Hey Jerry Bruckheimer, Why Do Movie Games Suck?

I believe it is because movie games fall between two fundamentally different styles of film creation. Videogames are blend of movie and novel: they have the ability to take the reader on a long, immersive journey, but they also have the ability to show us what is happening. So when it comes to transferring it to the silver screen, there is a disconnect. Do you treat it like a book to film, or a remake of an old film.

If you treat it like a book, the goal is to create it as similar to the original source material as possible. This works for books because readers have never actually seen the action before, only imagined it. But for video games, the player has already seen the action happen on screen, so seeing a movie like this could come out as a simple rehash that does not satisfy anyone because it will not reach the level of immersion that the game did. The draw to this style though, is that you anger fans if you don't adhere closely to the source material.

If the director chooses to treat it like a film, then it is close to a remake. This is where the director gets to put their stamp on it. Original shots and scenes. The problem here is that this power is often taken too far. The director might do something that requires a change to be made later down the road that compromises the integrity of the original and, again, angers fans (a la Neville in HP 4, and then 5, and probably 6)

So for videogame films to work? I believe there has to be a balance between the two, putting a directors stamp on it while still remaining close to the original source. Of course, I've never filmed a movie, so I don't know how difficult that would be.

Xaxir

@uppitycracker: It freaked the hell outta me!

@gojirah:

THIS.

Squirrelbot3000

@Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw: Actually I don't think so. Take Hitman. Crappy Adaptation, as except for the look of the character nothing is taken over, but it is a fun movie to watch. Not good, but if you don't care about the games it is nice to watch with a burger and some beer.

Take on the other hand the Final Fantasy movie, which was made by the developers, in the spirit and look of the universe and despite that sucked badly.

The point is rather, that the people who do video game movies are crap. Uwe Boll simply isn't a good director/script writer. Square may be a good software company but their way of story telling isn't suited for movies.

To be honest 'Prince of Persia' is the first movie I have high hopes for because it is the first movie whose creator is a professional script writer. If PoP gets a worldwide simultaneous release, it will be the first movie I force my fiance into....

develin

@uchennaokafor: The developer was solid, the timing sucked. I mean at that time Shiny were close to being superstars...

develin

Wow, no mention of Uwe Boll in two pages of comments? I'm surprised.

And while I would say he's brought down the average all by himself, eh...I just read the list of films based on games over at Wikipedia, and I guess I can't lay the blame entirely at his feet.

GravityBoots

Why do video game movies suck? Two words: Uwe Boll

PeteeWJ

BACK UP, BRUCKHEIMER! BACK THE F*CK UP!

@Hamburger-helper: He has no soul. Just money

Wow, could that picture be any bigger?

@Jellopnik: Umm... It costs me $7 aus with a student ticket, 12 without....

Comban

TRUTHFUL WORDS FROM THE MAN WHO GAVE US THE CAREER OF MICHAEL BAY.

thev01

I wish someone would make a badass Transformers game =(

MDX

That close up shot made me feel more than a little queasy...

The reason movie games suck is obvious. The sort of gamer that buys them isn't concerned about quality. Apparently these games are selling well, otherwise they just wouldn't be made. You can always rely on the casual masses to shift these awful games.

Misanthropic Gamer

@uchennaokafor: No, the complainers for transformers 2 all watched the original 80's cartoon. The people who don't complain didn't.

@GeluAnimus: They don't need more budget, they need talent. Get some talented script writers and directors behind a game with a good story, with a budget they need and then maybe you would see something decent.

Comban

@Kuwabara Kazuo: It was a warning. Worse things will happen to him if he does to Prince of Persia what michael bay did to transformers.

@WhatTheFrag: Yeah I don't see movies based on games being good until the original development teams have more input on what goes on in the movies. I see this happening as the video game industry continues to grow and movie studios realize that the fanbase for a game will be the primary audience for a movie based on said game.

