There was a period of time a while back when it felt as though movies based on video games were being announced every second day, to the point where I simply stopped caring and openly wondered whether a single one would actually make it to cinemas. As an experiment, Kotaku Australia publisher Danny Allen decided to collate a list of all the ‘video game movies’ currently in production. It is insane. Brace yourself. This is a long list.
But first, a disclaimer. Danny informs me that this list was produced based on an exhaustive search of every movie related rumour he could possibly find. Some could be legit, some could be based on complete hearsay. Some are super early in production, some are close to release.
Me, I just find some of the games on this list hilarious. A Gran Turismo movie? Really?
Here it is, in no particular order!
Resident Evil 6 [Warner / Village Roadshow]
Care Factor? I think I’m about done with this series…
Chances Of Getting Made? Yeah, this will happen. It’s going to happen.
Assassins Creed Movie [20th Century Fox)
Care Factor? I love the Assassin’s Creed series, but not a big fan of the science fiction aspect. I suspect a movie would focus on that side of things way too much.
Chances Of Getting Made? I’d say high. Prince of Persia got made, and Assassin’s Creed is a big deal in terms of sales.
Ratchet & Clank Movie (Blockade)
Care Factor? Pretty low. Non-existent almost.
Chances Of Getting Made? Maybe as some sort of straight to digital/dvd style kids movie? I dunno. I don’t think this will make it over the line. [Another goof: this is far enough in production to have a trailer!]
Warcraft Movie (Warner)
Care Factor? High. Very high. This has real potential, particularly with Duncan Jones at the helm. He hasn’t made a bad movie yet.
Chances Of Getting Made? Has been stuck in production hell for a while now, but I have faith with this one.
Agent 47 (20th Century Fox)
Care Factor? Low to average. First one wasn’t bad.
Chances Of Getting Made? I’m going to say naaaah. This is a ‘reboot’ supposedly. Don’t see it making it to cinemas. [Update: I have just been informed that this movie is already at the shooting stage!]
Angry Birds Movie (Sony Pictures)
Care Factor? Zilcho.
Chances Of Getting Made? Sadly… extremely high.
Metal Gear Solid Movie (Sony / Colombia)
Care Factor? Yeah, I could get behind this, although story is probably the weakest part of the MGS series.
Chances Of Getting Made? This has been rumoured forever. I don’t think it’ll ever see the light of day.
Sly Cooper animated film (Blockade)
Care Factor? Low.
Chances Of Getting Made? High. There was already a trailer. We’ll see this soon.
Splinter Cell Movie (Warner / Paramount)
Care Factor? Tom Hardy is apparently rumoured to be involved. That could be cool.
Chances Of Getting Made? Dunno. Is Splinter Cell still the force it once was as a brand?
Mortal Kombat: Devastation [Warner / Village Roadshow]
Care Factor? I’m not interested, but I never liked the original movies all that much.
Chances Of Getting Made? I can’t gauge this one at all. Thoughts?
Tekken – A Man Called X [conflicting reports]
Care Factor? I dunno about this.
Chances Of Getting Made? This will never get made. I all but guarantee it.
Half-Life [TBA) (Paramount)
Care Factor? Hahaha! Yeah, this might be cool.
Chances Of Getting Made? We’ll see Half-Life 3 before we see this movie. Take from that what you will.
Portal (Paramount)
Care Factor? I think this could be fun, just for the crazy cinematography, the sense of discovery and the humour.
Chances Of Getting Made? I don’t see it. Too weird for Hollywood.
Asteroids(Sony / Colombia)
Care Factor? Hahahah. What?
Chances Of Getting Made? If Hollywood can make a movie from Battleships, they can do anything.
Heavy Rain (Sony / Colombia)
Care Factor? It’s already a movie, and I don’t mean that negatively at all.
Chances Of Getting Made? I can’t see it happening.
Driver [Sony / Colombia]
Care Factor? I think some sort of 70s style driving movie with Sci-Fi elements like Life on Mars.
Chances Of Getting Made? Yeah maybe. I can’t call this one.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Sony / Colombia)
Care Factor? I think a movie set in this universe would be fun if done right.
Chances Of Getting Made?
Gran Turismo [Sony / Colombia)
Care Factor? This is on the list based on some seriously flimsy rumours. I can’t get invested in this.
Chances Of Getting Made? No chance in hell.
Dead Island [Lions Gate]
Care Factor? Only if it delivers on that trailer that turned out to be empty fluff.
Chances Of Getting Made? Nope. No chance.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune Movie (Colombia Pictures)
Care Factor? High. But I love Indiana Jones more than life itself.
Chances Of Getting Made? I say high. I think this movie gets made at some point. I also think they’ll get it right. Crazy, I know.
Mass Effect feature film (Warner Bros)
Care Factor? I think I’m happy with this staying in video game land. The choice thing is sort of integral to the series.
Chances Of Getting Made? I’m on the fence. Sci-fi is popular now. I’m going to go with maybe.
