Skip to main content

Game Movies

Forum

All our favourite games are being turned into movies now lets just hope they don?t go the same way that ?Comic Movies? have gone. So far there?s been a few games turned into movies over time, Mario Bros, Wing Commander, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil?
But now that hollywoods comic phase is nearing an end (I hope) they?re buying up the rights to make movies based on games like Alien VS Predator, House of the Dead, Resident Evil 2, Crazy Taxi, Metroid, to name a few.
Basically it?s about trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of a good game, but in the process it destroys the game, I?m not sure if there?s any ?Game Movie? I?ve seen that I actually liked.
And in almost every case they get the cheapest B grade actors they can find to play our Game Heros, like Christopher Lambert in Mortal Kombat, Van Dam in Street Fighter, and I wouldn?t be surprised if they got Sarah Michelle Geller to play ?Samus Aran? in Metroid.

What does everyone think about this,
Do they want to see more Game Movies?
And are there any that anyone has thought were a tribute to the game?

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Wed, 02/04/03 - 1:01 AM Permalink

AHHHHHHH yes! City of lost children was an awesome movie, the director probably would be much better for thief. GRRRRR no freddy prinze jr that guy sickens me.

Blood would be pretty interesting, havent played that game in years. A young clint eastwood might have made a good caleb.

Submitted by Tripitaka on Wed, 02/04/03 - 2:07 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by GooberMan

Heh, remember how Interplay were going to set up a movie studio? I don't know if it ever eventuated, but I doubt it's around nowadays (considering Interplay are pretty much in the shitter).

HahahaaahHAAAAAHHAAAAAA, oh that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Those guys couldn't run a bakesale. I defy you to find one person in the game industry who has a good thing to say about them.

I did a radio panel discussion on the topic of game movies awhile back (mostly focusing on Resident Evil, which had only just come out. I quite liked it, for the record. No masterpiece, but it was watchable)... what we pretty much concluded is that the appeal of watching a movie and playing a game are two completely different things. You play a game to get involved; you watch a movie so you can sit back and let things happen. There were sequences in Resident Evil where I felt like I should be reaching for a joystick, and watching these scenes impassively is a whole lot less fun than playing them out.

I can't believe they're finally making Alien vs. Predator. The script's been floating around forever. The anticipation's so high that I can't see them making a success out of it - it's been built up too much.

I really liked Final Fantasy on first viewing, but some people I've talked to felt it didn't stand up on second viewing. It really annoyed me that some boneheaded reviewers were saying 'This is based on a computer game - where's the blam blam blam and the chases and stuff?' For one, they obviously had no idea about the nature of the Final Fantasy games, and secondly, whether or not the film was artistically successful, they should be lauded for at least attempting to defy the usual problems and cliches inherent in game-to-movie transfers.

Submitted by GooberMan on Wed, 02/04/03 - 3:54 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Tripitaka
[brHahahaaahHAAAAAHHAAAAAA, oh that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Those guys couldn't run a bakesale. I defy you to find one person in the game industry who has a good thing to say about them.

This was a few years back (before they started fucking over their developers). I managed to remember reading about it in PC Powerplay after this thread had gone on for a while, and was just wondering if anything ever came of it.
And from what I recall of Ray Muzyka's (Joint-CEO of BioWare - is that how his last name's spelt?) speech at the AGDC, he has good things to say about Interplay from BioWare's beginning years, but then along came that court case... I agree, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who still likes Interplay as they are today, but back in the old days, they published some really cool games and had alot of respect.

Submitted by Maitrek on Wed, 02/04/03 - 7:47 AM Permalink

FYI there was sortof two directors responsible for the look of City of Lost Children - Marc Caro was more of an artistic director and Jean-Pierre Jeunet was the other director. That and the rest of the crew (set design, lighting, cinematographers etc etc)

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 08/04/03 - 4:39 PM Permalink

Cool. Were they both involved with Aliens Resurrection? I think it was the same director, and thats why Ron Perlman (champ) and that french dude who played the cripple in Aliens and the clones in COLC (can't be bothered googling for him) starred.