If Blizzard were to expand into the realm of film (or Pixar into games) the only way I see them really succeeding would be if they started acquiring people and teams that have experience in the respective industries. If Blizzard wants to make good movies they need to hire experienced film producers and animators. If Pixar wants to get into games they need to hire experienced game designers and programmers. It's really that simple.

Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw

@Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw: The whole maximize profit aspect is totally there. I've worked with a studio that was trying to adapt a few films from Korea for a US - audience. Adaptation is quite risky and while some elements of the source material should just be left as such, that's not the mentality of the commisioning producer in most cases and that leads to a horrible mess.
You're very right about the fact that video game movies aren't made for the fans. It's treated as a property and a franchise and they just adapt loose ends of the story and the original story devs usually have no say on the topic - which is sad really.

As for cross-media adaptations, well there's some changes happening lately there's two NYC firms and one in LA that pretty much deal with this. But like you said I'd doubt if a game company making a movie (With no industrial experience) will succeed and vice versa.

p.s. meh so many typos and missed words in my old post. wish there was an edit/preview.

@Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw: Ugh, that first paragraph should be in italics.

Oh pretty please Kotaku can we has a preview buttons back pleeeaaaase?

Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw

Video Game Movies fail because they are usually made by people who neither know nor respect the franchise they are adapting and often fail to identify the elements that actually appeal to the fans of the material.

The biggest problem is that studios try to maximize profits. They use the name and backdrop from a video game and then change the plot to try to appeal to a mass audience. Video game movies aren't made for fans.

@WizarDru: Does anyone doubt that if Blizzard put their mind to it, they could make a 2 hour movie to rival Pixar, aimed at an older audience?

Er, hell yes. Blizzard could no more make a movie that rivals Pixar than Pixar could make a game that rivals Blizzard. They're two entirely different mediums, and what works in one in no way works in another. On a technical level alone, Pixar would blow Blizzard to the stone age and back.

Sir-Lucius has a level 93 Ubersaw

Video game movies suck because the filmmakers refuse to be faithful to the source material. Look at Resident Evil. While the first one is decent enough, the story is too wildly divergent from the source material. What was wrong with making the film exactly like the first game, Chris, Jill, et all? Video Game movies don't work because most games are already at movie levels of narration and action, when Hollywood tries to "turn them into a movie" they're messing with something that already works.

blatantripoff

@Ashurahori:

Or got so dizzy from watching cameras spin around objects, he fell face first on the ground.

...Either way, It's Michael Bay's fault.

Hey the terminator arcade game was fun and I'm sure there are some good games that the title of them is the same as a movie even tho there is no relation past that, Those count right?

@NoFunShogun: It's a visual representation of his ego. So I think it's appropriate.

1Grand_Marquis

@Cavefish: I completely disagree that being a fan would improve story quality. Fans have foreknowledge of the characters and concepts that they take for granted. When translated to film, it's probable that those elements would be ignored within the narrative, under the assumption that it's "obvious". So you end up with bewildering plotlines generated by characters acting with no explained motivation.

On the other hand, look at Batman Begins, where Nolan rebuilt the character from the ground up with no preconceived notions about who or what the character was. That's what you need. Not a fan of the genre or IP, but of storytelling.

1Grand_Marquis

@Zenrick3.0: "the stuff in his nostril doesnt cost a dime."

Ohhh, that entirely depends on what he's snorting.

1Grand_Marquis

@Hamburger-helper: You can see everything.

1Grand_Marquis

@abort_user: I'm sure he could produce a movie called "Waste of Money," where the only thing you see is a huge pile of cash getting blown up, and people would still make it the top grossing film that month. I am still getting shivers from overhearing some friends say that Pirates of the Caribbean # 2 and 3 are some of the best films they've seen. *tries very hard to keep from wretching*

its because the story was great the first time around, a movie messes with what makes it special, and the gamers who would go already experienced it better the first time around and don't want to waste their time on something that messed with there first experience.

