The game franchise that will crack the movie nut.

My brother asked me an interesting question this afternoon. He asked me that when a good video game movie comes about, what franchise would it be based off of. So, I posit the same question to you, GB duders. What is the video game movie that will knock our socks off and be the first to not be utter crap.

A few suggestions:

• Max Payne - Yeah, they already did one. It wasn't directed by David Lynch.
• Grand Theft Auto - I've never actually played one of these, but I hear the stories are kind of alright
• Borderlands - An odd choice, but I think it could totally work. There's a bunch of action with some humor thrown in the mix. I obviously don't know how to write a film.
• Uncharted - This was basically an Indiana Jones franchise, just with Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly instead of Harrison Ford.
• Tekken - Volcano throwing.

Anybody got some better suggestions?

It's happened already. Mortal Kombat.

Grand Theft Auto would be a pretty dumb movie because most of the GTA stories are rip offs of other crime movies. It can easily be done, but its unnecessary.

I think uncharted could be possible, but I dont think it would go gangbusters and make bank. I just think it has wide appeal because of Nathan being a likeable character and opportunity for cool shit to go down.

Personally I think Halo would be a movie that could blow up pretty big. I am not a huge fan of the games, but the little I know of the story could set up a pretty decent sci fi movie. Also those fan-made live action halo videos from a few years back were awesome.

Street Fighter...

lol

Naw though, I wouldn't be surprised if we got a Grand Theft Auto movie down the line one day and we already got MGS (edit: typo) coming.

Prince of Persia was good.

Lots of games would make excellent movies. That's if they're done right. There are some pretty brilliant concepts that could be put on film out there, but unfortunately in the past the only people willing to do movies off of games are those who have poor production and execution (Uwe Boll for example). However, with the growing popularity of games, I'm thinking it wont be too long before one of these movies proves it can be done with excellent results. If that Bioshock movie ever turns out, or a Halo or MGS, all of those would be a potential candidate for the job, if the right talent backs them

If they can somehow wrangle an audience pleasing, coherent story out of it, I'm going with MGS.

Half-Life and Fallout have the potential to be great movies.

Guillermo del Toro's Diablo would be an amazing visual feast.

I'm not sure I'd want a direct adaptation of any of the stories featured in their games, but some of the writers at Rockstar surely could come up with some great movies. It'd be cool to make a Grand Theft Auto game with specific references to Tommy Vercetti or Niko Bellic.

I actually think one day a video game based movie will be a huge blockbuster and it'll start a landslide of film adaptations. One day video games will be to movies what comic books are today.

Pretty sure Sam Raimi would've made a dope World of Warcraft movie. If the WoW movie acutally gets made, and it's up to Blizzard's intro cinematic standards, we're in for a treat.

Though really, a Clone Wars-like animted show would fit the bill even better. That show can be really great a times. Just get it done already.

@zombie2011: It was critically panned, and I was not a fan. Mostly because I had played the Sands of Time.

Video game movies suck because they have to tell a 6-60 hour long story in 2. Also, most video games have pretty bland plots, but their saving grace was mostly because of a really well realized world, something a 2 hour movie can never build.

I'm actually interested in seeing a Dark Souls movie that sells purely atmosphere with a thin plot.

I'd go for Street Fighter. The previous attempts have failed either because producers have trouble identifying who that series is really about, or trying to add superfluous things to the story that don't make a lot of sense, but really fighting games should be easy because the primary plot is already there (tournament) and the budget doesn't have to factor in CGI as much. Just get some decent actors that can do action and look enough like the characters, as well as a good martial arts director and you're golden. I don't know if you'd ever get the "'Citizen Kane of videogames' of movies" that way, but I'm sure it'd be fine regardless.

I'm still waiting for the Bioshock movie. But I would say maybe assassins creed or halo. Minecraft movie will be pretty sweet.

The Phoenix Wright movie reviewed pretty well. I also really liked it.

@That1BlackGuy said:

Street Fighter...

@EvilNiGHTS said:

I'd go for Street Fighter

Its all ready happened and several times.

If you are talking live action.

