EMDD Blog
Can We Improve Video Game Movie Adaptations?
Written by Leo Herrera
Common forms of transmedia storytelling are film adaptations of books and video games. In fact, the relationship between video games and movie adaptations is quite infamous. Research shows that the majority of movies based on video games are not well-received by viewers. These films usually accrue insignificant box office, terrible reviews, or both. There are only four video-game-to-movie adaptations to earn more than $200 million in the worldwide box office and have a Rotten Tomatoes score higher than 50%, respectively:
More about
Rotten Tomatoes
In 2017, the highest Rotten Tomato score for film adaptations of video games was 48% for Mortal Kombat (1995). With a score of 37%, both Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) tied for second highest rating. The average score across all 38 titles was 19.9%. It’s safe to say that the history of video game adaptations transitioning to the silver screen was ill-advised.
With several dissatisfying films at the wayside, production studios were forced to revamp and refresh their efforts. Through tumultuous trial and error, a set of best practices were used to structure and present narratives pulled from video games storylines. One corporation took note of these changes and set out to make a plan that could change film adaptation as we know it.
Sony Leads the Way
*Sony has entered the chat*
Sony is the only corporation to have a department for both motion pictures (Sony Pictures Releasing) and video games (PlayStation, Sony Interactive Entertainment). Despite these resources, Sony has only produced a movie adaptation for one video game, Ratchet & Clank (2016). Unfortunately, this film did not beat the odds, producing little in box-office sales and receiving a mere 22% Rotten Tomato score.
However, this failure did not stop Sony.
Tony Vinciquerra, Sony Pictures Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, recently announced the One Sony program, a collaborative effort between Sony departments for project development. The current objective for One Sony is to produce three movies and seven TV shows based on video games exclusive to the PlayStation.
The One Sony project is an opportunity to promote PlayStation across with their distribution and production companies. PlayStation exclusives are a huge advantage for the One Sony program. Video game exclusives, such as God of War, Uncharted, Jak and Dexter, The Last of Us, and Bloodborne, can only be manufactured and distributed by Sony.
So, What Happens now?
There is hope! The future of entertainment is ready for a new era of well-produced video game adaptations. As of today, there are two exciting video game adaptations scheduled for release. This includes the film Uncharted, starring Tom Holland, and HBO’s The Last of Us series.
Perhaps the stigma may shift from always-bad towards often-good, and studios become motivated to adapt more of our favorite video games and expand beloved story worlds.
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