Get an actual gamer to helm a game-movie and tell a NEW story with the property, and maybe it could go well... but producers and executives get in the way of all creativity, fun and imagination. they fear risk, and ironically end up with mainstream dribble that no one wants to watch because they lack risk- something new and interesting.

boo.

Noodle-Works

@gojirah: Sorry, I dont want to sound mean, but its true. Take for instance the Twilight films. Not that I have read the books or even cared for the films but I heard many of the novels fans complaining that there were many elements of the novel ommitted from the film. The same is true for Watchmen. But I mean come on, its only 2 bloody hours. Its difficult for writers to create a captivating story which will keep both initiated and non-initiated interested. Its unfair that newcomers are left out to appease old fans. After all most of the time these "fans" seem obliged to complain about even the smallest and most irrelevant details.

It's pretty sad that a movie based on a animatronic ride at disneyland has done better than a video game movie.

MrFatalistic

@WizarDru: Publishers selling 3.08 Billion doesn't mean what people read these days is actually worth adapting. I've gone to several places where producers try to find materials to adapt to books and believe me there's actually a goldmine of books/stories and ideas that aren't read and ultimately end up in some pile somewhere.
What you've effectively said is pretty much like lumping all the game publishers and saying more people game today. That doesn't reflect on people understanding or appreciating the medium more as going by the popular tendencies. It's pretty much the same case with all media. Sure some of these unread books are awful but there's a lot of forgotten books that were pretty good as well.
I'm pretty sure you won't sales for a book in either e-form or much such as say Les Enfantes Terrible. Some of Burrough's stuff equally is not really published because of the lack of an audience.
More books being read doesn't reflect on quality as much as quantity. And I should've been more clear people don't read enough, it's not really a point to consider reading a trash novel or airport novels as reading something that's easily adaptable.

As for adaptable properties, to be fair games from the 90s just like books whose publishers have gone defunct have a lot of rights issues and wading through them is pretty much like running blind in a minefield. Every game story might not be ideal but a game's story world has a lot of potential to develop other stories unless the story is confined to the incidents of the world.

ok using a bad example Godzilla becomes cloverfield from another perspective despite it actually being a closed event story. There's plenty of open-event world stories that actually could come out better.

I do agree with what you said that people don't respect or understand the francise are usually the ones dealing with it in the filmic medium which is what I meant in brief by not a lot of films deal with the source material well.

But I do respectfully disagree that considering 3.08 billion sales as a reflection of qualitative reading. It is constructive to learning the language perhaps but not really when it comes to constructive storytelling.

@DTownsu: I'd have to disagree. While the gameplay was something left to be desired, I thought that the direction the storyline took with the characters was actually pretty well done. Even if they were secondary characters, I thought it tied them in pretty well.

@WhatTheFrag: People don't read 'a lot less these days'. Where did you get that idea? Publishers sold 3.08 BILLION books last year. That's down from 3.13 Billion last year, but the decline is due to the economy. And ebooks are up 7% from last year (owed in no small part to the kindle). Juveniles like Twilight and the Harry Potter series have contributed to some of the biggest book sales numbers in years. In fact, the publishing industry is one of the ONLY industries that is still showing a profit in this economic climate. People are reading as much or more than ever. By way of comparison: in 1986, the first year that good data is available for book sales, about 1.03 Billion books were sold, versus 3.08 Billion last year. In fact, MORE titles are being sold these days, but individual titles are selling less copies per book.

Video Game Movies fail because they are usually made by people who neither know nor respect the franchise they are adapting and often fail to identify the elements that actually appeal to the fans of the material. Does anyone doubt that if Blizzard put their mind to it, they could make a 2 hour movie to rival Pixar, aimed at an older audience?

Example: the Doom movie heavily hyped its short First-person sequences, which actually irritated fans of the game MORE than non-fans.

