Board 8 > Prediction: Next decade will see video game movies as the new big thing

(+) Yeah! (+)

Leonhart4 posted...

I got what you were saying but you can add dialogue without doing damage to the actual source material. They had a cartoon show that proved it.

The movie did not keep any of the characters. That's a huge problem, sure, but not really what I was referencing. I was talking about a hypothetical Mario movie. Adding dialogue is a massive departure still and also very necessary. We're not arguing something different. I'm just pointing out that the simple act of adaptation starts at a level of massive departure, and I fully support it. New perspectives on old properties are the only things worth pursuing when you shift mediums.

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Nah, I'm not interested in an adaptation when you change everything about it. Just make an actual original movie at that point.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Nah, I'm not interested in an adaptation when you change everything about it.

I don't have to change setting, characters, items, etc. An adaptation from video game to film for Mario begins with dialogue. That ALONE is the departure. That's it. And if you don't want dialogue, then you should check out some banging Chaplin films.

Don't you like Homecoming? It's a massive departure for Spider-Man. But nowhere near as massive as adding dialogue to characters with almost none.

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Yeah, I'm not arguing about the need for dialogue. I literally don't care about that. Mario games have had dialogue before.

I didn't say you can't change anything. Just don't change the core of what it's about. The Mario movie did that. Homecoming is fine. It's still recognizable as Spider-Man.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Nah, I'm not interested in an adaptation when you change everything about it. Just make an actual original movie at that point.

And this right here is the fine line you need to walk and why video game movies being a slam dunk isn't a sure thing. Like you HAVE to do it, but if it isn't done very carefully then the deviations will piss the target audience off more than draw them in.

So like Detective Pikachu basically does this, but it does so in a way that is palatable to the Pokemon fanbase-- but it's a very difficult thing to do in general I think. You have to write something that's not only high quality but also captures the feel of the original while not actually being the original-- otherwise, as Leon said it's easier to just make a completely fresh movie at that point because you've got a net negative by working with the IP.

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scarletspeed7 posted...

I could have sworn there was a Tekken movie. But I honestly can't remember if I've seen one.

there were two actually but they were bad and flew super under the radar, with Katsuhiro Harada specifically saying they didn't attempt to involve him at all and that it was a terrible movie

I think it still COULD be an excellent movie if they really made the effort though

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Mortal Kombat showed you actually can make a good fighting game movie

They also showed you can make the worst video game movie ever when you do it wrong

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Lopen posted...

So like Detective Pikachu basically does this, but it does so in a way that is palatable to the Pokemon fanbase-- but it's a very difficult thing to do in general I think. You have to write something that's not only high quality but also captures the feel of the original while not actually being the original-- otherwise, as Leon said it's easier to just make a completely fresh movie at that point because you've got a net negative by working with the IP.

I think what makes Detective Pikachu work so well is that even that it completely changes things like story, tone, and literally having Pikachu talk and make jokes, it really captures the feeling of living in a world with Pokemon. That was my favorite thing about it, and the favorite aspect for a lot of others. The setting and world building was dead on.

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Is the Detective Pikachu movie really all that different from the game? I never played it, but from what I've heard the plots are fairly close.
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tbh I haven't played the game but I also feel like many Pokemon fans haven't

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Well I kinda plan on directing an instant classic F-Zero movie starring Karl Urban as Captain Falcon and Tommy Wiseau as Black Shadow it is going to be about sex, speed, destiny, revenge, and friendship don't sweat it now but you can thank me for popularizing video game movies later you're welcome

who's making the vg casting contest/project

vg casting day 1 link

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vg casting day 1 link

Dwayne Johnson, no dialogue

Johnbobb posted...

tbh I haven't played the game but I also feel like many Pokemon fans haven't

Same. Knew the general gist of the game but can't honestly refute that it's not at all similar. BUT never seen anyone who has played the game either despite knowing a lot of Poke fans who have seen it so the overall point stands. At that point the movie being based on a game is almost technicality cause the source material you're adapting isn't what your fanbase is familiar with. It'd be like if a there was actually an Earth-458 Hyper Spiderman miniseries that mostly flopped where Peter Parker was Tony Stark's protege or something-- at that point it's still kinda the movie taking liberties.

That being said I'm very skeptical it's actually that close-- if that actually is a direct adaptation of the game or even close to one I'm extremely impressed though!

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Lopen posted...

None of them compare to the hoop jumping Detective Pikachu had to do to make a plot out of Pokemon that would actually do well as a movie. Like not even a little. There's basically nothing about Detective Pikachu that isn't a completely original creation aside from the designs of the Pokemon themselves.

this is fair, but it also depends on the video game source

for instance, Advent Children had a lot less hoop jumping to do. you could say, e.g., "Cloud's characterization is inconsistent with the game" but that's a lot more in line with the differences that scarlet's citing in comic book movies.
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Drakeryn posted...

for instance, Advent Children had a lot less hoop jumping to do. you could say, e.g., "Cloud's characterization is inconsistent with the game" but that's a lot more in line with the differences that scarlet's citing in comic book movies.

On the one hand yes. Heck I'd argue Cloud's personality was closer to the original than Thanos's was.

On the other hand, Advent Children (pretending it was a success for sake of discussion) as a movie I'd argue takes more liberties with FFVII than MCU movies cause the plot arc of it is a completely original creation, to say nothing of how faithful the characters are to the originals. If you made a FFVII movie and had it be successful it's going to need to take liberties with the plot to the point where the plot isn't going to be remotely recognizable. At its core I would say what drives FFVII's plot is Sephiroth's aura and building to the confrontation with him. But like, even ignoring the elements of FFVII's story that are enhanced by the gameplay, there's no way to really properly build that anticipation with the pieces FFVII's plot gives you and still have it work without many more hours of time buffered by random encounters (time sinks with no real purpose, but give the events of the story time to breathe). You'd have to think of a different way to do it, or shift the focus from that entirely.

And while there are more story/character driven games and series that it can be done with slightly less liberties taken, but those aren't the ones with the most to gain by using a video game IP either, y'know? A Metal Gear Solid movie ain't gonna have nearly the drawing power or marketable simplicity of Pokemon or even Sonic really.

That isn't to say it can't be done. Heck if Detective Pikachu actually is really similar to the plot of the game then making say a Super Mario Bros movie based off I dunno Bowser's Inside Story might be the solution. Just finding those weird spinoff games that characterize the mainstream videogame franchises a bit more, but are still written by people who have a great understanding of the world they're writing for.

But it's work, and easy to screw up, so no I don't think seeing a huge boom period for video game movies is a given at any point.

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Bump

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Honestly I think the reason Rampage ended up so decent was because they took a game that had next to no plot, took a ton of liberties, but then threw in just enough references to the games that you still knew what they were referencing.

Plot heavy games seem more doomed to failure because if you depart too far from the game's plot, people aren't going to like it, but if you stay too close to it, people who haven't played the games might not "get" it, and people that have are going to nitpick the shit out of it.

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Actually the best example of a movie that pretty much stays true to the source movie is the Ace Attorney one

granted it being a VN with characterization probably helped a ton but hey

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LiquidOshawott posted...

Actually the best example of a movie that pretty much stays true to the source movie is the Ace Attorney one

granted it being a VN with characterization probably helped a ton but hey

i actually used Ace Attorney as an example of a faithful adaptation in a paper for a Japanese Culture course >__>

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Yeah, the Ace Attorney movie is actually a really solid adaptation. It makes some really weird changes (Redd White in particular), but it stays faithful to the spirit of the original.

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I would say VNs (of which AA is one) hardly even count as a game for the purposes of the difficulties faced in converting the medium

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Lopen posted...

I would say VNs (of which AA is one) hardly even count as a game for the purposes of the difficulties faced in converting the medium

I'd argue there are definitely exceptions to that though.

In particular Doki Doki Literature Club would be extremely difficult to make into a proper movie.

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I don't think these things work on pure mathematics like you seem to be saying

But there's so much stuff there to make a movie from and they have to figure out how to make good ones eventually. Arguably they already have in Detective Pikachu and Sonic but I don't think they're enough to buck the trend (plus they strike similar-ish tones - more "serious" vg movies still aren't that well received or taken that seriously).

With that said, I think, like others ITT, they might find more success in series (like TLOU on HBO)

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XIII_rocks posted...

With that said, I think, like others ITT, they might find more success in series

initially read this as FFT and thought "no that wouldn't translate well at all"
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I mean they already made FFT and called it Game of Thrones

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