Tomb Raider: Untitled third movie (MGM Pictures)
Care Factor? Not really interested.
Chances Of Getting Made? Low. Don’t see it.
Just Cause: Scorpion Rising (Square Enix films)
Care Factor? I have literally no idea what to expect from this? Insane XxX style James Bond movie? Might be cool.
Chances Of Getting Made? No way this gets made.
RollerCoaster Tycoon (Sony Pictures)
Care Factor? Hahahahahahahaha! Oh man, this list is crazy.
Chances Of Getting Made? No way. Just no way.
Watch Dogs (20th Century Fox / New Regency)
Care Factor? I’d like to play the game first please.
Chances Of Getting Made? Too many variables at this stage. We don’t really know if the game will deliver critically or commercially.
Far Cry film reboot [TBA]
Care Factor? I think there’s a good movie in there somewhere.
Chances Of Getting Made? Is Far Cry a big enough series to get the budget it deserves?
Kane & Lynch (Lionsgate)
Care Factor? No thanks. Games weren’t that great. This production has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Chances Of Getting Made? I think production on this has stalled.
Devil May Cry (Sony Screen Gems)
Care Factor? If they go all out and make this camp as hell — count me in.
Chances Of Getting Made? Don’t think it’ll ever get made.
Gears Of War (Legendary / New Line)
Care Factor? Cliff Bleszinski once complained that they took his sci-fi ‘Band of Brothers’ concept and turned it into ‘Predator’. I say, ‘what the hell was wrong with Predator?’ Predator is the second greatest action movie ever made (after Die Hard). Point being: this movie could be awesome.
Chances Of Getting Made? I say pretty high.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbox Six movie [Unknown]
Care Factor? No enthusiasm for this.
Chances Of Getting Made? Nope. No way.
Spy Hunter (Universal Pictures)
Care Factor? This was supposed to star The Rock, so yeah, pretty hyped. They have a blank slate on this one essentially.
Chances Of Getting Made? I think that ship may have sailed.
Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments
45 responses to “This List Of Movies Based On Video Games In Production Is Insane”
The more I read the more a little bit of me died inside. Let’s face it the majority of these would’ve most likely been horrible.
The Ratchet And Clank movie looks very much like it will be made, as well as being really good. The game team are very heavily involved and the trailer really got actual laughter out of me. It’s the only one I’m excited for.
This! I loved the game series and I’m quite dis-heartened to see that Mark doesn’t care, but that’s his opinion. I don’t know what to do with myself while I wait.
Umm Re: Gran Turisimo Movie. if they made a Need For Speed film, they will make a GT film.
Need For Speed always had a stylistic narrative around it that is pretty easy to transfer to film. Gran Turismo is a very sterile driving simulator with nothing to transfer over. May as well call Rush the Gran Turismo movie for all you could do with it.
Last I heard the Gran Turismo movie was based on the life of a real life GT player who proved himself so well in competition play he got a shot at driving a real car in a real league.
I’d say that story has some potential.
That’s why when you watch a film, they usually display that it was “written by” someone. Have you really never seen an adaptation of anything where something was like… different? You think producers look at the game and think “shit, there aren’t any characters, it’ll be tough selling this one…”
Did Need for Speed make any money though? It got pretty seriously savaged by the critics, even those who’re into lower brow typed movies.
A super camp Devil May Cry could be the perfect dumb action movie.
Part of the reason I enjoyed the new DmC was because of how it embraced the stupidity.
Is somebody, somewhere deep in some dark Hollywood basement still trying to get the Bioshock movie moving forward? And what about Halo?
After the utter terrible pieces of shit that were Dragonball Evolution and Last Airbender – Im sort of scared about Game – Movie tie ins. I would like to believe they will work, but they will most likely be a disappointment because the directors try to be original instead of following cannon.
I really want to see Assassins creed/Splinter cell, MGS and WoW movie, but I think they should be animated movies inside of live action.
Missing last of us there @markserrels
Part of me wants the new Mortal Kombat movie to come out and be good, to erase the awful second movie from my brain.
i can see them rebooting tomb raider to go for a younger lara if a new movie gets made. i’ve also got no interest in watching a mass effect movie since it’ll inevitably be lead by dude shep and, as you mentioned, the choices make the game.
Splinter Cell has Doug Liman attached as director, as well.
Casting Tom Hardy instead of Ray Stevenson was a hellacious oversight, though.
I swear the Splinter cell movie was teased in Chaos Theory, is that how long the movies been in production hell?
Conviction virtually is a movie – trouble is if it were I probably wouldn’t sit through it – but as a game it’s fantastic!
Wasn’t there some talk about a movie being made on “The Last of Us”?
Yes, and its the one “game” Movie im excited for
@markserrels Warcraft is not in production hell at all. It’s filming right now.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to consider it in production hell right up until the end credits roll. It just feels like at any point for any reason someone could just decide to scrap it and start over again.
lol true but Duncan Jones actually tweeted the night before they started shooting. The first shots are due any week now too. The first actual teaser is allegedly going to be revealed at Comicon.
