely popular horror genre, the zombie survival genre. Even though it had one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen in a film, the 1st person shooter scene, it was a failure critically and commercially. Films ripping up the folklore of games angers the target audience of the film, the fans of the game, without them there is no audience. The more successful video game films have stuck close to source material, in reference to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Mortal Kombat (1995); both to a sense commercially successful. They are not perfect adaptations and are not completely faithful but does bear resemblance to the video game which is rare commodity. It's trivial why film makers buy the rights of a video game and refuse to use elements important to the video game franchises. It can be argued to aid the failure of these films.
Video Games Cannot be Crossed With Other Media?
The best argument for explaining why video game film fail is because of the interactivity of gaming is an experience that is impossible to replicate on the big screen. Dan Houser, Rockstar Games Co Founder, perfectly describes this by stating about a Grand Theft Auto film, 'We've got this big open-world experience that's 100 hours long......How do you condense that into a two-hour or 12-hour experience where you take away the main things: player agency and freedom?"
(IGN, 2013) This explains that video games are not like films, the audience decides what happens to the characters, the way they talk, walk and progress. Films are decided by the film maker. Video Games are a popular media due the interactivity that is foreign to any other medium. Film cannot replicate the interactivity of gaming and an argument that the struggle to create this experience leads to the failure of these films. This argument is the most valid and explains the consistent failure of video game films. However video games are quite popular in expanded media. The Halo, Bioshock and Assassins Creed literature are hugely popular. To conclude that video games films are impossible to be successful is not so simple. The cross over is possible. It just needs the right franchise, right director, right casting and the right story.
The Future?
The answer to the question, is there a future for video game films, you would think by the overwhelming failure of them and the current cinematic climate relying on monetary incentive, the answer would be no; it isn't. There are over 25 games rumoured to be put into production, a massive increase, especially in it's 20 years of the inception of the genre there had only been around 30 films made. The reason for that is that games have become more cinematic. Heavy Rain (2010) and LA Noire (2011) are huge story based games, that have very simplistic game play but the stories are complex and interesting. Story has become an integral part of gaming and normally the games with the complex and original story are successful (minus the big hit franchises - Call Of Duty, Battlefield) Games have become films in their medium and producers are hungry to do the reverse. There is a demand and a future for a video game film market. It only needs one film to be successful to create a boom. Look at the original Spiderman (2002) arguably sparked the Superhero film boom.
Potential Hits.
From the games I've played there are some clear candidates for film/TV adaptations. LA Noire has one of the greatest stories in game history. The game play is poor but the back story and the complexity of the characters would create a perfect TV drama made by someone like HBO. You have the cast already there, as every cast is mo capped and look identical to their character, the story is also there. LA Noire is more of a film then it is a game, it is HBO bait waiting to happen. Also Heavy Rain as previously mentioned would make a great thriller, David Fincher would be a perfect cnadidate to direct due to his film Se7en (1995) sharing a similar style with the Oragami Killer, the main villain of Heavy Rain. moving onto Halo, which has a massive audience already. The Sci Fi connections does create a risk because Sci-fi's either hit with an audience and do well or completely bomb at the box office. Halo has the universe to expand and the temptation of putting the Flood on the big screen is too tempting to become a reality. Neil Bloomkamp would be perfect and should of made the film a few years ago which he was planned too. In a certain quirky suggestion, the recent announced Minecraft film looks to be a repeat of the Super Mario film because the style is so video game like that it would be hard to translate on the screen. However, I'm heavily interested in what they do with the rights of the film because it does have an amazing and wide audience and if it does do well, it could kick start a trend of video game films being produced.
Game Over or Continue?
Gaming is changing, it has become more interactive and immersed then ever. However story has become an integral part of gaming. There are some games that are impossible to make into a film that will be successful for example the open world games are too expansive and free to create into a 2 hour film. However if Hollywood puts all it's eggs into one basket by adapting games such as Heavy Rain, The Last Of Us, LA Noire the more story based games. It would be easier to convey in the cinema to audiences and have a memorable and complex character which makes the film more relatable. In conclusion, there is hope for video game films but the planets need to realign themselves for them to be successful. It needs the perfect franchise, character, director, cast and story. With the boundaries of games and films becoming more blurred, the awaited big hit looks to be close. The question is not will they be successful, it's when and what game?
Jason Blight 2014.
