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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?

#281

Post by gitgud »

stale2002 wrote: post #81
avar wrote: post #25

The 2016 Warcraft movie doesn't count? It got a 77% audience score, and a 27% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed almost half a billion, and is the highest grossing video game movie of all time[1]. I watched it out of a sheer morbid curiosity, and haven't played any Warcraft title newer than II: Tides of Darkness. I thought the movie was crap. But maybe I and critics just aren't the audience for these movies. Se…

It is a cliche to say this, but the movie really was made for fans and not for the general "Normie" audience. They would just name drop locations and people, expecting you to know what they were. It was just mostly a fan service, "here is your movie, loyal fans!" types. It still wasn't "great" even if you were a fan, but I can't imagine how bad a lot of it would have come off as if you didn't follow things pretty clo…

This is exactly how It felt to me.

I've only got pop culture knowledge of World Of Warcraft, and the way they explained most parts of the movie was really hard to follow. They needed:

- More world-building, geography was hard to follow, jumping around too much.

- Better character introduction, characters would just appear, banking on fans recognising them.

- Less assumed knowledge...

The whole movie came off a bit amateurish in how the story was told...

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

#282

Post by throwaway2048 »

craftyguy wrote: post #148
otterley wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the numbers prove it.

In which case, the article here doesn't really have a point. Why try to make good video game movies in the first place?

quite a few in the filmsphere and in decision making positions in holywood itself still care significantly about the art of film, independantly from the money thats brought in.

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

#283

Post by CyberDildonics »

sidlls wrote: post #258
CyberDildonics wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also GI Joe, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby Doo, Transformers, Garfield, The Cat in the Hat, Smurfs, Star Wars, Terminator, Star Trek, Karate Kid, Spiderman, X-Men, Battleship, Speed Racer...

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

#284

Post by InitialLastName »

jkingsbery wrote: post #230
irrational wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I don't play video games, but I do play board games. People that play board games say the same thing - you don't play a board game for the theme, you play it for the gameplay or the game mechanics (though a fun theme doesn't hurt).

"Settlers of Catan: the Movie"... Any takers?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/10/12/the-settlers-of-catan...

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

#285

Post by Avshalom »

cptskippy wrote: post #205
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…

> 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. I agree. > 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. All forms of art are inspired by othe…

>> 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.

>All forms of art are inspired by other forms of art, this is no basis to write them off. Would you dismiss Michelangelo's work because he was influenced by Giovanni? Or Giovanni because he worked under Donatello? Should we just write off all fantasy novels post Tolkien? What about D&D? Or Warhammer? The Matrix was obviously inspired by the cyberpunk universes created by authors like William Gibson, do we just dismiss it?

(I think it was) David Wong once pointed out about say the trench run in Star Wars: you fly down... and crash. You fly down and shoot the tie fighters and get shot down... You fly down shoot the ties, avoid the turrets and die... fly down and die... fly down shoot the fighters avoid the turrets and Vader kills you... fly down and die... fly down and get hit by the turrets...

Games allow you to fail, a lot, repeatedly and thus the story can't have the same tension or structure as a movie. Books, paintings (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) don't alow you to fail; they can have the same structure as a film. Interactive media IN WHICH YOU CAN FAIL however requires it's own thing.

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

#287

Post by learc83 »

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.

It's a good story and I liked their take on it, but Mass Effect borrows everything you mentioned from Babylon 5.

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

#288

Post by andrewflnr »

Bluestrike2 wrote: post #259
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…

It may be the similarity of the medium that hamstrings Hollywood. Going from prose to a movie tends to absolutely force a lot of compromises. You no longer really have the option of extensive narration, seeing into characters' thoughts, etc, and the whole thing has to fit into 200 minutes at the outside. A video game already operates under similar constraints as a movie, so it's possible to create a movie that's very similar. You just take a recording of a well-done play-through as your outline. It could be that without the excuse provided by the drastic change in medium, Hollywood types lose the nerve to do what's necessary.

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

#290

Post by andrewflnr »

beloch wrote: post #253
jitix wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 limiti…

Sometimes I feel like I need a special upvote button for shocking bursts of sanity like this, but this reply will have to do.
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