Bullit = Driver
I’d like to see a movie adaptation of Chulip.
Never played Ratchet: Gladiator then? Literally a game where you play in a reality TV Show? The game will be adapted to the movie very well. Same with Sly, I’m hoping.
The current Tekken movie is very dumb, but a guilty pleasure. Have watched several times.
The Metal Gear movie has moved beyond rumour into fact. Last year Hideo confirmed that Avi Arad was leading the adaptation of it. The two are good friends (Sutherland getting cast as Snake in V was based on Avi’s advice) so it’s much more likely than what Mark is giving it credit for.
But then again, Avi’s also attached to Mass Effect, Uncharted, inFamous and Ghost in the Shell so maybe don’t hold your breath on this one.
I would like to MGS done properly maybe in 10 or 15 years as a series of six movies like Lord of the Rings or something
Whats the bet the Gran Turismo movie gets delayed?
Is farcry good enough for a movie? If they take the actor who played Vas, Michael Mando, and turn part 3 into a semi-remake movie, making Vas last the *whole* damn movie and switching it around so the yuppie villain gets bumped off first, removing a lot of the extraneous story (mystic island priestess crap) then hell yes it could be good. After all, who do you remember, Vas, or the other guy? Bunch of preppie kids go to an island, get captured by Vas and his gang, one of them escapes, the others are held captive by Vas for ransome. Through the movie Jason, the escapee, has to rescue them one by one. Could be done right, especially if the right director handles it. Someone like Justin Lin could really give it the action edge it needs.
I really wanted to see Timothy Olyphant in Hitman 2. >:(
Man I adore Olyphant but he was so badly cast back then, such a babyface. BUT, now, with age wearying his face a bit, he looks just right.
What happened with that Mortal Kombat online series that they piloted a while back? The one with harlequin baby Reptile in it. Are they still happening? Did they already happen and no one noticed?
Dude they’ve already done two entire seasons of it. It was a big deal, this site even covered every episode of the first season and the release of the second.
And a third season has been confirmed with Kevin Tancharoen back to direct.
Huh. Was it any good?
I only saw Season 1, but I liked it. Sometimes the lack of a big budget was apparent, and it’s biggest drawback was that it was really a season of origin stories to set up for season 2. Can’t speak to season 2’s quality though.
If they can make an NFS movie, they can make a GT movie. Personally, I’m looking forward to the Sly and R&C movies, though that’s because my inner child is naive and has ignored the past 20 years of game to movie conversions and believes there is no way they can screw it up.
I heard the DMC anime wasn’t that great so I’m not really sure how a movie would go. It has all the potential to be a fantastic movie, but I’m not sure there’s really anyone I’d trust to do it right though. For the record, I’m thinking of a traditional DMC, not the new one which was rather a bit bland in its storyline comparatively (Yes, there’s DMC 2 which we don’t talk about and DMC IV wasn’t that great in terms of story either).
I think at some point we flipped from games being too vague to too fleshed out. Of course Super Mario Bros was going to be a mess, the game was so incoherent that they reskinned a totally unrelated game for the sequel without breaking anything. Now we’re at the opposite end where a movie based on the latest Tomb Raider would just be re-enacting scenes from the game. Mass Effect would have to be a total spin-off, and even then it’d be up to it’s eyeballs in iron clad lore.
Games now have way more detail than movies can handle. Deus Ex for instance has been so fleshed out in virtual reality that it now requires Star Wars Episode I-III levels of CG to get right even though 10 years ago you could have delivered something appropriate by just giving the set/costume designers a few promotional stills and told them to ‘think Blade Runner with a bit of a Matrix shine to it’. Warcraft can’t just be set in generic fantasy settings with Warcraft names on them. Even flexible things like Stormwind City where you can scale it up and down and mess with the layout still have a lot of set in stone requirements.
would love a rainbow six movie but based on the books
I remember there being talk at one stage of a movie version of “The Sims”.
I’d personally like to see a decent Max Payne movie. One that actually has some action and isn’t quite so stupid.
Liam Neeson = Snake
Wow, that’s a lot there. I’m not so sure about Warcraft however, that one has been in development hell for an extremely long time now and no-one is ever certain if it will ever see the light of day, they say it will come out in 2016 but I doubt it.
Gears of War is probably the one I’m most anticipated for, the series lore is so rich and has many likeable characters such as Marcus, Dom, Baird, Cole Train and Carmine (all 3 of them), all of which have to survive a nightmare war with the Locust Horde. I really loved Gears 1-3, the movie has got to come out sooner or later.
http://heavenlyswordmovie.com/ is missing from the list. Looks basically like a pre-rendered CGI version of the game though, which is disappointing – not that it looks bad, the game’s visuals were great, but it’s basically a movie for people who couldn’t be assed playing the game.
Hell yeah, the Rainbow Six book was brilliant. The game: ok.
As long as it’s based around the book series, i think it would be great. I found the story far better than that of either Red October or Sum of All Fears