I think the days of Halo is growing darker the longer time goes, a movie of Halo is sure to be doomed.

Uncharted even if its done 100% correct by gamers stand point. Everyone will just go "So Its Indiana Jones?"

I donno...Hitman has been the closest next to Mortal Kombat, however.....that dosnt make them good.

Its simply going to be an utter shot i the dark. Hell it might not be a game franchise people like that does it great as a movie.

I think it will be Valve with one of their games. Possibly by releasing their own 3D animated movie?

Imagine a Zelda TV Miniseries, where almost every episode was a new dungeon, with Zelda and Ganadorf's stories being told simultaneously. The episodes would be an hour long, and there'd be 10-15 of them. I'd watch that.

Wait hang on guys if you were not moved by the Street Fighter movies.

We already have the blockbuster Game movie.

Ok this thread it wrapped up. Its already happened. Pokemon the First Movie Mewtwo Strikes back.

@MaxxS said:

Imagine a Zelda TV Miniseries, where almost every episode was a new dungeon, with Zelda and Ganadorf's stories being told simultaneously. The episodes would be an hour long, and there'd be 10-15 of them. I'd watch that.

We went down that road before.....it wasnt good. Should we try again?

I liked Resident Evil well enough, though its follow-ups are pretty bad and the first one was barely related to the game.

Uh, I guess Assassin's Creed probably has the best shot, but it'll be hard to do that.

I hope the metal gear movie is three hours of utter nonsense. Audiences will hate it and the movie will fail miserably.

I will love it.

GTA's story is more than "kind of alright." Kane and Lynch would make a great movie, but just not with Jamie Foxx as Lynch.

Gore Verbinski - Uncharted

Christopher Nolan - Deus Ex

Joel and Ethan Coen - Max Payne

Ridley Scott - Diablo

Tarsem Singh - God of War

Guillermo del Toro - Bioshock

Those would probably be awesome.

I'd love to see a movie based on the first two Diablo games, but I don't think they'd do well enough to be worth the risk making.

all of the games mentioned are either majorly inspired by film (gta,max payne) or have very little story (borderlands,tekken.)

@EvilNiGHTS said:

It's happened already. Mortal Kombat.

This, though it could have been better it was pretty good.

As far as passing that though, I think there is little way of telling. I'd say Assassin's Creed but there is a very video game set up to the story that would be tricky to transfer over.

I thought that Max Payne was a slam dunk to make a good movie so this just tells you that there is no good way of knowing if they will get any of these right. Anything can be messed up.

We'll get a good video game movie when they stop trying to adopt video game stories into films and instead take the world within a game and use it to tell a wholly independent story that can serve as a companion to the game. That's why the Walking Dead game is so good, in my opinion. They've taken the world and the ideas from the comics (even some of the characters) and crafted a story that fits the medium they're using. By that same token, it's why the TV series fails a little, even though I do like it.

Was the Silent Hill movie any good?

heavy rain

@Phatmac said:

Was the Silent Hill movie any good?

The first half was, but even then it was pretty fanwanky, right down to the camera angles being pulled from the game. It's not a BAD movie, it's just terribly uneven and not even remotely scary.

The thing that ruins video game based movies is the time. Two hours isn't enough to translate 15+ hours of a game, especially if it has an extensive universe like Fallout. But a series might work, provided people behind it love the source, like this.

But then again, the reason I like Nuka Break is because it doesn't actually borrow from the events in the game, just puts it in the same universe.

I could see Max Payne working really well with the right director and with Sam Lake writing it. I think you're right on the money with David Lynch actually, OP. Max Payne 2 has all the gunplay, noir romance and conspiratorial stuff on the surface, but beneath that lies a picture of a man who is falling apart at the seams and losing his grip on reality. His constant monologuing to himself describes HIS picture of reality, one that is tainted by grief, too many painkillers and a view of the world that sees everything strictly in terms of metaphors and Noir archetypes. That kind of rocky footing as regards to the nature of reality is something David Lynch pulls off very well, both with his more overtly surreal works and those of a more subtle temperment.

