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Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

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Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#251

Post by bananarepdev »

jitix wrote: post #233
sirmarksalot wrote: post #44

So many video game movie projects are missing the simple question, "why?" So many of these games are inspired by movies in the first place, and their stories are mostly just cliches based on their source material. It's fine in the context of the game, because the player is doing something, but when you put that into a non-interactive medium, the flaws become obvious. If you take Indiana Jones, turn it into a game wit…

I think Mass Effect trilogy is fairly original and does away with a lot of the space sci-fi cliches like humans being the ruling class of the galaxy, or all species having a united voice, etc. I’d love to see it made into a movie.

When i think about Mass Effect, what comes to mind are these long sequences in the Citadel where you do nothing more than talk, learning about the biology, technology qnd geopolitics of the game's universe. I don't think this kind of content would fit a blockbuster movie, and without it what remains is a bunch of space marines shooting aliens.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#252

Post by exabrial »

I thought the real life Halo short films were pretty incredible. I think the problem is Hollywood insists sex, gory violence, and pretty actors are the only motivators for people to watch movies. Story, character development, convincing dialog, non-cgi graphics all come second to making sure the sequel is setup.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#253

Post by beloch »

jitix wrote: post #233
sirmarksalot wrote: post #44

So many video game movie projects are missing the simple question, "why?" So many of these games are inspired by movies in the first place, and their stories are mostly just cliches based on their source material. It's fine in the context of the game, because the player is doing something, but when you put that into a non-interactive medium, the flaws become obvious. If you take Indiana Jones, turn it into a game wit…

I think Mass Effect trilogy is fairly original and does away with a lot of the space sci-fi cliches like humans being the ruling class of the galaxy, or all species having a united voice, etc. I’d love to see it made into a movie.

Movies and games are sufficiently different that the the key to making a good "video game" movie may be to pick a property that gives more options than it takes away.

For example, Tomb Raider has to be based on Lara Croft raiding tombs, or it's not Tomb Raider. You have your main character, type of action, and key plot points determined before you start, and viewers will compare them to the games. This is very limiting.

With Mass Effect, you have a rather well realized universe in which you could set a movie that would be easily recognized as Mass Effect, without necessarily being forced to use the main characters from the Game or plot points from the game trilogy. You are given settings, races, ship designs, factions, conflicts, etc. that can be explored from a different angle.

Create a movie that coexists with game plots rather than trying to sum them up or replace them and you'll have more freedom to make a movie that's actually good.

Of course, 95% of everything is crap. Maybe we just haven't seen a good video game movie yet because there haven't yet been enough made to beat the odds. Probably a quarter of the number that have been made were directed by Uwe Boll, and those probably shouldn't be counted as serious attempts at making a good movie anyways.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#254

Post by tormeh »

peatmoss wrote: post #168
Merad wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Witcher 3. Part of the problem is that often your story-heavy games are really telling dozens of different stories. In TW3 for example, the main story is good but not amazing, yet several of its "secondary" stories are fantastic.

Oof. Which ones? After the ten thousandth person recommended the game to me, I recently played through it and never found a plot that I didn't find pretty flat. Plus, I couldn't tell if the terrible dialog and gratuitous cringe-worthy softcore CGI porn sequences were supposed to be a self-aware in-joke.

Hm, do you like any fantasy at all? It sounds like it might not be your genre. Hard sci-fi more your thing? In that case The Talos Principle is pretty good, if fairly gameplay heavy.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#256

Post by bananarepdev »

To quote Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the Witcher books, "I don't think different media van converge". Each medium has unique properties that enable a story to be told in a certain way that may not be reproducible in another medium.

Take Dark Souls for example. The game's story and mythology are blended with the game world, hidden in little details and item descriptions. If you take its bits and pieces and assemble them linearly, it's nothing special, it could never serve as the plot for a good movie. However, if you experience it properly, by being immersed in the game world, it gets way better.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#257

Post by tracker1 »

MrMember wrote: post #63
ssambros wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mortal Kombat was not a bad movie if you ask me.

Mortal Kombat wasn't amazing but it's definitely watchable. The sequel, on the other hand...

The Mortal Kombat: Legacy[0] isn't bad though...

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat:_Legacy

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#258

Post by sidlls »

CyberDildonics wrote: post #164
sirmarksalot wrote: post #44

So many video game movie projects are missing the simple question, "why?" So many of these games are inspired by movies in the first place, and their stories are mostly just cliches based on their source material. It's fine in the context of the game, because the player is doing something, but when you put that into a non-interactive medium, the flaws become obvious. If you take Indiana Jones, turn it into a game wit…

The reason why doesn't have to do with quality, it has to do with built in marketing. There is a reason that you see your childhood sold back to you 25 years later when you can be full of nostalgia and introduce your own kids to it fresh.

Supporting evidence: the Rampage movie, "Toys of the 80s" (or whatever that Netflix series" is, etc. I'm not ashamed that my 6 year old knows who Orko is and that five kids can drive a sword weilding group of mechanical lions to defend the universe.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#259

Post by Bluestrike2 »

sirmarksalot wrote: post #44

So many video game movie projects are missing the simple question, "why?" So many of these games are inspired by movies in the first place, and their stories are mostly just cliches based on their source material. It's fine in the context of the game, because the player is doing something, but when you put that into a non-interactive medium, the flaws become obvious. If you take Indiana Jones, turn it into a game wit…

What's really interesting is that there are a number of video game franchises with nuanced backstories that have spawned successful and surprisingly well-written novels. So it's definitely possible to take a video game and turn it into a book. And there are plenty of books that get turned into excellent movies or TV shows (of course, there are plenty that get turned into bad ones, FWIW).

Books like Eric Nylund's Halo: The Fall of Reach, Greg Bear's Forerunner Saga (Halo again), or Brandon Sanderson's Infinity Blade: Awakening are all pretty well-respected and did well in terms of sales. Probably because they manage to avoid falling into the temptation to simply recreate the game experience as a book. They use the game's plot as a starting point to influence the story without dictating it.

Of course, by deviating away from "the game" as fans experienced it, you risk alienating them because the final product doesn't match up with what they expect. And because the same fans are probably the reason why the studio is willing to finance the movie in the first place, I can sort of understand why Hollywood repeatedly tries to hew closely to the source game even though that approach has repeatedly screwed them.

The peculiar thing is that they face a somewhat similar situation when they turn a book into a movie. And yet, Hollywood is more than willing to take risks and deviate away from the source material when necessary. So what about video games in particular scares the studios away from doing the same?

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#260

Post by LandR »

shwetank wrote: post #49
dfxm12 wrote: post #26

Mostly because videogame plot lines aren't as good as we give them credit for. Videogames are great at being interactive diversions, but their stories leave a lot to be desired and are really just thin background dressing for the real reason we play videogames: for the gameplay. The most successful videogame movies tend towards genre films like Mortal Kombat (the film) and Resident Evil (the series). Of course, let's…

I disagree. You have games like The Last of Us, The Uncharted Series, Yakuza 0, and even the latest Wolfenstein game having very well made and engaging stories which I think can translate well on film.

Uncharted and last if us are really poorly written imo. They are full of the clichés, they just cover it up with good voice acting. Uncharted makes Indian Jones look like citizen kane by comparison.
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