10 Upcoming Video Game Movies That Could Surpass The Source Material

If there's something that all gamers can agree upon, it's that video game movies are generally pretty atrocious. This has been the case going all the way back to Super Mario Bros. in 1993, and it's just as true today. Typically, the best we can hope for is something mediocre but technically proficient, such as Prince of Persia, Resident Evil or Tomb Raider; never has there been a truly great adaptation that transcends the genre and becomes an excellent film in its own right. At least, not yet. It's only a matter of time before some filmmaker can figure out how to take a popular game, absorb what works about it and then adapt that on screen in a way that doesn't feel forced or inconsequential. Looking ahead at the next few years, there are plenty of candidates that could actually become big hits both with critics and fans alike, and many even have the potential to surpass their original source material. From movies based on games with rich stories, to ones based on games with no story whatsoever, here are 10 upcoming film adaptations that look like they'll blow us away. 10) Assassin’s Creed (December 21, 2016) Based on everything we’ve seen, Assassin's Creed looks like it will become the best video game movie of all time essentially by default. So many similar adaptations have come from studios who don’t seem to care much about the original property, but Assassin’s Creed is the real deal. In the director’s chair is Macbeth’s Justin Kurzel, and his film boasts a phenomenal cast of Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Michael K. Williams. With all that talent on board, they’d have to actively try to screw it up. In many of the worst video game movies like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, the source material offered very little story to work with in the first place, but the premise of Assassin’s Creed is so inherently interesting. It’s a fantasy-adventure in which the hero travels back in time through the memories of his ancestors and discovers a secret society of assassins. Seriously, how cool is that? So many historical periods can be explored in a film franchise, and in this case we’re headed back to the Spanish Inquisition so that Michael Fassbender can uncover a crazy mystery and presumably hide in bales of hay for several minutes at a time. The first official trailer dropped earlier this week, and you can check it out for yourself above. We don't get much in the way of plot, but the visuals are stunning and it appears Kurzel has captured the thrilling sensation of jumping across rooftops and diving from the tops of buildings that all players will be intimately familiar with. The only concerning element here is the decision to use a Kanye West song, which is roughly as out-of-place as the music in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. But let’s all just pray this is not a representation of the actual soundtrack because otherwise it seems we’re in good hands with Assassin’s Creed. 9) Minecraft (2018) Okay, a Minecraft movie might sound like a terrible idea at first glance. It’s based on a property that involves nothing more than playing with blocks, and there is no story involved whatsoever except what the player imagines. Sounds like a cynical, shameless cash grab, right? But keep in mind, that exact description also applied to The LEGO Movie, which ended up being one of the funniest and most heartfelt animated comedies of the past few years despite primarily existing to sell toys. We mentioned that an issue with these movies is often that the source material doesn’t offer much story, but another problem can be that there is just enough present in the games that the filmmakers feel they have to somehow work it in on screen. Super Mario Bros, for example, involved a wacky plot about dinosaurs and alternate dimensions, but every little element of the game, from the pipes to the Goombas, still had to show up in an incredibly awkward fashion. With Minecraft, the slate is so blank that the filmmakers can do basically anything they want as long as it's in the spirit of the game. The situation is similar to The LEGO Movie, where the movie can express the joy and creativity of the source material without having to be bogged down by any need to adapt stories or characters. At the moment, Minecraft is scheduled to be directed by Rob McElhenney, a very funny dude known for creating and starring in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Clearly, Warner Bros. has got some serious comedic chops on board, and so they're not just interested in a phoned-in ad for Minecraft products. It’s also being produced by Roy Lee, who worked on The LEGO Movie. The studio is definitely hoping to recapture that film’s success with Minecraft, and considering the talent involved here, there’s reason to believe they can pull it off again. 8) Five Nights At Freddy’s (2018) There have been so many creative horror-survival games released over the past few years, many of which could make for terrifying feature films. One of the most successful has been Five Nights at Freddy’s, a brilliant series of indie games by Scott Cawthon in which players must survive a night in a Chuck-E-Cheese-style restaurant while animatronic animals come to life. This is such a genius premise that, surprisingly, has not been explored on film before. We’ve had lots of killer doll movies, but never one where seemingly-cheerful animatronic animals start attacking (although the minions in Krampus come to mind). It's always exciting to hear an idea that the horror genre has not yet beaten into the ground. Sure, a significant reason the games are effective is that we go through the ordeal ourselves, but that could easily be replicated on film with the strategic use of POV shots. Or maybe it could even be found-footage? Plus, we’ve got an experienced horror director on board: Gil Kenan, the man behind Monster House and the surprisingly decent Poltergeist remake. Kenan has revealed that