Gaming has become a hot item in Hollywood in recent years and the rights to iconic game franchises are being taken by major Hollywood studios in search of the next hit.
This year alone, “Uncharted” and “Sonic” have grossed $800 million together, making games based movies a no-brainer for Hollywood executives looking for a potential franchise.
A film based on the ‘Borderlands’ games starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis is due out soon, while big-budget streaming series based on ‘Halo’ and ‘Resident Evil’ are gaining popularity. have won.
With that table setting, we’re here to help Hollywood pick the games that deserve the most big-budget blockbusters, from some older titles to games tailored for the big screen.
Which game do you think deserves the Hollywood treatment? Let us know in the comments.
hitman
The ‘Hitman’ games have gotten the cinematic treatment before, but let’s face it, none of them were very good.
We received films based on ‘Hitman’ in 2007 and 2015, but neither really captured the spirit of the games.
The movies had decent casts—everyone from Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, our very own Ciarán Hinds, and Dougray Scott tried to give the movies gravitas—but the movie version might as well have been an episode of “Coronation Street” to do with the games.
The recent trilogy of ‘Hitman’ games is ripe for a cinematic adaptation, with exotic locations, a twisting and twisting story, some inventive murders and a jet-black sense of humor.
Done right, a good ‘Hitman’ movie based on the World of Assassination trilogy can be a blast, and the success of the ‘John Wick’ franchise shows us there’s an appetite for slick, almost ballet-like action sequences. mixed with a dense mythology.
Who wouldn’t want Agent 47 to fly around the world to repel his targets?
An action movie set based on the Sapienza level from the 2016 version of “Hitman” just begs to be filmed.
Return
In 2021, it became the law for games to contain time loops.
When it came time to pick our favorite games of 2021, “Deathloop” trumped “Returnal,” which had to settle for third on our list, but “Returnal” is arguably the time loop game best suited for the big screen.
Time loop movies are a reliable Hollywood genre and lend themselves to hilarious comedies like “Groundhog Day” or “Palm Springs” or sci-fi action movies like “Edge Of Tomorrow.”
‘Returnal’ has an appealing premise and follows Celeste’s ordeal as she tries to get rid of a hostile planet.
Each time she dies, the loop resets, yet she learns more about the environment each time.
The cinematic uses of this premise are nearly endless, and audiences can easily become addicted to a clever, story-driven sci-fi movie with tons of action.
‘Returnal’ would have a very small cast, with one performer carrying the weight of the story on their back.
An actor has been worn with a movie before — think Robert Redford in “All Is Lost” or Sandra Bullock in “Gravity” — and this high-concept sci-fi game is ripe for a cinematic jaunt.
Mass effect
Since ‘Star Wars’ changed the face of pop culture in 1977, many attempts have been made to capture the magical and overwhelming majesty of George Lucas’ creation.
Gaming is no exception, and the ‘Mass Effect’ series is the closest thing to the scope and ambition of the galaxy far, far away.
Players take control of Commander Shepherd as they defeat galaxy-threatening enemies in the form of the long-slumbering Reapers.
‘Mass Effect’ is arguably the trickiest game on this list to adapt, as it’s largely based on choice, and consensus should be reached with the game’s fanbase as to which path to take, but the story potential with a ‘Mass Effect’ movie is huge.
The series touches on themes of nationalism, xenophobia, identity, imperialism, corporate greed, the pursuit of knowledge and learning to rebuild at all costs.
With 3 great games to customize, the sky is the limit for a ‘Mass Effect’ movie.
One branching choice that fans can agree on is that a female Commander Shepherd would star in a ‘Mass Effect’ movie, because who really plays as the standard Male Shep anyway?
Just cause
From a game with a lot of plot to a game with little plot.
The ‘Just Cause’ games are the ultimate action movie sandbox, letting you perform the kind of deadly stunts that would make a peak Jackie Chan blush.
The games have very basic, rudimentary plots – you’re tasked with overthrowing an evil dictator, here are unlimited explosives and helicopters – but it lays the groundwork for some wonderfully over-the-top action.
