Why Are Video Game Movies So Awful? 385
An article at CNN discusses why big screen interpretations of video games, even successful ones, often fail to succeed at the box office. Quoting:
"The problem with successfully adapting video games into hit Hollywood spin-offs may lie in the way in which stories for both mediums are designed and implemented. Game makers chasing the dream of playing George Lucas or Steven Spielberg will always strive to coax human emotion and convincing drama from increasingly photorealistic virtual elements. The Hollywood machine, in its endless chase for big bucks, can't help but exploit the latest hit interactive outing, often failing to realize it's often a specific gameplay mechanic, psychological meme or technical feature that makes the title so compelling. Both sides may very well continue to look down in disdain on the work that the opposite is doing, which can doom any collaborative efforts. But where the two roads truly diverge is in the way stories are fundamentally told. Films offer a single, linear tale that's open to individual interpretation, whereas games are meant to be experienced differently and in a multitude of ways by every player."
On a related note, reader OrangeMonkey11 points out that an 8-minute short has showed up online that appears part of a pitch for a potential Mortal Kombat reboot movie. Hit the link below to take a look.
Two Words: (Score:5, Funny)
Uwe Boll.
Doomed (Score:3, Funny)
Err, 'cuz everyone's afraid of Uwe-ing it up (Score:2, Funny)
So no one bothers to actually try making a story of it. Well, more than a Boll-esque story, that is
Two words. (Score:1, Funny)
Licensing fees.
The Original Mortal Kombat Movie (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plot and script-writers (Score:2, Funny)
Did they license the demo?
Re:The Original Mortal Kombat Movie (Score:3, Funny)
When I saw the original Mortal Kombat movie I was young enough to think it pretty cool. Now pardon me while I get off your lawn.
Re:Two words... (Score:5, Funny)
You guys must really hate Uwe Boll. This is the third identical post.
Re:Plot and script-writers (Score:5, Funny)
Scene - Mars, night time, gloomy lab.
Sciencey type bods - Hey lets experiment with teleporters, what could possibly go wrong
Other random bod - Oh noes you've open a gatewya to HELL!!
Monsters - GRRR ARRGH GURGLE
Our Hero - OMFG Monsterz, where am my bulletzes
BLAM, BLAM, ZAP, GURGLE, SQUELCH
And they couldn't even get that right!
Damn you Walt Disney!!! (Score:3, Funny)
Madden (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Two words... (Score:3, Funny)
And there are 365472 others [petitiononline.com] who feel the same way.
Re:Wing Commander movie (Score:4, Funny)
Someone created a Wing Commander movie by splicing together the game cut scenes. That was better than the actual Wing Commander movie.
Re:I liked some of them (Score:3, Funny)
I think 'The Phantom Menace' was pretty good.
They got the pod race bit really well. I didn't like the way they put a complicated story around it though.
Goldeneye (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The focus is different (Score:3, Funny)
Coming to a theater near you this fall...<dramatic music> Minesweeper II, A Square Too Far. </dramatic music>
Re:Damn you Walt Disney!!! (Score:5, Funny)
All I can say is that after the butchering which was called the Prince of Persia, I have yet another reason to hate disney with a passion.
I liked prince of persia greatly. I have no idea why you think it sucked so bad.
Probably because they introduced extra family members, made the Sands of Time more of a macguffin than anything, rewrote Farah and her dynamic with the prince, changed the Vizier to the clichéd crazy uncle, didn't turn anyone into a sand monster and changed what I thought was a pretty amusing and appropriate ending in the game to an "oh my god, I could have seen that coming if I was blind" ending in the movie.
That's just a guess though.
Re:Two Words: (Score:4, Funny)
There's a joke that goes something like this:
You're in a room with James Cameron, Michael Mann, Michael Bay and Uwe Boll. You have a gun with three bullets, who do you shoot?
Wait for it.......Uwe Boll, three times. Then you take the empty gun and hit him over the head with it a few times...just to make sure.
Re:Plot and script-writers (Score:2, Funny)
Doom failed because they chose to use horrible Wrestlers that turned into really bad actors...
I don't usually go for spelling nitpicks, but why capitalise "wrestlers"? Is that some sort of high-fantasy reference? "And lo, it came to pass that Orcs marched against the combined might of Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Wrestlers..."
Rumor has it (Score:2, Funny)