all of the monsters in Five Nights at Freddy’s will be accomplished with practical effects, explaining on his Twitter that the creatures being real makes them that much more terrifying. He isn’t just interested in the property for the scary creatures, though. Kenan explained that the depth of the game’s storyline is amazing, and the mythology is what makes him most excited about the movie. Finally, he added that the game’s creator, Scott Cawthon, will be involved in some way. It’s obvious that Kenan is a true fan of this franchise, and he has proven himself to be a talented horror director, so perhaps this could be the first truly great horror movie based on a video game. Sorry, Silent Hill. 7) The Last of Us (TBA) The Last of Us has so much potential as a movie because it already practically is one. On YouTube, a compilation of all the game’s cutscenes clocks in at two hours long, and so in some sense we already do have a Last of Us film. Now it just has to be re-created in live action. From Naughty Dog, The Last of Us follows a man named Joel who must escort a young girl named Elle across a post-apocalyptic United States, but Resident Evil this is not. The game is as likely to make you cry as it is to make you jump out of your seat, and it’s driven by two three-dimensional characters. In our current cinematic landscape, now seems like the ideal time for this: it would be a refreshing alternative to all the lazy zombie stories we’ve seen, offering an apocalyptic tale that's truly emotional and complex. A movie adaptation was announced back in 2014, with Screen Gems set to produce. Probably the best news was that Neil Druckmann, creative director of the game, was signed on to write the movie, making this the only one of these adaptations where the original creator is directly involved in the process rather than just serving as a supervisor. Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures will produce, and though nothing has been made official, Maisie Williams has been in discussions to play Elle. Unfortunately, production on the movie has stalled; Druckmann said last month that the project is currently in development hell. Apparently, no work has been done on it whatsoever since 2014. Among other reasons it needs to get going though is that Maisie Williams will soon age out of the role. Ellie is 14 and though Williams was 17 when the film was announced, she’s now 19 years old. Even if progress suddenly jump-starts, she would be in her 20s by the time filming for The Last of Us began. In other words, it’s time to crack down and get this movie done, Screen Gems. The clock is ticking. 6) Uncharted (June 30, 2017) All of Naughty Dog’s games are fairly cinematic; in addition to The Last of Us, that’s also the case with Uncharted. But unlike The Last of Us, the Uncharted movie appears to be in active development, and Sony has it scheduled for June 30, 2017. Following treasure hunter Nathan Drake, the franchise is very much inspired by Indiana Jones, with the trilogy being a series of adventures based around historical mysteries and full of exciting action. The development process for Uncharted has been quite insane thus far: David O. Russell, Neil Burger and Seth Gordon all signed on and dropped out within the past few years. There still are two writers attached, though: Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, who also collaborated on the screenplay for Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Award-winning screenwriter Mark Boal contributed to the script at one point, and although the Zero Dark Thirty scribe is no longer on board, the fact that he was involved at all suggests Sony isn't just aiming for some cheap Raiders knockoff. The issue with an Uncharted film, of course, is that without the interactive component, it could just feel like a generic adventure movie without much substance. Part of the reason the games were entertaining was because they made us feel like we were living the movies we grew up watching, something you can't experience without picking up a controller. But still, the game is still packed to the brim with memorable characters and cool twists, so assuming the new director can deliver pulse-pounding action, and the writers can craft a mystery on par with the games, the Uncharted movie could definitely surprise everyone. 5) Warcraft: The Beginning (June 10, 2016) Warcraft is hitting theaters in just a few weeks, and if it’s successful, it could become a major franchise. That's a big if, but director Duncan Jones has said that he hopes to make a trilogy of films based on Blizzard's iconic fantasy property. “Peter Jackson did a magnificent job of ‘setting the table’ for Tolkien’s universe with his first Lord Of The Rings film," Jones said. "I know that my job in this first film is to establish certain characters, places and culture while telling a story that a broad audience can be excited by. Hopefully, if I have done my job right, people will want to know and see more! There is certainly plenty more to tell… I would love to be part of that process of expanding on the lore that makes up Warcraft, but it will depend on what you, the audience, think of our first film.” There have already been a few trailers for Warcraft, and it certainly looks visually-dazzling, if a bit too heavily-focused on computer-generated effects. Those effects were accomplished by Industrial Light & Magic, the company behind the Star Wars films, so at the very least we should expect an enjoyable IMAX 3D experience. What's unclear is if audiences will be interested. Marketing Warcraft to gamers will not be enough; if every single World of Warcraft subscriber bought a ticket to the movie, it would only gross about $47 million, which would be a disastrous box office take. Warcraft must appeal to the average person who is not at all familiar with the MMORPG, but with such a rich lore and with trailers so jam-packed with somewhat-confusing material, it remains to be seen how far the appeal goes. 4) Splinter Cell (2017) From novelist