As for who would play Caleb of Blood Fame... I say it should be Bruce Campbell. Caleb uses enough of his lines... it would be quite strange if Bruce Campbell played a character inspired by a character played by Bruce Campbell. [:D]

Scott.

Submitted by lava monkey on Thu, 10/04/03 - 6:03 AM Permalink

just heard, a Dead Or Alive game...

Impact Pictures and Constantine Films will bring Tecmo's Dead or Alive fighting video game franchise to the big screen in association with Mindfire Entertainment, says The Hollywood Reporter. Impact concurrently has video game-to-movie titles Driver and Resident Evil 2 in the works.

Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, founding partners of Impact Pictures, will produce "DOA" as part of their existing deal with Constantin Films.

The "DOA" script is being written by J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege). Bolt said the film will go into preproduction this year and is targeted for a fall 2004 release, which is expected to coincide with the video game release of the latest title in the game franchise, "Dead or Alive 4."

wonder what actors there gonna get...

Submitted by Maitrek on Thu, 10/04/03 - 10:38 AM Permalink

Man - that's exactly why people think gamers are sociopaths.

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 10/04/03 - 11:39 AM Permalink

Just the counter-strike ones. ;P

Scott.

Submitted by lava monkey on Thu, 10/04/03 - 12:15 PM Permalink

Fluffy CatFood - Thats got to be the worst news I've heard all week

no the worst was:
they're making another highlander movie "highlander 5 - the source"
but that was followed by better news, christopher lambert isnt going to be in it :P

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 10/04/03 - 12:27 PM Permalink

OHHH DEAR!!!

I wonder if Sean Connery is going to come back to life for it... hes a toothless old mummy in real life anyway.

Scott.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 14/04/03 - 9:50 PM Permalink

I just read in a magazine that Holly Valance has been talking to Van Damme about doing a follow up to Street Fighter. Oh the humanity!

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 15/04/03 - 1:36 AM Permalink

quote: I just read in a magazine that Holly Valance has been talking to Van Damme about doing a follow up to Street Fighter

lol :) I hope no one actually would believe that.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Tue, 15/04/03 - 7:17 AM Permalink

It would certainly be a dark day for cinema if such a thing took place

Submitted by GooberMan on Tue, 15/04/03 - 10:33 PM Permalink

The SF Balrog or the LOTR Balrog? She's the perfect choice for either role :P

Submitted by souri on Wed, 16/04/03 - 12:56 AM Permalink

I'm still waiting for a movie adaptation of Pong.

Submitted by lava monkey on Fri, 18/04/03 - 2:37 AM Permalink

Stan Winston has optioned the film and action-figure rights to The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the upcoming 3DO video-game franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The visual-effects maven will develop the movie through his Stan Winston Productions and will bring Apocalypse action figures to retail this Halloween through his Stan Winston Creatures unit, the trade paper reported.

3DO has invested $8 million in the development of Apocalypse and plans to expand the franchise beyond interactive entertainment, the trade paper reported. The first in the expected line of video games will ship in the fall across all next-generation platforms.

Submitted by shiptu shaboo on Sat, 19/04/03 - 9:49 AM Permalink

The DVD extras on the newly released tron is worth checking out,
The development of the tron character to movie is spectacular.
I heard about the development of tron 2.0 and was deeply concerned with many factors especially the visuals.
When tron was first released onto the unexpecting market its success was average I think this was partly due to the new ideas and the largely uneducated audiences knowledge in regards to computer technology.

Now computers are such an integral part of society and most people?s way of life is influenced by their prescience in way or another
I think now is a perfect time for tron 2.0, we are prepped for a big story about the prevalence of computers.
I hope they don?t fuck it up

nannoo nannoo

Submitted by Pantmonger on Mon, 21/04/03 - 8:14 PM Permalink

"And James Cameron wants to do Battle Angel Alita.."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh hum sorry.
James Cameron is a cyberpunk fan boy wanna be, who doesn't get the genre at all. Strange Days came close but Dark Angel killed it while it was napping.
I do not want that man having any control over the casting of a character to play Alita or we will end up with pouty "I'm so sexy I'll distract the killer robots with my breasts and come hither eyes and when they close on me I'll say a crap one liner and take them out with some inept martial art moves (TM) " shudder.