Worse, many of the adapted properties were poor choices for adaption to begin with. House of the Dead? Each installment has about three minutes of story, which is tantamount to 'a secret agent shows up, kills monsters, yells epithets at boss and then kills him'. Ever see the Silent Hill light-gun game? It takes the most intelligent and psychologically compelling video game in history and makes it STUPID. How did anyone expect any better of HOTD? Dungeon Siege? Resident Evil is a great game series...but the story in the games border on the ludicrously non-sensical. Double Dragon? Super Mario Brothers? Street Fighter? Couple that with the fact that most games use the story to take you to the next game sequence, not to tell a good story...well, you get the idea.

WizarDru

@Daniel Pizarro Sánchez: wiii un Paisa! :D

Yah, in mex it is around 4dlls. and that's 90% of the cinemas here.

@uchennaokafor: "enthusiasts talk outta their ass jut to sound different and its quite pathetic to be honest"

Man, what a jerk. :P

@uppitycracker: yea you can practically see his soul

@NiceMissMayonnaise: "filmmakers picking up on popular concepts without understanding what makes them popular"

This is exactly my point. For every property, there's always a reason why people enjoyed it. It's not that they need to reproduce every detail. They need to ask the fans what feelings were evoked by the original.

I want to know what the hell is up with that GameRadar article title. Do they mean attract female gamers by making crappy movies? Because that is definitely not what got me into gaming, and Jake Gyllgyenlaenhal in that picture looks gross.

I hate articles that talk about getting females into gaming and then insinuate we're all retards who just play the Sims and BrainAge.

Booooo.

alzuna

The second most epic right nostril I have ever seen in a jpeg.

I've never wanted to be that close to Jerry Bruckheimer, ZOOM OUT! ZOOM OUT!

@duckmouth: You can see every fucking atom of his being.

@ThursdayNext:Agree. I really like the game, i don´t understand why everybody seems to hate it, i mean, started to hate it after some time, because in the meantime everybody loved it...

Daniel Pizarro Sánchez

@Jellopnik: Are those really that high? Here in México the average ticket costs around $4 dls and the IMAX ones cost $7dls...

Daniel Pizarro Sánchez

@abort_user: *they

curse you kotaku and no edit or preview!!!!!!!!

abort_user

@Zenrick3.0: i think they might be scarier for the mere fact that cost millions to make. the stuff in his nostril doesnt cost a dime.

though i bet people would pay to see both... sadly.

abort_user

do you mean why to game movies suck?

@DTownsu: Thats because the game itself sucked, not the premise. If you had a solid developer on the project Enter The Matrix would have been a superb addition to the Matrix universe. First of all the primary protagonists were two characters no one really gave a shit about (I was hoping for Morpheus and Trinity) and then the hit detection was so bad it was laughable.

@MrStorm: We seem to be getting mixed messages here - the article title is about 'Movie Games', which, indeed, low budget and a rush to release alongside the movie causes awful quality.

I think the actual theme here is 'Game Movies', which, I guess, is caused by filmmakers picking up on popular concepts without understanding what makes them popular, just thinking they know what makes a good movie. A good game movie needs to be a decent movie in its own right, but with a close resemblance to the original game and plenty of knowing nods to the gameplay or the things that made the game great. Which has yet to be really done properly.

I guess the closest would be the Street Fighter live-action movie, which got a fair bit towards each, being an entertaining if stupid movie, and shovelling in plenty of game-sourced things, including pretty decent casting/costume recreations of the characters for the most part.

Shouldn't the question be "why do game-based movies suck?"...?

Not that the reverse isn't usually true, but I was confused by the wording - I thought Jerry Bruckheimer was getting into making games! :)

@DTownsu: Hahaha its ridiculous isnt it!? Yeah I liked the cartoon and I enjoy the films but where the hell do you get this bullshit of "respecting the source material" sometimes I think the enthusiasts talk outta their ass jut to sound different and its quite pathetic to be honest. The cartoon, whilst solid, would have been translated poorly onto the silver screen if they fully respected the 80s format. The original series for instance didnt even have human characters, a disconnection for the large numbers of viewers who are not aware of the 80s cartoon. TBH I doubt any of the complainers have watched the original either.

