It wasn’t until The Game Awards that I realized how great 2024 was for video game adaptations. Between Amazon’s Fallout, Arcane season 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (the latter of which was too late for TGA love), 2024 had an impressive slate of video game movies and shows – enough to help us forget about the bad ones at least (sorry, Borderlands and Yakuza fans).
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Thanks to the success of Sonic and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Hollywood is right on the cusp of a video game movie revolution. Once regarded as the bottom of the barrel that only the likes of Uwe Boll would touch, the film industry has finally clued into the fact that big-budget, high-quality video game adaptations attract a big audience. As the superhero genre continues its slow decline, it certainly seems like the age of the video game movie is almost here.
Just Not In 2025
Of course, as is often the case in Hollywood, there’s a high chance that out-of-touch execs and poor quality will kill the genre’s momentum. Universal’s Dark Universe was a good reminder not to count your tickets before they sell, and just because we got a few hit video game adaptations doesn’t mean Hollywood has its finger on the gamer pulse.
To wit, this year’s big blockbuster video game movie is A Minecraft Movie, which looks… well, you’ve seen the trailer. Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess’ adaptation of the most successful indie game of all time probably would have been a hit with kids ten years ago, but the audience this movie is targeting is more into Roblox, Fortnite, and Marvel Rivals. Minecraft players are too old for the Minecraft movie, and that’s probably going to be reflected in the box office. Also, it just doesn’t look very good.
We’re also getting Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 this December. The first one did pretty well, opening at $80 million and finishing at just under $300 million worldwide on a budget of just $20 million. More proof that a bad movie with a big audience can still be successful. It will be interesting to see if fans keep showing up for these or if the novelty has already worn off. Either way, the only impact any of this is going to have on the video game movie genre is potentially paving the way for Bendy movies. We can probably blame Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet project on this one.
Mortal Kombat 2 is scheduled to release in October. That’s all I have to say about Mortal Kombat 2.
Finally, we’re getting David F Sandberg and Gary Dauberman’s Until Dawn adaptation in April. The Annabelle: Creation team is taking the game that wants to be a movie and turning it into a movie that wants to make a bunch of money. The only thing that intrigues me is the inclusion of Peter Stormare, who will be reprising his role from the game. Otherwise I don’t expect much buzz or sauce from this unnecessary adaptation.
It’s Not All Bad
There are a few adaptations to look forward to on the small screen. The next season of The Last Of Us is set to premiere on Max this year, and while it’s only going to cover the first half of the second game, I expect it will be just as good as the first season.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is another Netflix adaptation, and while some of those have been pretty bad, this one is an animated feature starring Geralt, with Doug Cockle reprising the role. I’m hopeful.
I’m also hopeful for Devil May Cry, which debuts on Netflix in April. Producer Adi Shankar had delivered some great animated video games series with Castlevania and Captain Laserhawk, and Devil May Cry is overdue for another adaptation after the so-so 2007 anime.
Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 also drops this month.
Finally, we’re also getting a second season of Twisted Metal and another season of The Witcher this year, the latter of which will be the first starring Liam Hemsworth rather than Henry Cavill. While Twisted Metal’s first season was overlooked, The Witcher should probably have just wrapped up after season 3.
Though this is going to be a quiet year for adaptations, the future slate is jam-packed. Next year will bring us the sequel to the Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Street Fighter movie, as well as potential Death Stranding, BioShock, Gears of War, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Mass Effect adaptations, and the next season of Fallout. Some of those will get pushed further into 2027 and beyond, while other adaptations we don’t even know about yet will fill out the schedule. The age of the video game movie is coming, but it won’t be coming this year.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 continues the adventures of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and teases the introduction of Shadow the Hedgehog.