I'll prob get in trouble over the Dark Angel bashing, but god that show was shite. I'll go to the top of my tower overlooking the city to brood now...

Pantmonger

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 21/04/03 - 11:30 PM Permalink

I think you are getting a little carried away there Pantmonger, but there is always the possibilty that he will totally screw it up. (Partially because you may not agree with how he interprets it)

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 22/04/03 - 6:50 AM Permalink

*Agrees with Pants' breakdown*

Just a question, do you people think that hammy martial arts displays have damaged the impact of onscreen combat these days? Back in the good old days, a character like Conan would simply smash someone in the head with a hammer matter of factly, but these days, the same character would probably do a few spinning kicks, wrestling maneuvers, and finally down the baddie with a kung fu back-hand rather than the great big hammer they're carrying.

The fact that everyone onscreen regardless of culture, chronological positioning, and socio economic stature seems to be a martial arts expert cheapens things for me.

That and the fact that hulking, combat ready men are always victimised by young empowered girls standing at 5 feet nothing.

Scott.

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 22/04/03 - 9:00 AM Permalink

I think the days of the big hero dude are over for some godforsaken reason - I too miss more simplistic combat. I think it's fair to say martial arts are definitely over used nowadays, they've lost their shine, and hollywood actors are not nearly the right body type for that kind of activity.

But hollywood has dug itself a trench when it comes to it's hand-to-hand/mano-a-mano combat scenes. It just won't do to have two guys going at it, you have to have one ultra-good guy take on a squillion bad guys and dodge a thousand bullets at the same time in order for people to go "wow" even if it is massively unrealistic.

I prefer the old Jackie Chan movies where he struggles to take on two people at once and gets half his s*** kicked out of him.

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 23/04/03 - 1:48 AM Permalink

Ahh, go the old chan movies...

The fight scenes in that really took some effort too - full contact - now that's something that you can admire.

Forum

All our favourite games are being turned into movies now lets just hope they don?t go the same way that ?Comic Movies? have gone. So far there?s been a few games turned into movies over time, Mario Bros, Wing Commander, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil?
But now that hollywoods comic phase is nearing an end (I hope) they?re buying up the rights to make movies based on games like Alien VS Predator, House of the Dead, Resident Evil 2, Crazy Taxi, Metroid, to name a few.
Basically it?s about trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of a good game, but in the process it destroys the game, I?m not sure if there?s any ?Game Movie? I?ve seen that I actually liked.
And in almost every case they get the cheapest B grade actors they can find to play our Game Heros, like Christopher Lambert in Mortal Kombat, Van Dam in Street Fighter, and I wouldn?t be surprised if they got Sarah Michelle Geller to play ?Samus Aran? in Metroid.

What does everyone think about this,
Do they want to see more Game Movies?
And are there any that anyone has thought were a tribute to the game?


Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Wed, 02/04/03 - 1:01 AM Permalink

AHHHHHHH yes! City of lost children was an awesome movie, the director probably would be much better for thief. GRRRRR no freddy prinze jr that guy sickens me.

Blood would be pretty interesting, havent played that game in years. A young clint eastwood might have made a good caleb.

Submitted by Tripitaka on Wed, 02/04/03 - 2:07 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by GooberMan

Heh, remember how Interplay were going to set up a movie studio? I don't know if it ever eventuated, but I doubt it's around nowadays (considering Interplay are pretty much in the shitter).

HahahaaahHAAAAAHHAAAAAA, oh that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Those guys couldn't run a bakesale. I defy you to find one person in the game industry who has a good thing to say about them.

I did a radio panel discussion on the topic of game movies awhile back (mostly focusing on Resident Evil, which had only just come out. I quite liked it, for the record. No masterpiece, but it was watchable)... what we pretty much concluded is that the appeal of watching a movie and playing a game are two completely different things. You play a game to get involved; you watch a movie so you can sit back and let things happen. There were sequences in Resident Evil where I felt like I should be reaching for a joystick, and watching these scenes impassively is a whole lot less fun than playing them out.