Also this article is confusing. Are you talking about movie games or game movies? You mention Bruckheimers interest in the game business but then you mention unwillingness to see Gyllenhaal in the movie for just removing his shirt. Or are you speaking of both?

@DTownsu: The point is that if the creative force is not a fan of the source material, then the original fans won't connect with the new adaptation.

OK, so maybe you don't like Jerry Bruckheimer. Probably yes. WHY DO WE NEED A GIGANTIC PICTURE OF THE GUY? It's up his nose and he's not a man built for photography. Damn, unflattering!

Now, was it necessary to make the pic that big? It's not like we need to look up his nose or count the strands of facial hair he's got.

PsiWren

"Gaming is really starting to explode with women, particularly story-driven games like The Sims."

???

Just_as_planned

Wait, don't you mean game movies though? He's not making a game, he's making a movie, so I'll just assume that's what you meant....

I liked his answer. Confident and hopeful that game->movies will be better, but not so much of an arrogant douchebag as to say that his movie is absolutely The One.

cowondinosaur

I think that the new Transformers game was a step in the right direction for movie games. I've been playing it since it came out and I only have a few small problems with it. For the most part, it's a blast.

@WhatTheFrag: Enter the Matrix is a perfect example of how showing another part of the story can lead to epic fail.

@gojirah: Respect the source? Transformers was a cheesy kids cartoon that was based on a toy line. I think they the source too much respect if anything.

One of the main reasons I think is that the concepts behind a lot of movies just don't translate very well into games. But because they have to squeeze them for every penny they make them anyway.

Odin

@Kamakazie: Yeah this confuses me. The article seems to talk about both, but the question put to Bruckheimer only addresses one.

Showmeyomoves!

That picture is uncomfortably large and close.

slamdance

Short production times, limited budgets, aversion to risk, hard deadlines and unmotivated B-grade development teams would be my answer.

Thus you get one crappy, generic shitefest after another.

DrXym

@icepick314: "Enter the Matrix" was a quality little game. Lots of easter eggs to be found.

ThursdayNext

@Luke Plunkett: Thanks for BRUCKHEIMER HD.

abcFRAG

@uppitycracker: Clearly you weren't around back in the heyday of the giant reggie/miyamoto/hirai/hyrb faces.

Norellicus

@hermes200: It's rare you'll see a licensed development team break out of that realm and make good original stuff though. That's how I judge their abilities.

Less time is partially to blame, but I think the studios deserve their fair share too.

@MrStorm: I don't think they are less than talented. If you consider they are expecting a functional game in only 6 months/1 year of development is a surprise why didn't got a lot worst.

At least Valve, Blizzard, Square or Kojima take several years (and I mean several) to polish their games. And the "games of movies" ratio is far better than "movies of games"...

i think The Matrix had the right idea...

the first game was background story between first and second movie which explains some of the details on why some characters acted the way they did...

wish more movies would tie into games like The Matrix did...

and yes i'm a Matrix fan...both movie and game...

@TuxBobble: I don't think even the post is clear enough.
Title speaks of license-games though. Not movies based on games.

There's also movies about people playing games.

good God. why oh why do you need these stinking close ups!

@ShushKebab: LOL. But even then Concessions are usually 14-15.

Jellopnik

Title for this post wasn't very clear at all.

Movies based on games?
Games based on movies?
Games that are really just movies that trick you into thinking you're interacting, only to wake up in a psychiatric ward at your local hospital?

Could really viably be any of these three, ESPECIALLY if you're certifiable...

Good thing I read the post so I understand it...

@Kuwabara Kazuo: It's from all the explosions Michael Bay puts him through.

Ashurahori

Movie games or game movies?

Kamakazie

Jerry Bruckheimer talking about other people's products sucking? Mr. Pot? Meet Ms. Kettle. Ms. Kettle, I'd like you to meet Mr. Pot.

Also..... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to big of a picture of Bruckheimer for anyone's taste. New rule.... if you can actually see up someone's nose, it's time to use a smaller image file.

