Their existence is almost always the laughter of the gaming community. Why is that? Mostly because video game movies are terrible. Why is that these two entertainment mediums can exist and thrive with quality by themselves, but as soon as they're combined, they are immediately just sucked of all quality, and usually even of what makes the franchise great(Resident Evil and the Mario Bros. movie, for good examples). In this blog, I'm going to take a good look at how I think video game movies can actually get it right. This is just my opinion, so please don't take this for a fact. Enjoy!
Let's first take a look at what many, including myself, says is the best video game movie of all time; the original Mortal Kombat movie. It was really enjoyable, and it respected the gaming franchise. But how did this movie seem to do it, when other video game movies constantly do the opposite(don't say that it's because Mortal Kombat is a fighting game, and fighting video game movies are easiest to do, even if it's true)? I think it's because the directors and the actual writers wanted to show respect to the gaming franchise and give fans something that they would really enjoy.
I think that, to really get this right, get some people from the development team of the video game that's being turned into a movie to really help with the writing and actual content of the film. If the devs are there, they can make sure that the movie doesn't spit on the gaming franchise and just do what it wants to do(Resident Evil movie franchise), but would instead be able to really tell them how to make it to show respect to the fanbase of the game, who are the only people(for the most part) that's going to go see the movie. Otherwise, don't even attempt a video game movie.
Get actors that make sense for the role. If they are making a movie for The Last Of Us(scary as the thought is), they should get actors that make sense to playing Joel and Ellie, and so on and so forth, with every role. Don't just get a couple of big names or people who mildly look like the game character, but someone who actually understands the character from the games and can really pull of the actual personality of the character. Best would be to get the people who voice acted the characters in the game, because the voice would be the same and those voice actors would actually be able to pull off those roles again, but that's not something that I see happening anytime soon. But actors that understand the roles are the second best option.
Take time to try and really understand the game before making the movie. If the director and writers don't really know the gaming franchise, then why are they even making the movie(other than to make money)? Take time to play the game franchise with which you are making a movie from, and maybe then you will be able to deliver fans of the games something that they can actually be happy watching, and be even happier telling somebody else.
Just try. With some of these movies, it doesn't seem that the guys actually making the movie even tried to make the movie fun for fans of the gamers to watch. When they try to make a good movie, then usually it's at least easy to tell that they really tried. Some video game movies wasn't even tried on, but was instead just directed by people who didn't care for the gaming franchise and only wanted to make money(Mario Bros. movie is the easiest example). Trying will earn my respect, because I at least know that they cared enough to try and make a good movie, even if that doesn't come to fruition.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Tell me in the comments below how you think video game movies can be good, tell me what I didn't touch on, so that I can do that for you, or just tell me how you liked the blog. Tomorrow, I will do a top ten list for my favorite video game guns. Have a nice day!