George R.R. Martin Or Not, The Elden Ring Movie Is Toast

Some of the biggest news to come out of this year’s IGN Fan Fest piggybacked its intended story. While promoting his upcoming Lost Lands project on Max, George R. R. Martin let it slip that an Elden Ring movie may currently be in pre-development. This is a huge announcement, as his most recent words on the subject were last summer in his blog, insisting he knew nothing of an Elden Ring feature film or television series.

While this news is still potentially exciting for FromSoftware fans and Martin fans alike, it may generate concern for anyone who’s sunk 100+ hours into the game. Unfortunately, Martin likely won’t be heavily involved, telling IGN “I’m a few years behind with my latest book, so that also limits the amount of things that I can do.” Those who know Elden Ring well enough to appreciate its detail, philosophy, and gameplay loop know something others wouldn’t likely understand: Elden Ring might be the pinnacle of video game design, simply eclipsing what’s possible to replicate in a two-hour feature film. Elden Ring is already so perfectly realized as it is, a film is likely to result in less triumph and more suffering for fans.

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Rise, Tarnished?

Perhaps Animation Is The Way To Go For Elden Ring

An animated film seems like the most practical option to execute an Elden Ring film with all the summon bells and Torrent whistles. Animation, most likely anime, is still not the easy answer. For example, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim puts the ‘mid’ in Middle-Earth with a 49% Rotten Tomatoes score. Critics alleged the animation was gorgeous, but the story was clichéd. This has to be a flag for any Elden Ring anime.

FromSoftware Boss Hidetaka Miyazaki is a wonderful world builder, but his stories have often been relegated to exposition dumps and weapon text descriptions. Plus, as intricate as his lore tends to be, it never actually makes sense without hours of intense breakdown. If George R.R. Martin isn’t there to help craft a narrative, the story will be in real trouble.

Additionally, George R.R. Martin’s involvement doesn’t ensure success either. Quiet as it’s kept, Max’s House of the Dragon is in a critical downturn, despite Martin’s executive production. Martin being around to provide feedback on creative decisions doesn’t ensure those choices were any good to begin with. If Martin was fully writing and directing an Elden Ring Movie, it still wouldn’t be right. Elden Ring is, at its core, a FromSoft story, and the only way a film would work is if Miyazaki produces, Martin consults, and a credible director helms the project.

The gorgeous landscapes of the Lands Between are awe-inspiring enough in-game to warrant quiet admiration with every pan of the camera. Its gripping fights are painstaking and rewarding, from lowly grunts to legendary foes, awarding triumph through suffering. Miyazaki and Martin would need maxed stats in intelligence and faith to pull off a similar feat in two hours, regardless of budget.

The Flames of Ambition

Any Elden Ring Film Would Be A Risky Bet

Martin’s teased a film in the works that could maybe work as an anime, but that would be almost pointless given the industry-leading art direction of the original Elden Ring presentation. If they go live action, there would be many obstacles for the film to overcome. For instance, the requisite R-rating, which would discourage proper budgeting from the production house. Casting nightmares seen in recent game adaptations such as Borderlands also limit the short list of these projects that have succeeded in recent years.

When considering video game adaptations over the last decade, it paints a bleak picture for future projects. Granted, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 were both relative critical and box office successes. The former earned $1.39 billion globally, and the latter was a critical darling with a certified fresh 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. They could be considered outliers, though, when taking the majority of recent video game-based films into account.

Major films based on triple-A games over the last ten years have been a parade of duds. According to Rotten Tomatoes, of the 17 video game film adaptations released in the last decade, only seven have garnered critic ratings over 60%, and those do not include The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Only two out of those seven films were certified fresh with a critical rating over 80%.

Only three of these 17 films were rated R, although at least a third of the films merited an R-rating to faithfully adapt their game experiences. Hitman: Agent 47, Mortal Kombat, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter managed an R rating from their production studios, but only Mortal Kombat was considered a success, becoming HBO Max’s number-one streamed movie in 2021. None of these films surpassed the 60% fresh Rotten Tomatoes mark. If Elden Ring is adapted to live action, its greatest hope seems to be a streaming release with an R rating to depict its world as intended.

Cue The Death Screen

How Do You Make A Satisfying Movie Out Of Repetitive Death?

Fans will despise the recently teased Elden Ring film if it’s anything less than equal parts gorgeous and agonizing. If the first film doesn’t see the protagonist fall to an overpowered reaper the size of a garden gnome at least 70 times, is it canonically faithful? Plus, no one expects Hollywood to dig properly into ancillary lore where the story lives or attach someone trusted to do it – especially if George R.R. Martin isn’t involved, which he probably won’t be. All in all, it seems like a hard sell for any diehard to get excited about.

Source: IGN

Released

February 25, 2022

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence