Will 'Warcraft' be the rare game movie adaptation to succeed?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Many game characters are jumping to the big screen this year.聽
From the April release 鈥淩atchet & Clank鈥� to the summer blockbusters 鈥淭he Angry Birds Movie鈥� and 鈥淲arcraft鈥� to the November film 鈥淎ssassin鈥檚 Creed,鈥� hit games are serving as the source material for some of Hollywood鈥檚 biggest releases this year.聽
Studios basing their films on pre-existing material is nothing new, but what is more surprising about these movies is that so far, the video game film adaptation in particular has proven to be a tough project to get right.
The 2001 Angelina Jolie movie 鈥淟ara Croft: Tomb Raider,鈥� based on the 鈥淭omb Raider鈥� video games, became a hit.聽But recent projects like 鈥淩atchet & Clank,鈥� 鈥淗itman: Agent 47,鈥� and 鈥淧rince of Persia: The Sands of Time,鈥� among many others, have not translated either at the box office or with critics.
鈥淚 can't really think of a movie coming out from a game that has been very successful in the market and also has been really any good,鈥� Simon Tarr, associate professor of art and media arts program coordinator at the University of South Carolina, says.聽
Why would the world of these games not be fun to watch onscreen? Alenda Chang鈥�,鈥� 鈥媋ssistant 鈥媝rofessor 鈥媔n the department of 鈥媐鈥媔lm and 鈥媘鈥媏dia 鈥媠鈥媡udies 鈥媋t the 鈥婾niversity of California, Santa Barbara, says watching these stories as a movie takes away the elements of what makes playing the games fun in the first place.聽
鈥淲hat makes many of these video game franchises successful is the ability to 鈥� control your own character and develop a narrative in an interactive way,鈥� Professor Chang says. 鈥溾�'m not sure entirely that those translate well to a traditional cinematic experience other than the sort of novelty of seeing some of your beloved characters come to life.鈥� Multi-player games like 鈥淲arcraft鈥� also offer players 鈥渢he ability to also connect socially with your existing networks and to meet new people,鈥� she adds.聽
Yet Hollywood is betting this year that these movies will find viewers. After these other films didn鈥檛 hit, what keeps studios coming back?聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 proven, right?鈥� Professor Tarr says. These games have a lot of fans that can turn up at the theaters if they are successfully drawn in.聽
That鈥檚 easier said than done, though. Tarr says he鈥檚 not seeing a lot of anticipation for, in particular, 鈥淲arcraft鈥� or 鈥淎ssassin's Creed鈥� among his acquaintances who play video games. 鈥淣obody鈥檚 talking about the movies,鈥� he says. Time will also tell whether the studios can bring in viewers who don鈥檛 know the source material.聽
But Chang says she could see the 鈥淎ssassin's Creed鈥� film working better onscreen than some others because of the story鈥檚 鈥渉istorical element.鈥� (It takes place in fifteenth-century Spain.)聽
And she believes Hollywood will keep trying to successfully bring video game characters to movie theaters, partially because of what鈥檚 popular in the movie industry right now.
鈥淭he truism right now is that Hollywood is less about stories than it is about world-building,鈥� she says. (This can be seen with such franchises as the Marvel movies, the upcoming 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� spin-off movie 鈥淔antastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,鈥� and the spin-off 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� film 鈥淩ogue One,鈥� to name a few.)
鈥淎nd so I think that because that trend is occurring, they will turn more and more to virtual worlds and to video games because they have such fully-realized worlds.鈥�
