"Prince of Persia" just opened this weekend, and by far it has been the best adaption from a video game to a movie. This week, Legendary Pictures acquired the rights for "Mass Effect" and plan on bringing it to the big screen. Most of the time, video games have been made and were not very good (anything by Uwe Boll) and some should never have been made (Super Mario Bros.) and some have been decent. "Tomb Raider" is the only video game movie to have crossed the 100 million dollar threshold, probably due to Angelina Jolie's popularity, and more than likely "Prince of Persia" will cross it this summer.
Since comic book movies are coming out of the woodwork, mainly due to Marvel rolling out multiple movies since the start of the 21st century and DC comics are trying to play catchup, video games have been in a way dormant to the big screen. Most has to do with the distribution companies of the games, selling the rights to the studios and hoping they wont mess it up. Best case in that is Nintendo, especially since the Super Mario Bros. flop.
Maybe "Prince of Persia" can break the threshold. If so, here are some likely candidates for video game to movie adaptions
Assassins Creed (Ubisoft)
Since it has the same distribution company as "Prince of Persia" and since some scenes in "Prince" had some similar moments of "Assassins Creed" in it, it doned on me that it could be made. The first game took place during the time of The Crusades, the second during Renaissance time, which will make it harder to decide which game to adapt into the big screen. The only question is how they will make the "genetic memory" part where you relive your ancestors past might be hard to bring to the silver screen and make it worth watching would be the hard part. The plot where you are an assassin in the Crusades or in Renaissance is a good plotline, a movie like that hasnt been attempted before (if there has been, let me know or refresh my memory). Think about this, you do run into Leonardo Da vinci in the second game.
Would seem very similar to "Timeline" which was not that great of a film
Halo (Microsoft)
Halo is one of the most popular video game series of all time, and it has only been on one system (Xbox). The online gaming community of it is enormous, it has become a phenomenon. So why hasn't Halo been adapted to the big screen yet?
In 2005, a script for a film adaptation of "Halo" was written by Alex Garland which D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote during 2006 for a 2008 release. The movie was to be developed and released by 20th Century Fox, under the creative oversight of Microsoft. Peter Jackson was slated to be the executive producer, with Neill Blomkamp as director. Before Blomkamp signed on, Guillermo del Toro was in negotiations to direct. The crew stopped and resumed preproduction of the film several times. Blomkamp declared the project dead in late 2007, but Jackson replied that the film would still be made. 20th Century Fox had let their rights to the Halo franchise expire and the rights ended up going back to Microsoft. Jackson did state in an interview that Microsoft has the money to fund a "Halo" movie on its own. 20th Century Fox and Microsoft supposedly said the budget for the film might exceed 200 million dollars.
Many may know that Blomkamp and Jackson did another alien flick that many people called a "watered-down version of Halo" but was one of the best films of 2009, "District 9".
Metroid (Nintendo)
Many people feel that this might be a "Halo" rip-off, due to the fact it dealt with outer space, creatures, and even the suit is very similar to Spartan's suit in "Halo", but in fact, "Metroid" had been around a lot longer than Halo.
Metroid first came out in 1986, and everyone knew that if you typed in the code "JUSTINBAILEY" that you will see Samus Aran is a woman. Was a surprise at the time because there had not been a lead female action character in a video game ever. Samus is a bounty hunter for the Galactic Federation and hunts down the gang known as The Space Pirates who use alien-draining parasites called Metroids. Samus was orphaned at a young age and was brought up by the Chozo alien race, which trained her as a warrior. The Chozo also gave her the Power Suit, which features the ability to collapse Samus into a sphere to roll through tight areas such as tunnels.
Samus is just as tough and gorgeous as Lara Croft, who has had 2 movies of her own.
So why hasnt Samus Aran come to the big screen and fight the evil monsters of Zebes? Well that part will be explained after the next game.
The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo)
Arguably one of if not Nintendo's most popular, best selling, well recieved, well loved, cherished video game series on any platform, "The Legend of Zelda" has just about everything you can ask for. Action, adventure, romance, good vs. evil, puzzle solving, side quests, you name is, Zelda has it. It does have a vast amount of storyline, it would be hard to make it based off of one particular game or use elements of all the games. "Zelda" fans take the series serious, and many do not want to see Link, Zelda, Ganon and others make it to the big screen because they fear it will be screwed up. With the right director, writer(s), and cast, "Zelda" could set the bar high among video game adaptions taken to the big screen. The problem is, Zelda fans will set the bar even higher in what they will expect.
There is one roadblock that is stopping "Zelda" and "Metroid" from reaching the big screen.....Nintendo themselves.
In a March 18, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Time, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said this in an interview:
Do producers and executives still knock on the door asking about movie rights to Mario or Zelda or Metroid, and if so, what do you tell them?
All the time. The message is, "Thank you for the interest." There have been certain [people] that we have talked in more detail with. But I think in the end, because we are a content company and are passionate about our franchises, it will be few and far between that actual deals are done to bring our franchises to life in a different way. These are our children."
Well I am not sure about a "Mario" re-boot, I think they learned their lesson on that, but it still shouldn't stop them from making "Zelda" and "Metroid."
"Zelda" did have a cartoon series in the late 80's that came on every Friday on the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" and made 4 guest appearances on "Captain N: The Game Master", which if you look on Youtube, the "Potion of Power" episode, which was Link and Zelda's first appearance on the series, is the most viewed. And we all remember this thanks to our friends at IGN
Thanks for playing with our emotions on that one IGN.
What are your thoughts? Would you like to see any or all these games brought to the big screen? Did I leave your favorite game out, and if so, feel free to express your opinion on what can be made into a movie and what should not be made into a movie.
I'm Clay Bransom, thanks for reading :)