I can't believe they're finally making Alien vs. Predator. The script's been floating around forever. The anticipation's so high that I can't see them making a success out of it - it's been built up too much.

I really liked Final Fantasy on first viewing, but some people I've talked to felt it didn't stand up on second viewing. It really annoyed me that some boneheaded reviewers were saying 'This is based on a computer game - where's the blam blam blam and the chases and stuff?' For one, they obviously had no idea about the nature of the Final Fantasy games, and secondly, whether or not the film was artistically successful, they should be lauded for at least attempting to defy the usual problems and cliches inherent in game-to-movie transfers.

Submitted by GooberMan on Wed, 02/04/03 - 3:54 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Tripitaka
[brHahahaaahHAAAAAHHAAAAAA, oh that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Those guys couldn't run a bakesale. I defy you to find one person in the game industry who has a good thing to say about them.

This was a few years back (before they started fucking over their developers). I managed to remember reading about it in PC Powerplay after this thread had gone on for a while, and was just wondering if anything ever came of it.
And from what I recall of Ray Muzyka's (Joint-CEO of BioWare - is that how his last name's spelt?) speech at the AGDC, he has good things to say about Interplay from BioWare's beginning years, but then along came that court case... I agree, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who still likes Interplay as they are today, but back in the old days, they published some really cool games and had alot of respect.

Submitted by Maitrek on Wed, 02/04/03 - 7:47 AM Permalink

FYI there was sortof two directors responsible for the look of City of Lost Children - Marc Caro was more of an artistic director and Jean-Pierre Jeunet was the other director. That and the rest of the crew (set design, lighting, cinematographers etc etc)

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 08/04/03 - 4:39 PM Permalink

Cool. Were they both involved with Aliens Resurrection? I think it was the same director, and thats why Ron Perlman (champ) and that french dude who played the cripple in Aliens and the clones in COLC (can't be bothered googling for him) starred.

As for who would play Caleb of Blood Fame... I say it should be Bruce Campbell. Caleb uses enough of his lines... it would be quite strange if Bruce Campbell played a character inspired by a character played by Bruce Campbell. [:D]

Scott.

Submitted by lava monkey on Thu, 10/04/03 - 6:03 AM Permalink

just heard, a Dead Or Alive game...

Impact Pictures and Constantine Films will bring Tecmo's Dead or Alive fighting video game franchise to the big screen in association with Mindfire Entertainment, says The Hollywood Reporter. Impact concurrently has video game-to-movie titles Driver and Resident Evil 2 in the works.

Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, founding partners of Impact Pictures, will produce "DOA" as part of their existing deal with Constantin Films.

The "DOA" script is being written by J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege). Bolt said the film will go into preproduction this year and is targeted for a fall 2004 release, which is expected to coincide with the video game release of the latest title in the game franchise, "Dead or Alive 4."

wonder what actors there gonna get...

Submitted by Maitrek on Thu, 10/04/03 - 10:38 AM Permalink

Man - that's exactly why people think gamers are sociopaths.

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 10/04/03 - 11:39 AM Permalink

Just the counter-strike ones. ;P

Scott.

Submitted by lava monkey on Thu, 10/04/03 - 12:15 PM Permalink

Fluffy CatFood - Thats got to be the worst news I've heard all week

no the worst was:
they're making another highlander movie "highlander 5 - the source"
but that was followed by better news, christopher lambert isnt going to be in it :P

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 10/04/03 - 12:27 PM Permalink

OHHH DEAR!!!

I wonder if Sean Connery is going to come back to life for it... hes a toothless old mummy in real life anyway.

Scott.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 14/04/03 - 9:50 PM Permalink

I just read in a magazine that Holly Valance has been talking to Van Damme about doing a follow up to Street Fighter. Oh the humanity!

