A COMPREHENSIVE
History of Video-Game Movies
Not The Best First Impression…
Video Games are the absolute pinnacle of all interactive media. No other media has been able to come CLOSE to accomplishing what games have done over even just the past decade. The amount of people who play games in the world is more than all of India AND China’s populations combined. Games like God of War (2018), The Last Of Us and Uncharted have delved into the realm of interactive cinema, achieving a level of immersion that no other form of media had ever been able to reach until then. But what about movies in general? How have they adapted and formed around the idea of video games? You would think it’d be a simple process. Take a massive game that millions of people love and take its story even further than what it was and please the masses. Sounds easy enough….right? Well looking at it on paper, it seems pretty straightforward for the most part, until you realize not only how much goes into adapting an interactive game and putting it into a scripted movie format, but just how big of a range video games have in not only genre, but quite literally EVERYTHING. So where did filmmakers begin? It wasn’t exactly a great start, especially when it’s one of the biggest video game franchises of all time…
This Isn’t The Mario Bros You Know
The year 1993 rolls around, and at this point, countless legendary classic video games have been released. Even Sonic The Hedgehog had come out in 1991. So people were no stranger to videogames being a big deal at this point. All of a sudden, SUPER MARIO BROS: THE MOVIE releases. And the crowd goes, extremely mild at best. Yes folks, this movie was a bomb, and the biggest bomb for a looong long while. If there was any worse way to start off gamings foray into cinema, this movie would still be worse just simply for how it stained the reputation of both Mario AND videogames as a whole. Even if this film is many, many people’s favorite guilty pleasure, it’s hard to get across just how much this ruined people’s perception of videogames and what it did to movie critics. Basically, it was a great deal for how bad the movie was.
Where Do We Go Now?
So after that disaster, where did they even begin? This film was only the beginning of the bad reputation that would develop for video game movies all over the world. And we won’t be out of this period of video game movies for a while, sadly, besides a few diamonds in the rough. The next major film to come out of this would be none other than the biggest fighting game franchise that really started it all, Street Fighter. Only coming out a year later, this movie came out to only marginally better reviews and audience scores than Mario Bros. Feeling the entire camp and weirdness of the 90’s, this movie flopped hard with a saving grace performance by the late and great Raul Julia. Yes, Gomez from The Addams Family was now the brutal Street Fighter villain M. Bison! And how unexpected, yet expected of him to just knock his role out of the park. He is also the originator of the quote,” For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me…it was Tuesday.” This kind of “diamond in the rough” or “silver lining” theme for elements in these videogame films really gives them their own unique charm and quality, like a “so bad it’s good” feeling. And the next fighting game movie may be chalked-full of it…
MORTAL KOOOOOOOOMBAAAAAT!!!
Yes, the legendary fighting game series, right along with Street Fighter, got its cinematic debut just a year later in 1995, and is considered by many to be the first “good” video game movie. With a solid cast of characters (especially Liu Kang) and really Kool Khoreography (Kombat pun intended), this movie really sent the game and video games in general into the spotlight for what game movies could potentially be/do. Sadly, its first sequel, MK: Annihilation, did NOT live up to practically ANYONE’s expectations. It’s most definitely “so bad it’s good”, but the goofiness and camp of the movie overtakes anything else that may be “special” about it. The director of the first movie, Paul W.S. Anderson would actually go on to direct all the following Resident Evil movies starting with the first Resident Evil in 2002, and even the Monster Hunter movie in 2020. A very unexpected turn for him, even with being in the area of “video game horror”, the films are just hard to sit through because of how much goes on and what gets changed. Speaking of Resident Evil, a couple new video-game movies were released right around Resident Evil. And what were they???
Time To Raid Some Tombs
The new millennium has finally just rolled around, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider comes out just one year later in 2001. Angelina Jolie stars as the icon Lara Croft as she goes around the globe using her brain and brawn to save the world. Not a bad representation, and its sequel, Cradle of Life performed ever slightly better than the last. Even still, these movies were good for their time, but still weren’t quite representing the video game world in the best way it could. It only gets worse from here, sadly, over the 2000’s. So why don’t we have a quick rundown of them, shall we?
Who Is Uwe Boll And Why Is He Everywhere?!
As I said before, this decade was NOT a good one for any video-game movies. And for some weird reason, there was one man behind a few of these, and his name? Why, Uwe Boll of course! Without him, we wouldn’t have half of the video game movie disasters that came about. He got his start with adapting the CAPCOM game House Of The Dead. This movie and all his subsequent films would have the same dark, edgy just to be edgy kind of cheese that you gotta love from the 2000’s. Then he went on to make Alone In The Dark, Bloodrayne, Postal, and even In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. I know I make it out like he has a wide array of crazy movies to go watch, and while that is partially true, the movies just aren’t that good to be completely fair. But besides the work from the man, the myth, the legend Uwe Boll, films such as DOOM, Silent Hill, Hitman, and even Far Cry made the line-up of just decent-at-best movie adaptations for the 2000’s. But do not fret folks, as we’re about to come into the 2010’s! What does this decade hold for video-game movies and video-games as a whole? I can tell you it’s very, VERY pleasing to know, you just may have to wait a while into the decade…..