Action movies are some of the most reliable money makers in the movie industry, and movies with big explosions and a wafer-thin story often play best with foreign audiences because they require very little translation.
The impeccable ‘RRR’ showed us just this year that the language barrier can be overcome if you give your audience unforgettable action sequences, and ‘Just Cause’ could offer the audience a similar thrill.
If Hollywood wants to anoint another action franchise, they could do a lot worse than bring “Just Cause” to the silver screen.
Add in psychic stunts, a total disregard for plausibility and a plot outline you could write on a napkin and you have the makings of cinematic gold.
Notorious
Superhero movies are all the rage these days, but as the recent Marvel movies have proven, introducing new D-list characters to the public can be difficult.
Enter ‘Notorious’.
By adapting the “Infamous” games, Hollywood has a ready-made franchise from the start.
The prospect of a “infamous” movie is fascinating because it can go both ways.
The games are based on making good or bad decisions that shape the story, and a future filmmaker would immediately be faced with a dilemma.
They could make their hero a paragon of virtue or a Homelander-style tyrant.
As with the ‘Mass Effect’ example, fans should agree on the path the film will take, but the good and bad conspiracies form the basis for the next superhero blockbuster.
Turok
Bit of a vintage pick for our next entry, but it’s a shame we didn’t get a ‘Turok’ film at this stage.
The success of the ‘Jurassic Park’ movies shows that audiences love dinosaurs, and adding some gunplay to the mix is sure to get queues out the door.
The ‘Turok’ games have a fun, almost ‘Army Of Darkness’-esque premise; A time-traveling Native American warrior goes to a land where humans, dinosaurs and aliens fight against humans.
With the recent release of ‘Prey’ there is an inherent appeal to seeing the old-school mix with more modern sci-fi elements.
To wildly paraphrase “Field Of Dreams,” “Build an action movie that mixes historical and sci-fi elements and they’ll come.”
An appealingly silly but cool plot lends itself to some fun set pieces – who wouldn’t want a T-Rex pitted against a deadly warrior armed with space-age technology?
It’s strange that ‘Turok’ hasn’t made the leap to the big screen, and with the franchise slumbering for over a decade, the market conditions are ripe for this dinosaur romp.
Legend of Zelda
One of the most famous franchises in all games, it’s strange that the land of Hyrule never made the move to the big screen.
Nintendo is incredibly protective of filming their games after the 1993 ‘Super Mario Bros’ movie debacle, but a big screen getaway for Link is money in the bank.
The franchise is as big as ever, with ‘Breath Of The Wild’ proving to be a great app for the Nintendo Switch.
‘Breath Of The Wild’ has shifted roughly 30 million copies worldwide since its launch in 2017, and Hollywood executives are sure to hear the cash registers ringing here.
With such a built-in audience, and with Nintendo getting a great deal of input for a possible ‘Zelda’ movie, surely East and West can put aside their cultural differences to make movie magic?
Grand Theft Auto
We’ve saved the best for last.
There may not be a more famous franchise in the world than the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series, and a movie version of the Rockstar franchise would be the only movie that could threaten the superhero era of box office dominance.
The ‘Grand Theft Auto’ games regularly take cues from the crime movies of Scorsese, Singleton and Scott, so bringing the signature frenzied energy to your local cinema is a no-brainer.
The question with a ‘Grand Theft Auto’ movie is which game to adapt.
The obvious candidate is ‘Vice City’ from 2002, with an 80s-tinged nostalgia as the flavor of the month.
“Vice City” is indebted to Michael Mann’s work, most notably “Miami Vice,” and a Mann-influenced crime thriller set to the 80s could be just what the doctor ordered.
‘Grand Theft Auto’ has dabbled in Hollywood before, even casting the late, great Ray Liotta in ‘Vice City’ and stars like Samuel L. Jackson and Dennis Hopper in ‘San Andreas’, taking the Hollywood system itself. into ‘Grand Theft Auto V’.
A big part of the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ experience is wondering about stealing a cab and driving around normally, and it would be really tricky to do this in a movie, but ‘Grand Theft Auto’ changed what players can expect from video games – who says it can’t change what viewers can expect from watching a movie?
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