Videogames That Should Be Made Into Movies

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Videogames That Should Be Made Into Movies


Just because Max Payne [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467197/] let us down doesn't mean that videogames shouldn't be made into movies, but which new titles really deserve to make the move to the big screen?

"Videogame movies suck" is almost axiomatic these days, but that doesn't mean that ever-optimistic movie studios won't keep banging that drum until something musical comes out. But which games should be made into movies? SpoutBlog [http://blog.spout.com/2008/10/24/play-it-again-video-games-that-should-be-movies/] has picked out a few recent releases that fit the bill, some choices quite obvious and some, not so much.

LittleBigPlanet [http://www.littlebigplanet.com/], for instance, with its open-ended, collaborative gameplay, may not seem like a prime candidate for the silver screen at first glance, but as author Kevin Kelly points out, the "compelling adorability" of Sackboy goes a long way. "He's mute, cute, and would be the perfect star of a Miyazaki-esque film, following him as he explores his new world and meets new friends," Kelly wrote. "British comedian Stephen Fry narrates the game beautifully, so when you play it you already feel like you're part of a movie... or a documentary about a newly discovered race of tiny, animated stuffed animals."

In a similar vein is Xbox 360 [http://braid-game.com/]. "A man who loves a woman so much that he can channel that energy and turn back the clock? Sounds like a movie to me," Kelly wrote. "Think The Fountain meets Back to the Future."

More conventional "moviefication" choices are found in games like said in September [http://deadspace.ea.com/] that a Force Unleashed movie is "not impossible."

Spout's complete list of "Videogames That Should Be Movies" can be read here [http://blog.spout.com/2008/10/24/play-it-again-video-games-that-should-be-movies/], but what about your list? Got some better ideas?


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Dectilon

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Sep 20, 2007
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The problem isn't really that a movie is made on a game, it's that the people making the movie think they know what people want, or what the original fans want. They aren't interested in making something good. Cynism is maxed out basically.

I could mention any game almost, and it would be possible to make a movie about it. The question is, why would you want to?

de-rez' Uwe Boll skit contained the phrase "Games have unsophisticated narratives and and poor characterizations, so why should my movies be any different?" That's basically it. If one wanted to make a good movie about a game the plot would have to be rewritten by someone who knows how to write and is motivated to do a good job. Regardless, I think it would be far easier to make a good tv-series than a good movie based on a game. Take Fallout for example. I'd watch that series : /
 

Gxas

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Sep 4, 2008
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That's like asking to write a book on games. IMO, games are the perfect blend of play and story. If you read a novelization of FFVII, it just wouldn't be as good as playing the game. The game provides necessary visuals for you and connects you to the characters in a way that books, and especially movies, cannot.
 

mjhhiv

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Max Payne was the perfect game to be made into a movie. They just screwed it up.
 

SimuLord

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Aug 20, 2008
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You could take any part of the Elder Scrolls universe and capsulize it into movie form, whether it's the main quest in Morrowind/Oblivion or even one of the side quests (Thieves' Guild in particular, with its bumbling cop (Hieronymus Lex), its story of loss and redemption (the Gray Fox), and its collection of rogues, travelers, and thieves...)

If you want to get a little sillier, there's always Sid Meier's Pirates! or a live action Captain Tsubasa...
 

broadband

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Dec 15, 2007
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mjhhiv post=7.74946.851696 said:
Max Payne was the perfect game to be made into a movie. They just screwed it up.
amazing, i still havent watched it but read that really dissapoints me...

jeh, it would be really funny if we end having a good movie of half life.
 

Unusual_Bulge

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May 30, 2008
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Like a lot of these "x games that should be..." articles I've read, this one basically boils down to being a list of popular recent/upcoming games. Fallout 3 particularly puzzles me, not even being released yet we don't know how good the story is, let alone how well it would translate to film. Yet you have its two (direct) predeccessors set in the same world with great stories, but the article chooses to only mention the unreleased one. I don't know if anyone agrees with me, but it sounds to me like the writer is trying to appear 'with it'.

Personally, I think Portal is a great game, but what made it great for me was the way the story slowly permeated the gameplay, subtley at first and then building to a huge crescendo. I don't think the effect could be reciprocated in such an immersive way in a movie.

Anyway, my personal choice would be the Legacy of Kain series of games.
 

xitel

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Aug 13, 2008
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The problem with not just movie games, but any movie based on a pre-established IP is that different people work on the movie than do on the original product. When cooperation is achieved between the original characters and the movie-makers, like the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie (Douglas Adams had started working on the screenplay with the other writers before he passed away), the results are generally good, if not fantastic.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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May 24, 2008
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Halo: CE. Go ahead, boo and haw, but the atmosphere and story of the first game were great, just great. Actually, the Arbiter and the rift in the Covenant in Halo 2 were pretty cool, too. Definitely cinema material. I hope the speculation is one day fulfilled.
 

whitelye

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Oct 9, 2008
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If a game does it's job, it shouldn't need to be made into a movie. Game movies shouldn't even be, really. They're just as bad as remakes and, I'll tell you right now, I'm so sick of remakes that I feel like vomiting my guts out just to see something new and interesting.
 

PureChaos

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aparently, Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat was based on van damme and he was offered the part of Johnny Cage in the film but turned it down to play Guile in Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat was a success and a great film, Street Fighter wasn't.

on topic, im hoping the low budget zelda film wont be a disappointment when they do finally get round to releasing it. other than that, an eternal darkness film would be good. a film based on the sub space emissary from brawl could be interesting. i heard a rumor that a second silent hill film was being made, does anyone know if its true or not?
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Khell_Sennet post=7.74946.852118 said:
You know what would make the best movie ever?

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (The Sierra DOS original)...

Hear me out. You have this guy, Larry, who thinks he's hot shit but ends up falling flat on his face every time he makes a choice. Sick humor combined with slapstic, adult themes, and a character who represents the awkwardness most of us feel in the dating scene. It's pretty much "Get Smart" just with an adult twist, and I think it has potential.
You know it will end up in the "Meet The Spartans" guys hands though.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Games that 'could' be great movies.

No-one Lives Forever
Alpha Centurai
Balder's Gate

Fantasy World Dizzy? :)

Problem is that the only good book->movie are short stories, so you need a game with good characterisation and a short life span...which is often the reverse case.
 

Galletea

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Sep 27, 2008
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Videogames should not be made into movies. It is an entirely different form of storytelling relying on audience interaction. This is why they don't work as films. The story cannot remain the same, because the action and the audience are now separated. The protagonist is now an actors interpretation, not yours. Changes to the story and characters are inevitably bad because the writers have very often misunderstood the point. Take Silent Hill as the perfect example of this. The feeling of claustrophobia just isn't there, and the enemies mean nothing.
 

MurderousToaster

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Aug 9, 2008
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Simpsons Skateboarding. Finally we would find a movie to rival Plan 9 From Outer Space in the sheer shittiness category.