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 15/04/03 - 1:36 AM Permalink

quote: I just read in a magazine that Holly Valance has been talking to Van Damme about doing a follow up to Street Fighter

lol :) I hope no one actually would believe that.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Tue, 15/04/03 - 7:17 AM Permalink

It would certainly be a dark day for cinema if such a thing took place

Submitted by GooberMan on Tue, 15/04/03 - 10:33 PM Permalink

The SF Balrog or the LOTR Balrog? She's the perfect choice for either role :P

Submitted by souri on Wed, 16/04/03 - 12:56 AM Permalink

I'm still waiting for a movie adaptation of Pong.

Submitted by lava monkey on Fri, 18/04/03 - 2:37 AM Permalink

Stan Winston has optioned the film and action-figure rights to The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the upcoming 3DO video-game franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The visual-effects maven will develop the movie through his Stan Winston Productions and will bring Apocalypse action figures to retail this Halloween through his Stan Winston Creatures unit, the trade paper reported.

3DO has invested $8 million in the development of Apocalypse and plans to expand the franchise beyond interactive entertainment, the trade paper reported. The first in the expected line of video games will ship in the fall across all next-generation platforms.

Submitted by shiptu shaboo on Sat, 19/04/03 - 9:49 AM Permalink

The DVD extras on the newly released tron is worth checking out,
The development of the tron character to movie is spectacular.
I heard about the development of tron 2.0 and was deeply concerned with many factors especially the visuals.
When tron was first released onto the unexpecting market its success was average I think this was partly due to the new ideas and the largely uneducated audiences knowledge in regards to computer technology.

Now computers are such an integral part of society and most people?s way of life is influenced by their prescience in way or another
I think now is a perfect time for tron 2.0, we are prepped for a big story about the prevalence of computers.
I hope they don?t fuck it up

nannoo nannoo

Submitted by Pantmonger on Mon, 21/04/03 - 8:14 PM Permalink

"And James Cameron wants to do Battle Angel Alita.."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh hum sorry.
James Cameron is a cyberpunk fan boy wanna be, who doesn't get the genre at all. Strange Days came close but Dark Angel killed it while it was napping.
I do not want that man having any control over the casting of a character to play Alita or we will end up with pouty "I'm so sexy I'll distract the killer robots with my breasts and come hither eyes and when they close on me I'll say a crap one liner and take them out with some inept martial art moves (TM) " shudder.

I'll prob get in trouble over the Dark Angel bashing, but god that show was shite. I'll go to the top of my tower overlooking the city to brood now...

Pantmonger

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 21/04/03 - 11:30 PM Permalink

I think you are getting a little carried away there Pantmonger, but there is always the possibilty that he will totally screw it up. (Partially because you may not agree with how he interprets it)

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 22/04/03 - 6:50 AM Permalink

*Agrees with Pants' breakdown*

Just a question, do you people think that hammy martial arts displays have damaged the impact of onscreen combat these days? Back in the good old days, a character like Conan would simply smash someone in the head with a hammer matter of factly, but these days, the same character would probably do a few spinning kicks, wrestling maneuvers, and finally down the baddie with a kung fu back-hand rather than the great big hammer they're carrying.

The fact that everyone onscreen regardless of culture, chronological positioning, and socio economic stature seems to be a martial arts expert cheapens things for me.

That and the fact that hulking, combat ready men are always victimised by young empowered girls standing at 5 feet nothing.

Scott.

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 22/04/03 - 9:00 AM Permalink

I think the days of the big hero dude are over for some godforsaken reason - I too miss more simplistic combat. I think it's fair to say martial arts are definitely over used nowadays, they've lost their shine, and hollywood actors are not nearly the right body type for that kind of activity.

But hollywood has dug itself a trench when it comes to it's hand-to-hand/mano-a-mano combat scenes. It just won't do to have two guys going at it, you have to have one ultra-good guy take on a squillion bad guys and dodge a thousand bullets at the same time in order for people to go "wow" even if it is massively unrealistic.

I prefer the old Jackie Chan movies where he struggles to take on two people at once and gets half his s*** kicked out of him.

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 23/04/03 - 1:48 AM Permalink

Ahh, go the old chan movies...

The fight scenes in that really took some effort too - full contact - now that's something that you can admire.