There was a time, not too long ago, when knowing anything about Iron Man made a person a massive nerd. Over the years, the main Marvel lineup has become the biggest list of names in blockbuster cinema. The fans are still there for every big project in the MCU or the DCU, but superhero fatigue has set in. It’s time for a new nerd hobby to take over the box office.
Video games have broadly followed the same path as comics. Harmless toys for kids grew into hardcore fixations for everyone. The big difference is thatgames are more profitablethan movies, so they’re stepping into the ring with a crown on their head.
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Why are Video Game Adaptations Doing So Well?
In short succession, video game adaptations reached two enormous milestones. HBO releasedThe Last of Us, the most talked-about show of the new year and the most celebrated adaptation of any interactive entertainment.The Last of Uspulled in over 30 million viewers across its first season, beating therecord set byHouse of the Dragononly a few months earlier. Some suspect that the show’s second season could crack the all-time record set byGame of Thrones. A live-action adaptation of a PS3 game with only one huge star attached threatened the biggest fantasy show of all time. It’s shocking, but only to those who aren’t paying attention.
Shortly thereafter,The Super Mario Bros. Moviepremiered. The film enjoyed overwhelming fear and dread upon its initial announcement, then gradually earned hype throughout its marketing campaign. At its heart, the movie seeks to appeal to kids' love of the Mushroom Kingdom and adult fans' nostalgia.It broadly succeeds atboth of those tasks and for its success, it has been rewarded with the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film of all time. It also handily claimed the award for the best debut for a video game movie. Consider the implications. Mario beat every Disney cartoon, every Pixar film,every Dreamworks project, andso many more big-budget animated features. Every instant classic that made kids sing and parents cry was just another obstacle for Mr. Video to leap right over. Video games have declared their intentions and won a few opening battles, but what was keeping them from this?
Video games have been a massive business interest for decades. Since Nintendo revived the industry afterthe great crash of 1983, the medium has been stacking cash. Currently, video games make more than the movie industry and the record industry combined. The industry nearly accomplished that feat in 1982, the year before everything crashed and burned. It’s always been an absurdly profitable niche with some of the most beloved characters of all time. Fans have always wanted to watch movies about their favorite video game figures. The problem is that the two mediums simply didn’t mix for the first couple of decades of their partnership.
From the original 1993Super Mario Bros.movie to the modern day, every single video game adaptation faces an overt expectation of failure. The so-calledvideo game movie curseis a catchy nickname for the consistency with which films in this genre botch the source material and wind up with widely despised trash. In many cases, the issue is a complete lack of faith in the brand name that got the film produced. This is an issue that has plagued comic book movies from time to time as well. Look back at the originalX-Menmovies, which put their heroes in black leather because the spandex was simply too embarrassing. Some were more sincere than others, but video game movies are finally learning the lesson of comic book movies. The best way to adapt video games is to simply take what people love about them and put it on screen.
What’s Next for Video Game Adaptations?
There are plenty of video game movies on the horizon.Mariowill get a sequel,Last of Uswill get a second season, hits likeSonic the Hedgehogwill get new entries, and filmmakers will put new spins onclassics likeStreet Fighter.Borderlands, BioShock, Metal Gear Solid, Ghosts of Tsushima, Gran Turismo, and so many other big franchises will make their way to one screen or the other. Will they be good? There’s no way to know, but they’ll be new. This isn’t really a reason to celebrate. Hollywood has moved on from borrowing all of its ideas from the paneled page to borrowing them from the medium they’ve spent the last couple of decades mocking. However, the theoretical upside of this slow cultural shift will be multifaceted.
Video games haven’t been “nerdy” for a long time. Playing games is about as culturally mainstream as watching TV. But, turning the big names into blockbuster film franchises will make them even more notable. Theworld will experience Solid Snakethe same way they did Tony Stark. Look forward to a world in which everyone’s talking about the newFalloutshow around the water cooler.
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