During one summer I did a little research project on why video game-based movies have failed so much over the years. There have been only two movies that have considered successful, but not by much.
1. Mortal Combat
2. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
From what I had researched, the biggest problem VG movies have is that they are NOT taken seriously enough.
Mortal Combat did well enough that they made a sequeal, most likely because of the actions scenes. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was successful, although not released in theatres, because of the CGI work and the fact that everyone loves Cloud.
VG movies tend to lack what normal movies do. There are three things that you have to do when you make a VG movie, four if neccessary.
1. A Good Story - The biggest difference between video games and movies is that most video games, especially in the earlier years, are more concentrated on action than they are on story, where as most movies are the other way around. The story is the most important part of any movie. A VG movie needs to concentrate more on story than on action, which is a habit Hollywood has not learned from in the years they have done VG movies. VG movie plots tend to be short and simple, and will often be a recycled story of some other movie, just done differently. It needs to have a story that is well written, complex, and possibly long.
2. Additional Characters - If the VG movie just concentrated on the main characters like the games do, chances are it won't work. Main characters usaully evolve around one person, sometimes two or three, no more than possibly five. Additional characters would have to be put in with sub plots besides the main plot and it needs to show how those sub plots will interact and effect the main one. The only other way you could this is that you would have to give the main characters a bigger background.
3. Realism - VG movies have to be done realistically. Early video games tend be more concentrated on doing "the impossible". Take the original 1993 Star Fox game for example. In one level, players were suddenly fighting against a whole fleet of ships and had to fight their way through. Bascially, the scene portrayed four little spaceships taking on an entire armada, not to mention enemy fighters. Simple put, fighting and surviving like this can only happen in video games. In reality, they would not last no more than ten seconds in a situation like that, no matter how good the pilots were.
4. Trilogy - Now this is optional, but I would highly recommend it. VG movies in the past have proven time and again that a single worked has not worked. Here's why, video games nowadays are often much longer than movies. Even if you took out all the action sequences and gameplay and just left the cutscenes, you still have a pretty long story to work with. Plus, there will the problem of filling those gaps of how one person got to that certain place or defeated a certain enemy that was originally in the action sequences and/or gameplay. In the end, you're most certain to find that there is no way you can do this in one movie. So instead, why not turn into a trilogy? Or, you could turn it into a miniseries or a tv series. Either way, you'll attract a bigger audience with the suspense of what's going to happen next.
Video game movies can be done, but you have to find the right people to do it. They have to be taken very seriously, with great determination and patience. For a VG movie to work, they have to be portrayed at a much bigger scale than they originally were.
Now, keep in mind here that this is only a theory. I can't gurantee that it is the actual solution to VG movie problems until it is actually tested. If it works, great! If it doesn't, well at least I can say I tried.
1. Mortal Combat
2. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
From what I had researched, the biggest problem VG movies have is that they are NOT taken seriously enough.
Mortal Combat did well enough that they made a sequeal, most likely because of the actions scenes. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was successful, although not released in theatres, because of the CGI work and the fact that everyone loves Cloud.
VG movies tend to lack what normal movies do. There are three things that you have to do when you make a VG movie, four if neccessary.
1. A Good Story - The biggest difference between video games and movies is that most video games, especially in the earlier years, are more concentrated on action than they are on story, where as most movies are the other way around. The story is the most important part of any movie. A VG movie needs to concentrate more on story than on action, which is a habit Hollywood has not learned from in the years they have done VG movies. VG movie plots tend to be short and simple, and will often be a recycled story of some other movie, just done differently. It needs to have a story that is well written, complex, and possibly long.
2. Additional Characters - If the VG movie just concentrated on the main characters like the games do, chances are it won't work. Main characters usaully evolve around one person, sometimes two or three, no more than possibly five. Additional characters would have to be put in with sub plots besides the main plot and it needs to show how those sub plots will interact and effect the main one. The only other way you could this is that you would have to give the main characters a bigger background.
3. Realism - VG movies have to be done realistically. Early video games tend be more concentrated on doing "the impossible". Take the original 1993 Star Fox game for example. In one level, players were suddenly fighting against a whole fleet of ships and had to fight their way through. Bascially, the scene portrayed four little spaceships taking on an entire armada, not to mention enemy fighters. Simple put, fighting and surviving like this can only happen in video games. In reality, they would not last no more than ten seconds in a situation like that, no matter how good the pilots were.
4. Trilogy - Now this is optional, but I would highly recommend it. VG movies in the past have proven time and again that a single worked has not worked. Here's why, video games nowadays are often much longer than movies. Even if you took out all the action sequences and gameplay and just left the cutscenes, you still have a pretty long story to work with. Plus, there will the problem of filling those gaps of how one person got to that certain place or defeated a certain enemy that was originally in the action sequences and/or gameplay. In the end, you're most certain to find that there is no way you can do this in one movie. So instead, why not turn into a trilogy? Or, you could turn it into a miniseries or a tv series. Either way, you'll attract a bigger audience with the suspense of what's going to happen next.
Video game movies can be done, but you have to find the right people to do it. They have to be taken very seriously, with great determination and patience. For a VG movie to work, they have to be portrayed at a much bigger scale than they originally were.
Now, keep in mind here that this is only a theory. I can't gurantee that it is the actual solution to VG movie problems until it is actually tested. If it works, great! If it doesn't, well at least I can say I tried.
