Are Films Based on Video-Games getting Better?
Basing a film on pre-existing media has always been a popular choice for the movie industry. Franchises such as Harry Potter and the Marvel Universe were both first seen on pages and pictures before they appeared on the big screen.
There have been many video game adaptations over recent decade, starting all the way back in 1993 with the Mario Brothers film, to the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s film, based on the hit Indie horror game of the same name later this month.
However, many Films based on video games are met with low expectations and poor box office profits. But why?
The first ever Video game adaptation to hit the big screen was the 1993 Mario Brothers film featuring starring stars of their time such as Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper, However the film was stuck in development hell for years, with it having gone through 9 different writers before shooting had even began. It ultimately resulted in a film which has been hailed as one of the worst of all time.
In a recent interview the creators spoke about the film compared to its animated reboot, claiming that they had been abandoned by Hollywood and that Nintendo didn’t give enough input having only met with the games creator Shigeru Miyamoto once during the films creation.
Then a year afterwards audiences were subjected to Streetfighter (1994). The film surprisingly struck big at the box office, however received similar reviews to its fellow video-game based predecessor, and was plagued with issues and conflicts during production.
In a feature by the Guardian, director Steven De Souza blamed part of the films failure on Bandai Namco’s insistence to include as many of the 19 character roster as they could. Other problems included Van Damme‘s cocaine addiction, and the impact of Raul Julia’s stomach cancer, which he had been suffering from for 3 years unbeknownst to them at the time.
However recently Video game adaptations have been seeing more frequent success. The Sonic the Hedgehog film broke records as the most popular film based on a video game, surpassing £37 Billion at international box office. The film almost continued the video game film curse briefly when the first trailer was released and audience got a look at what has now been dubbed “ugly sonic”, however director Jeff fowler saw fans reactions and decided to postpone the film to redesign the Iconic Hedgehog.
Credit to illumination Studios
Nintendo’s second attempt at a Super Mario Bros. film also saw major success with its all star cast and Illumination Studios’ iconic animation.
Why could they be getting better?
Films based on video games could be improving because people who grow up playing the aforementioned games are getting older. The Super Mario and Sonic the hedgehog game first released in 1985 and 1991 respectively, meaning many of today’s actors, directors, and production teams grew up playing them.
speaking to Samuel Holland, an employee at Metacritic, he said” I think they are getting better, films like Mario and Sonic are anything to go by then things like borderlands or five nights at freddys might be surprisingly good.
This meant they were better at adapting and interpreting the source material, being able to please and maintain the inherent audience, whilst making it interesting to those who haven’t touched a video game in their life.
The Five nights at Freddy’s film has been in development for numerous years, with it being announced 8 years ago. It has reportedly already gone through 2 directors and 3 scripts, with the possibly of it ever coming out having become a zeitgeist within the FNAF community.
Simone Dales, an avid fan of the games, said she doesn’t have high hopes for the film: " It was announced so long ago that I think most of the fans have really high expectations - I don’t see it being any good.”
Regardless, the Five nights at Freddy’s film is scheduled to come out 25th October.