Tom Clancy, the Splinter Cell series feels kind of like playing through a really good action-thriller. Next year, then, New Regency plans to turn it into a really good action thriller, and they’ve signed on the perfect actor to play Sam Fischer. At least, it's supposed to come out next year; as fans know, Splinter Cell has been in development for an excruciatingly long period of time. It was originally going to be directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), but sadly he departed the project last year. Still, attached to play Sam Fisher is Tom Hardy, and producer Jean-Julien Baronnet said that Hardy was picked for basically the same reason Michael Fassbender was picked for Assassin’s Creed: like Fassbender, Hardy is a highly versatile actor who has worked on big blockbusters (The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road) in addition to smaller dramas (Warrior, Bronson). "Tom is doing indie movies like Bronson and he’s doing Batman or whatever or Mad Max ," Baronnet said. "So this combination of factors for us was very important because it was a symbol for what we want to do in a movie – which is to do a movie of course that should be mainstream, but with the content we would like to have.” Though no director has yet signed on to replace Liman, Hardy said the production hopes to begin shooting in 2016 for a 2017 release date. 3) Metal Gear Solid (TBA) Though story wasn't a huge factor in the original 1987 Metal Gear game, as the franchise progressed, it became increasingly cinematic. By the time we got to Metal Gear Solid 4, half the experience involved putting the controller down, grabbing a drink and watching cutscenes, and fans had absolutely no issue with that considering how engaging the story was. Clearly, the transition to films should not be a difficult one. Like many video game adaptations, Metal Gear Solid has been in the works for a ridiculously long time. It was announced by Hideo Kojima all the way back in 2006, but around 2010 production suddenly stalled. At the time, it sounded like Kojima was rethinking the idea of making a Metal Gear movie altogether, as producer Michael De Luca explained to Collider. "Video game companies are very protective of their property and there are certain things a studio requires freedom-wise to market and distribute a movie effectively in a global marketplace and sometimes getting those two things to match up is really hard," De Luca said. "It was just kind of impossible to get the agendas to match up." Years later, though, production was revived, and in 2014, Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) boarded as director. Later, Jay Basu (Monsters: Dark Continent) was hired as screenwriter. This is one of those no-brainer adaptations that could so obviously be good if put in the right hands. It remains to be seen if relative newcomer Vogt-Roberts' hands are the right ones, but we'll know more when his Kong: Skull Island hits theaters next year. 2) Rampage (2017) San Andreas was kind of a fun mindless blockbuster, which was made worth a watch due to the magnetic energy of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and some fun action sequences from director Brad Peyton. Now, Johnson and Peyton are re-teaming to adapt Rampage, a classic game that's all about mindlessness. The Rampage series began with the 1986 arcade game and has since seen installments on the Gamecube, Xbox, Playstation and Wii. They’re all incredibly stupid but incredibly addicting; the player takes the role of a monster going around major cities, stomping on buildings and eating civilians. Brad Peyton is turning that into a movie, which comes just in time for the latest renaissance of giant monster films; Godzilla is officially back on American screens, and King Kong will be rebooted next year, with Godzilla vs. King Kong scheduled for 2020. What Rampage should offer that’s unique is the idea of several monsters teaming up, something we haven't seen on screen in a while. To summarize, we’ve got a decent action director creating a giant monster flick in which The Rock goes around kicking ass and spouting one-liners. How could that not at least be entertaining? Don't expect fine art, but it certainly sounds like a guilty pleasure summer popcorn film, and one that matches the quality of the source material. That already puts it far ahead of most other video game adaptations. 1) Portal/Half-Life (TBA) Back in 2013, J.J. Abrams and Valve President Gabe Newell announced their intentions to collaborate on some feature films based on Portal and Half-Life, and fans everywhere just about lost their voices screaming in excitement. It's been three years since, but both projects are still in the works. As recently as March of this year, Abrams told IGN that the movies are in active development, and they both have writers attached. Bad Robot is one of the most consistently solid studios in Hollywood today when it comes to science-fiction, so Valve's babies have certainly found the right home. While it's easy to see the appeal of a Half-Life movie, some might question whether a Portal film would work. After all, the original game is only a few hours long and follows one dialogue-free character trapped in a building trying to escape. It’s really more a series of puzzle mini-games than anything else, with a more complex story not beginning to emerge until the sequel. Well, look no further than Portal: No Escape to assuage those fears. The fan film by Dan Trachtenberg manages to make a simple idea so cinematic, and it was successful enough to help Trachentberg land the role of director on Bad Robot’s 10 Cloverfield Lane, a superb thriller following a female character trapped in one location for a long period of time and trying to figure out a mystery while also attempting to escape. Sound familiar? With the rights to Portal at Bad Robot, Trachentberg is the obvious choice to direct, and he has already demonstrated his ability to bring the visuals of a video game to screen. Now he just has to do it again.