The Plague Before The Renaissance
At the very beginning of this decade, a release of a certain, blocky video game will end up changing the course of not only millions upon BILLIONS of people’s lives, but also the possible course of movies and games as a whole. But we’ll come back to that. The first game to come out this decade? Technically, that would be Tekken. (haaaaa haaaaa so funny) And the only reason why I even say technically is because almost no one remembers this film, and probably for good reason. With only a sum of $1,697,207 for a budget, it wasn’t a great start for this decade either. Not to worry though, as a surprise sleeper film kind of just appeared a few months later with Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular Prince, this movie was actually produced by DISNEY of all companies. With interesting VFX and a decent story, it’s the true start to a slightly better time for video-game movies. More Silent Hill and Resident Evil sequels come out, to the same or even lower critic and audience scores than before, Hitman gets an even worse sequel, and then 2016 hits. Two very big-budget movies come out along with very little effort put in for the storytelling. These movies are of course Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed. Now at first you may think,” Why of all movies, even with how big the franchises and movies’ budgets are, would these be the ones to make a change?” Well they came in a long line of evolving content and media over time for this genre. But what they did was at the VERY least, put the big budget and motion into adapting more games into high quality films. These also came out pretty much in the middle of the decade, acting almost as a sort of “turning point” for what was to come. Skipping the 52nd Resident Evil sequel in 2017, we arrive in 2018 with another two big movies for video games. A TOMB RAIDER REBOOT based off the 2013 game and Rampage with the Rock’s return into the video game world. Both solid movies that I got to watch in the theaters with my Dad, there may be some bias here but I can’t help but think these movies helped give just that little push it needed to take off. And boy did it the following year….
WHO’S THAT POKEMON?
Now THIS one really came out of nowhere. We fly by into 2019, and arguably probably the most important year in video game movie history. Detective Pikachu releases to a stunned audience, an actual GOOD video game movie with more than just minimal effort put into it?! I can’t believe it! But you should, as it (pretty much) only gets better for these films from here. This film brought Pokemon to life in a way that really hadn’t been done before. And it has RYAN REYNOLYDS as PIKACHU. How could you not love a movie like that? It also gave hope to movie-goers and video game lovers all around the world; that companies would finally start really trying hard to get good movies out there and really put love and passion into their future work. Well fans definitely got what they wanted the following year, even if they had to bully asn entire media company to get what they deserved….
THE SONIC INCIDENT
Right before we get into 2020, which is already a MESS in of itself, we must first go over a certain teaser trailer that dropped in late 2019. And that trailer was Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie. Or as many like to call it, the birthplace of “Ugly Sonic.” Sonic was made out to be a weird little furry creature with small beady eyes (that aren’t even connected or anything like the games) and a skinny humanoid body. Basically, he looked like a nightmare fever dream Sonic from THE NETHERRRR. (Sorry I had to put in A Minecraft Movie reference somewhere.) This caused one of the biggest backlashes in modern-day history over a form of media. The teaser racked up some of the most Youtube dislikes in history, with EVERYBODY bullying paramount and the VFX team in the comments. The hate was so massive and widespread over the internet that it genuinely made the team on the Sonic movie rethink their choices and make a statement on twitter. They announced that they would be doing an overhaul on his design and that the film would be pushed back till 2020. This was honestly a moment in history because a company ACTUALLY LISTENED to the fans on a bad choice on their part, and totally fixed it! When the movie released the following year, it was a surprise hit, and spawned an entire trilogy that did WONDERS for not only video game movies, but games as a whole. 2020 is also the year Monster Hunter came out, and to be honest? I have no recollection or knowledge of this film. So that’s all folks. Either way, it’s time to get back to a franchise that hasn’t been visited in 30 years in the cinema. That’s right, I’m talking about
MORTAAAAAALLLLL KOMMBAAAAAAAAT!!! (Again)
And we’rrrrre back! Mortal Kombat’s cinematic reboot debuted in 2021 to, well, mild success. It’s definitely a fun movie and made enough to have a sequel coming out later this year. Is it as good as the 1995 film? Well it’s safe to say it’s better than MK: Annihilation, that’s for sure. But honestly, the 95’ film is still better in many regards, except for effects and nods to the game, as well as a HECK of a lot more gore, which if you know Mortal Kombat, you can’t go without. This was definitely at least another solid entry into the franchise, but if we wanted to reach Pokemon and Sonic’s level, we were gonna need to try a bit harder than that. Also not very notable, but the most recent Resident Evil film and a weird but apparently good Werewolves Within movie ( Which I had no idea was a VR GAME) was released in 2021. Closing out this year, we come into another very solid year for gaming films.