Shame it'll never happen really, but I can dream.

I've been mentally creating a Darkness movie in my head for a long time. It would be a gritty, supernatural revenge thriller. It would take elements from the comics and the games. I want it.  
 
EDIT: No idea who would direct it.

The Professor Layton movie is actually god damn fantastic. I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere yet, but seriously, go check it out.

Other than that... I could easily see Alan Wake as a respectable movie. Especially if they toyed with the thriller genre and novel medium as well as the game did.

Prince of Persia was pretty all right, as I recall.

I have never played a Silent Hill game, but I saw the Silent Hill movie and I thought it was pretty awesome.  I don't know how faithful it was to the games, but as a standalone movie it was really good with amazing atmosphere and a good story (even though it lost some focus towards the end).

@Akyho said:

Wait hang on guys if you were not moved by the Street Fighter movies.

We already have the blockbuster Game movie.

Ok this thread it wrapped up. Its already happened. Pokemon the First Movie Mewtwo Strikes back.

I miss obese pikachu

@Phatmac said:

Was the Silent Hill movie any good?

The first half was, but even then it was pretty fanwanky, right down to the camera angles being pulled from the game. It's not a BAD movie, it's just terribly uneven and not even remotely scary.

i thought prince of persia was really good

To make a good movie you need lots of moneyz, and the Halo franchise's got just that. If they can avoid being too serious nor too dorky, it could be another generation's Star Wars.

Silent Hill was alright.

I mean, it made no fucking sense, but it was okay.

Also Mortal Kombat.

Dead Rising 2, that would make a relatively decent B grade Zombie movie.

haha, anyone remember that 30 minute "movie" for red dead redemption some guy made? it was on TV and everything. it was basically just cutscenes edited together, it was pretty awful and badly paced. i dunno why i thought of that just now.

Joust.

For a video game adaptation I thought Prince of Persia was pretty good. Halo, Mass Effect and even Warcraft have great universes that could potentially make for a good adaptation but it needs the right vision, director, cast and story for it to come together. It's hard already to have this combination to make good movies, let alone one that needs to be faithful to the source material.

I can't see there being a good GTA movie (or one in general seeing as Rockstar refuses to sell the rights) because what would it be about? I doubt it will be based on any one particular story.

I would also recommend Assassin's Creed, if it were a series based on solely on reliving ancestor's memories and not the 2012 end of the world crap. I don't know, it might be cool for the first movie to just be set during the Third Crusades with Altair then at the end of the movie Desmond wakes up from the Animus. They could drop hints about the virtual Animus world by using similar glitch effects from the game.

Metro 2033 would be a wild movie. An action-horror film with some political intrigue sprinkled in. Make sure everyone runs super dumb when they're carrying clipboards and lighters, though.

Dead Space might work as a movie as well.

Oh man, what about Warhammer 40k: Space Marine?! That shit would be INSANE.

There were parts of Prince of Persia where I was genuinely entertained, so I think we've already gotten past that point. I will also tell you with a straight face that the first Mortal Kombat movie is legitimately watchable, and that Street Fighter at least fits into the niche of cheesy ironic entertainment.

@MURDERSMASH said:

Oh man, what about Warhammer 40k: Space Marine?! That shit would be INSANE.

They made a Space Marine movie, never saw it but it looked kind a junk.

I really wished that Bioshock movie would've got made.

@MURDERSMASH said:

Metro 2033 would be a wild movie. An action-horror film with some political intrigue sprinkled in. Make sure everyone runs super dumb when they're carrying clipboards and lighters, though.

Dead Space might work as a movie as well.

Oh man, what about Warhammer 40k: Space Marine?! That shit would be INSANE.

I don't think it counts as a game franchise movie if the game franchise was originally based on a book, as is the case for Metro 2033. Warhammer is primarily a tabletop game, but I suppose that still counts. A 40K movie could be pretty awesome. I've really enjoyed the novels I've read that take place in that universe.

I think most games, especially longer story focused games like RPGs, would be much better served as like a 12 episode HBO or Showtime series than a 2 hour movie.