Forget video game movies and start making video game TV shows – Reader’s Feature
A reader tries to explain why video game movies never quite work and suggests that adapting them for TV would be a more sensible idea.
In the last few years we have entered an almost golden age in video game to movie adaptations, with Monster Hunter, Mortal Kombat, (another) Resident Evil, Werewolves Within, Dynasty Warriors, and Uncharted, making for an all-time high in terms of output.
But I would argue that even today none of them really translated well to the big screen. Below is a list of the top seven highest grossing video game adaptations according to their worldwide gross (via Box Office Mojo):
Warcraft – budget $160 million – worldwide gross $439,048,914 Pokémon: Detective Pikachu – Budget $150 million – worldwide gross $433,514,834 Rampage – budget $120 million – worldwide gross $428,028,233 The Angry Birds Movie – budget $73 million – worldwide gross $352,333,929 Prince of Persia – budget $200 million – worldwide gross $336,365,676 Sonic the Hedgehog – budget $85 million – worldwide gross $319,715,683 Resident Evil: Afterlife – budget $60 million – worldwide gross $300,228,084So why a top seven? Well, these have been the only adaptations to cross the $300 million barrier. Why is that important? The summer blockbuster style of film is extremely expensive to make but adding to that is the cost of marketing. I’ve included the approximate production budget of the films above, as usually the marketing can be anywhere from half the production budget to $100-150 million. So, for nearly half of the films mentioned above, $300 million would be the base line for profit.
Shockingly, in terms of budget to profit, Angry Birds would be the most successful video game adaptation to date, followed by Resident Evil: Afterlife
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