SONIC AND NATHAN DRAKE?
Yes, you read that right. 2022 is here and we got Uncharted and…SONIC BABY! Now THAT’s what we’ve been waiting for. And boy did it deliver. Before that though, Uncharted is here, and like I said at the beginning of this blog, it is one of those game series that is already so cinematic and movie-like already, that it kinda just does the same thing again when it gets to the movie. And sure, it has cool nods like Nolan North (the voice of Nathan Drake) sitting in a beach chair, and it’s a fun adventure to see unfold, but falls a bit flat as just almost a National Treasure wannabe. WITH that being said, it’s still not a bad film and you should still give it a watch. A movie you should DEFINITELY see, though, is Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Somewhat following the original games while also condensing it a ton, Knuckles and Tails finally arrive while Eggman gets a more classic look. Very worth the wait, I might add. This next year though? We’re gonna be stepping back into a franchise that started it all, and almost killed it too…
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. ARE BACK
It’s a me, Jakey P. And we’re back with Mario! If you’re a bit scared with how the LAST one of these turned out, don’t fret. This one’s animated AND made by a very good animation company AND produced by Nintendo. Illumination really put their all into the Mushroom Kingdom, and it shows. To date (until Minecraft rears its head) it’s THE highest grossing video game movie OAT. (that’s of all time for you youngins’.) Crossing the billion dollar mark, it soared through theatres while also starting a weird but much appreciated trend with putting Jack Black in every subsequent video game movie. Not all of them, but at LEAST three so far, with more to come. This movie, like the Sonic trilogy, condenses the Mario games story into a movie jam packed with easter eggs and references to the game, while also making sure to keep the heart of the game in mind at all times. But if you think this movie was a theater experience unlike any other, as Judas Priest would say, you got another thing comin’. Because the other videogame movie to release this year would be none other than the hit series Five Nights at Freddy’s. A movie ten years in the making, it’s practically Fan Service: The Movie. And honestly, that’s everything it needed to be for a movie of this franchise and calibur. With the sequel to this film also releasing later this year, it’s no surprise to say that it was a thing. Watching this movie, people would NOT quit clapping quite literally every 5 to 10 MINUTES. That’s how much love there was not only for the game, but for the people and fans that made it what it is today. It’s one of my generation’s biggest games, and really for a good reason. While the movie isn’t ALL too scary, it has very thrilling and intense moments that will still get you on the edge of your seat. Now that everyone’s a little more content having an actually decent Mario movie, we go into 2024 with one of the most solid video game movies yet, and more weird original Mario Bros. slop.
50/50
Before we catch up to now, we still have one more year to go through, and it literally couldn’t be more of a mixed bag. On one hand, we have Borderlands. And you’re probably thinking,” Oh, awesome! We’re finally getting a Borderlands movie after all this time. And it’s directed by a horror legend? How could it go wrong?” Well the real question is, how did they drop the ball so hard? The cast is very mixed just like the year it’s in, with some really surprising casting all the way around. But the standout? None other than JACK BLACK BABY! Guess who plays Claptrap? This man right here does. And he puts his heart and soul into it, which at this point, you would expect nothing less from the man, the myth, the legend. That’s pretty much all there is with that, as this film really isn’t that worth talking about in depth, sadly. Now Sonic 3? THAT’S a worthwhile experience. While not getting to see any of the Sonic movies in theatres makes me a bit upset, the films are just too good to be mad at for too long. Mainly following the events of Sonic Adventure 2, we finally, after all this time, get to see the cinematic debut of the one and only Shadow the Hedgehog. The action and VFX in this film are legitimately almost unparalleled, and this is by far the most solid and put together video game movie we’ve had yet. It’s just very weird how we had such a trash, box office dumpster fire of a movie that no one went to see, to an actual masterpiece of a videogame film that blew away everyone in the theatre. So what now? Well, get your flint and steel ready, cause we gotta cook ourselves some
LALALALAAVAAAA, CHICHICHICHIIICKEEEN
And we’ve FINALLY arrived folks, to the great good ol’ year of 2025. Like I’ve stated before, a few more game movies are set to release this year, but I’m heavily doubting it’s gonna live up to the masterpiece and box office phenomenon that is A MINECRAFT MOVIE. Now I will NOT be the first or only to say that this movie has flaws, and that the original trailer definitely felt like it would turn out to be another “Ugly Sonic” situation. But as it turns out, this movie may just be what many people needed to get through this year. It’s crazy, but this movie just on its own has helped me WAY more than what therapy did for me TENFOLD. It just reeks of charm and fun that oozes off of Jack Black and Jason Mamoa’s character dynamic and real life chemistry. It has a kind of love for the game that I really just haven’t seen in any other movies for forever. And THAT, is the kind of thing that needs to be studied. This has been a comprehensive history of video game movies, I’m DJ Jakey P, and until then, remember. CHICKEN JOCKEY.
