I don't believe that at all. If the game is shit, adapt it differently.

What a sad list; the only one I've seen is the first Tomb Raiders and that wasn't that good.

I also had high hopes for Assassin's Creed, given the director. Predicted good numbers on the Rotten Tomatoes game, and it killed me.

You can only adapt it so much before it becomes not a video game film. Because you want to keep the fans of the game, so changing it drastically will turn off a big portion of your audience.

You're handcuffed by a video game adaptation. So to make a good one, you need to take one with a great story.

Maybe a great adaptation simply isn't possible. The fundamental difference between video games and comics/books is that they are interactive. That is their main part, that is what makes them exciting.

Take Assassin's Creed for example. All the historical sequences in the games/movies are memories. They have already happened, so you are not changing anything. However, in the games obviously you design the past by playing it. It has already happened, but it is up to you, how it happened. In the movie, you are always aware of the fact that what you are watching is just a memory and thus you pretty much know how it will end up anyway.

Every video game can potentially be made into a good film, studios just need to take the right approach for it.
It seems even the studios themselves don't take the adaptation seriously, not caring for the final product as long as there are a bunch of effects thrown into it, which they can use for a trailer and let the goodwill of the game sell it.

Many of the video game films are simply not attempting to be very well thought out productions.

I don't believe that at all. Video-games are interactive, sure, but they all have stories, and stories that are very similar to great movies that have been made. It's the story you are adapting, not the interactive element. I mean, take Scarface for example. That is essentially just Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a film. Remake Scarface as GTA: Vice City and you've got yourself a well-reviewed video-game film. You don't have to include countless hours of missions. Just make a solid drug/crime film with a character called Tommy Vercetti, slap the Rockstar logo at the beginning, call it Vice City, and you're done. Then hope the critics are on their high horse yet again.

As for Chippy's comment about the fan base being upset ... we're talking about RT score here, are we not? Making a good movie. Nobody cares about the fans. If you make a good film, it will leave the small group of fans behind anyway.

Assassin's Creed story is not similar to any movie that has been made.

LOL. Yes, pick out one movie that doesn't apply to what I said. Good job again. You must be a hoot in person.

As for Assassin's Creed ... it looks shit. The Spanish Inquisition isn't exactly a period that is screaming out for films to be made. Films that may translate to film better: Medal of Honour, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption...

It seems the video-games that get adapted are all the shit ones but that have big followings. I mean, Doom, seriously? How is that ever going to be different than, say, Alien: Resurrection? Adapt a video-game that is popular NOW, not twenty years ago.

I am.

It's an amazing streak of futility

I just realized what my dream video game adaptation would be... The Sims, written by Charlie Kaufman

Zelda by Studio Ghibli

Worms Armageddon

I think the breakthrough will be in the adapations of well reviewed adventure games aka Walking Simulators. You could make something like GoneHome , Firewatch or Life is Strange for under $5m and have a built in brand/fanbase for super cheap.

It's not as direct an adaptation as some of the other games with stories, but I think the streak ends in 2018. The Rock follows up Jumanji's momentum with another blockbuster with reasonable reviews in Rampage. If The Rock can't save video game movies nobody can

Mortal Kombat is a fun flick and it came out 20 years ago.

Jumanji was originally a (fictional) board game - does the new movie explain whether the video game version is an adaptation?

Also, when is the Zathura reboot coming out? That was a much better movie than Jumanji. (BTW, Zathura was one of Jon Favreau's first directing gigs.)

Jumanji doesn’t count, that’s like using Death Race as a twisted metal adaptation.

Should the LEGO movie count, that did really capture the fun of a lot of games

No to Jumanji, otherwise Tron would count