The answer to that question is easy:
They want to make a quick buck on an established brand, get people (aka non-gamers) who knows nothing about it to do it.

Class' over.

Cavefish

@duckmouth: OK I've officially gotten my day's quota of stray nose hairs, so I'm good!

@MrStorm: As sad as it may sound, I think they need more budget.

Imagine a Warcraft movie with the LOTR budget :O

GeluAnimus

jerry bruckheimer stinks. ask him how to smell bad.

Jim_Lahey_Is_A_Drunk

@WhatTheFrag: Let's have a game of 'Count The Blackheads'!

The main problem seems to be as others have mentioned, they just don't take the source all that seriously. They need to find the balance between a branching off storyline while still staying true to the character. Take something like Halo for example. If someone actually did some of the back story of the game while staying true to the first game, then it might be quite interesting/entertaining. For my money, if they just wanted to adapt the Halo book that chronicled what happened in the Halo game then I would be happy (I believe it was Halo, The Flood if memory serves).

Booger Man

DemonJester13

I'd say its likely something to do with the imposed restrictions.... more often than not a movie-game is expected to release about the same time as the film (imagine how much better ghost busters would have sold had there been a new film hit the cinema at the same time!), and films more often than not have a shorter "development time".

A film studio can film, edit and post produce a big film in about 12 months, and whilst a lot of game studios can stick to a similar time-frame (if they use an established engine, ala unreal), it will lack the polish of more AAA titles.

Another reason movie games are often crap is the work ethic of the developers behind it. I study games design and I, from time to time, attend q&a sessions with developers. I'm not going to mention the company (representative) who said this (I'm not into mud slinging), but he said that his studio (renowned for movie-games) doesn't aim for 10/10 games as the kind of people who are likely to buy the game aren't the hardcore gaming demographic, but fans of the film (who are a bit less savvy to the games reviews)... conversely, they aim for somewhere between 5/10 to 7/10.

The company is doing very well for themselves so from a business point of view they're doing something right... but would I ever buy their games? not likely.

exion

@duckmouth: lol holy effing hell. Forget the eyebrows you can see nose hair, sebaceous pores - this is a high res pic for dermatologists.

@Jellopnik: I bet he cheats his way in with a Concession ticket.

The crappy movies he produces are almost as scary as what lurkes inside that giant nostril.

Well it's mostly because you're revisiting the same story, whose twists and turns you know and have experienced and not another story in the universe.

If it's changed, then it's an adaptation and adapted works are always criticized, see books for example. Except in the case of books, people read a lot less these days or more precisely fewer people have read the source-novel from where a movie is adapted and enjoy the movie.
Whereas if it's a game, it's directly dealing with the audience that played the game as it's usually a similar storyline as well.
Not only, a lot of films don't deal with the source material well. Maybe the release of a game exploring another part of a story which is already being dealt with in the movie can fare better.

This strategy is currently being tested - can't really say if it'll work or not at this stage.

Also a video-game to film adaptation might work better if it was 25 years later (collective memory loss) and the source material is still adaptable.

@MrStorm: It's a lack of respect for the source material. Take Transformers. Take Michael bay. Take them both. Far away.

@uppitycracker: Huge? Pfft, you call that huge? Now THIS is huge:

[www.antonybeevor.com]

Check out that eyebrow action

$10-15 bucks luke? I thought you were in Australia? Cinema prices average around 16-18 bucks these days!

Jellopnik

@uppitycracker: Almost as if he has a GIANT FACE

@uppitycracker: I know, right? That was about the last thing I needed to see before I got my coffee. Figured I was still having a nightmare.

Jeez, that pic is HUGE once you hit the jump. Almost frighteningly so...

uppitycracker

Rushed production times and less than talented development studios?

Yeah, I'm gonna go with that.

His lip bleeding indicates a little number of Prince of Persia fans surprised attacked him before the interview.

Kuwabara Kazuo