There are quite a lot of movies out there that are inspired by video games. Among the most famous ones are Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and more. A lot of them were really successful but there are some that are really not that good. But what makes a video game movie adaptation successful? What do the viewers usually expect when it comes to video game inspired movies?
The most important thing to consider is if the viewer is a fan of the video game or not. For non-fans of the video game, they will not expect too much from the film. They would expect the same things for casual movies. However, a fan of the video game will most certainly have higher expectations from the movie.
He/she would expect the same storyline or at least close to it. It’s very appealing for a video game fan to recognize the story of a video game in the movie. The gamer should be able to relate the story of the movie and the video game. Most of the expectations will be from the story such as, “What will happen to this character in the movie?”, “Will the main character in the movie accomplish what he did in the game?”, “Will they show the climax of the video game in the movie?”
The genre of the video game is also very important especially for the production staff. If it’s an adventure game, it should show in the movie just like in Tomb Raider. There should be fighting scenes if it’s a fighting game and it should be a bit scary if it’s based from a suspense thriller game such as Silent Hill. Sometimes, a combination works well such as the action and suspense in Resident Evil.
Casting is also important. Have you noticed? If you tell a gamer that a movie will be shown about a certain video game (especially if the gamer likes that specific video game), one of the questions that is usually asked is, “Who will play who?” Then, they start to wonder if the artist will be able to play the character in the video game. They get curious and will most likely watch the movie.
He/she will be expecting the main characters to appear and act the same way as it did in the game. The effects, backgrounds and music may also be scrutinized by video game fans. And yes, even the costumes. Take Street Fighter for example. Van Damme and the rest of the cast wore almost the same costumes that the characters in the video game did. My officemate, who is a solid Tekken fan, told me that he was quite disappointed with Tekken the movie. He reiterated that the fighting scenes were dull and it doesn’t have a nice storyline. These are just some of the things that I have observed from the different video game movie adaptations that I’ve seen.
A successful video game movie must be able to cater to both but since it’s based from a video game, the production should be able to meet higher expectations from the gamers. It should have a solid storyline and excellent screen play. However, regardless of whether a viewer is a fan or not, we have different preferences when it comes to the movies that we like. Some of the best video game movies that I’ve seen are Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider.
