Video game adaptation ideas?

If this is a thread in the Video Games forums I can't find it. That said, could any video games today make great movies?

Several came to mind for me such as

•a Tomb Raider reboot starring Lauren Cohan. She bears a remarkable resemblance to the Lara Croft seen in the 2013 reboot, and she'd be perfect for the role. I know a reboot has been in development but there hasn't been much news.

•A Bio Shock movie based on the original, as a horror/thriller studying the characters and setting, or a movie based on Bio Shock Infinite (which could possibly be stretched into a trilogy if you wanted to include every little detail.)

•Mortal Kombat obviously comes to mind, and if they put enough effort into it and followed the lore, it could be a really great trilogy. The first film could focus on the first tournament, focusing on the main characters and the fight scenes. (Ryan Reynolds as Johhny Cage, anybody?) The second film would stretch to Outworld and introduce sub plots like the Lin Kuei and the Scorpion/Sub-Zero thing to increase the lore. The third film would be the invasion, watching our characters fight for their lives and their world one last time as everything crumbles around them. These would all be rated R of course.

•It's high time we got a proper Halo movie or a Metal Gear Solid film. Something big that could bring in an audience. Assassin's Creed is getting a film soon, so there's that. (Zelda maybe?)

•With the upcoming Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper films, when are we getting a Jak & Daxter film? I think it could work in live action if you worked at it. Some things would definitely have to be worked on to convert to live action, such as Samos, or Daxter or any of the more cartoony elements of the series.

I think Half-Life would be a great movie in the right hands. The game has a lot of atmosphere, and a great premise for a feature film. Gordon himself would be the hardest element to work with, as the filmmakers would have to find a way to translate his silent traits onto the big screen. I'd be fine with Gordon being able to talk, just as long as they make him a quiet everyman who has to mostly rely on his wits to survive.

Speaking of Valve, Portal would make a good film too. They could include elements from both games (the basic plot and atmosphere of the first, and helpful cores from the second) and make an entirely new story. I could easily see the movie being done cheaply, as you only really need to cast a handful of actors and save the rest for the visuals.

edited 20th Oct '15 8:56:58 PM by chasemaddigan

And that funny "The Cake Is a Lie" ending.

"That said, could any video games today make great movies?"

There are MANY video games that could make good films. Problem is with the so-called talents called upon to make it happen.

The fact that a Metal Gear movie has never came about is a riddle for the ages (although i heard that David Hayter, Snake's voice actor, wrote screenplay for one).

Personally i think if they did a Metal Gear film, they should try to combine the first two MSX games

It would be funny to see Atlas and Peabody doing things separately to lighten up the tone a bit. Not that lightening the tone is something that is necessary for portal, since they'd probably want to keep it creepy and atmospheric.

a lot of video games can make great movies, but we must keep uwe boll away from them.

I know this is the "Live Action Film" thread, but I'd totally be down for an animated Super Mario movie. I think the RP Gs and Nintendo Power comic show its possible to get a good story from these characters.

Wasn't District 9 supposed to be Halo before it got sacked and then reworked?

i dont understand how uncharted cant be done in live action... its basically made for film

Yup. Made with a tenth of the budget Halo was supposed to have.

@Brandon:
I suspect part of it is the same issue that's plagued the Hitman movies. Hollywood is convinced that audiences aren't going to want to watch a movie where the point is to avoid action and instead take out enemies via stealth and clever traps.

edited 23rd Oct '15 8:17:16 AM by FuzzyBoots

Which is funny, given that Hideo Kojima was told originally nobody would want to play a game where the object is to (mostly) hide from enemies.

Frankly I think a Metal Gear film, with Snake trying to evade enemies could work as a suspenseful movie, and only getting into gunfights when necessary. As a viewer i'd be constantly on the edge of my seat thinking, "Holy crap, is Snake gonna get caught! Damn, just barely got out!" Hell, the first Die hard movie kinda went the same way.

Spec-Ops: The Line would make an excellent film. Since it's an update of Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness it's a familiar story to a potential audience. And it would be a perfect antidote to the sort of gung-ho crap that we currently have in the military films genre.

IMHO a lot of these video game adaptions would work better as tv series or miniseries rather than films. And given how far we have come to today with shows that could be mistaken for movies made in the 2000s, I think it can be pulled off.

Take Grand Theft Auto for example. With how the game works with missions, this could be like a tv series with 1 or 2 missions per episode. In fact a lot of these games can be split into missions that can be translated to a 20 minute episode.