7 Games That Deserve The Movie Treatment

Throughout history, many video games have soared to such incredible heights in popularity that the “suits” upstairs believed it would be a financially smart decision to make these games into a movie, thinking they would make a great profit on them.

Sadly, this has been proven to be wrong time and time again (with a few exceptions). I’m sure I don’t need to remind anyone of the catastrophic mess known as “Super Mario Bros.: The Movie”. These movies often flop not because the idea of turning a video game into a movie is a recipe for disaster, but because the companies that make the movies don’t care for the characters themselves and, in turn, end up slopping together an insult to the video gaming world. With this in mind, I present to you seven games that I believe (if made right) could make great films.

1. God of War

God of War surfaced in 2005 and became an instant hit amongst gamers of all shapes and colours. t brought new gameplay dynamics and stunning graphics that pushed the boundaries of the Sony Playstation 2 and 3. God of War centers around a spartan warrior named, Kratos in a constant struggle to free himself of his haunting memories. I think that with the amazing CGI and 3D capabilities of movies nowadays, making an R rated film for the series could prove to be a great fan favourite, provided the company hires respectable and talented actors and the writers hired can truly understand the character and write a script that could fit Kratos perfectly.

2. The Legend of Zelda

On April 1st, 2008 a trailer debuted all across the internet for a CGI trailer for “The Legend of Zelda”. It was only afterwards that fans discovered it had been an April Fools joke but the hype never left the internet that a movie starring our favourite sword-wielding elf would surface some day. The Legend of Zelda is the story of an elf named, Link who is chosen to be the saviour of the princess, Zelda who has been captured by Ganondorf, the tyrant. I think this movie could only turn a profit if it portrayed a MUCH more realistic version of the age of story. Having a completely new modern spin on Zelda, including all the characters we love and the story of the Tri-Force in tact would be a risk but could become a great movie, nevertheless.

3. Halo

The Halo series has been the biggest thing to ever hit the Xbox and even after the end of the first trilogy, Bunjie continued to pump new installments of the Halo assembly line and have yet to lose any steam. Halo is a futuristic war story that contains everything you’d expect to see from a great war film: love, loss, victory, defeat and a cast of colourful and memorable characters that deserve to be seen on the big screen. All the elements are in place and with today’s amazing technology in cinema, I can guarantee “Halo: The Movie” would be a success in the right hands.

4. Grand Theft Auto

Grand theft auto is a very long running series of violent, gangster, free roaming, car stealing games. Although the latest release of Grand Theft Auto has caused the series a slight decrease in popularity, GTA shows me all the signs of an awesome movie. The stories almost always center on a different characters in a fictional city. You play as this character who is usually new to the city and looking to take over. As you complete various illegal missions for a roster of shady characters, you grow your empire until the city is yours. I think this would make a great story and could prove to be a fun movie with a lot of violence, nudity, and coarse language…and isn’t that what everyone wants when all is said and done?

5. Half-Life

Half Life began as a PC game that became a cult hit and has expanded its fan base across the main stream audiences. Valve constantly produces unique and innovative titles but their true crown jewel was Half Life. The game centers around Dr. Gordon Freeman, a researcher who is in a fight with the rebellion against the government in a futuristic setting. Everything about this game screams “Sci-Fi film festival entry” but I believe that, with the right crew, the movie could become something huge worldwide.

6. Mortal Kombat

Before anyone asks, yes I realize Mortal Kombat has been turned into a movie…with a sequel, but with the very professional fan trailer that emerged on the internet a few months ago, the voices of thousands of fans have been flowing through the forums about wanting a new age MK movie. The fan video portrayed a very realistic, dark tone that almost seemed like a horror movie and I believe if a full length film was made in the same fashion, it would easily become one of the greatest movies of the year. The people who made the video have recently informed fans that they will be a short series of these videos made with some talented actors behind them. A Mortal Kombat movie seems to have a high probability of being put into production with this recent news and the news of a reboot of sorts happening with the MK series of games.

7. Mega Man

Mega Man is one of the largest and most popular vidoe game series ever. The original was released in ’87 and was followed by several sequels and spin offs and even continues to do so now. Mega Man is a story of two robotic experts working together to make robots to do human’s work for them. One doctor makes a group of robots for evil and the other creates the world’s greatest robot saviour to combat them…Mega Man. I think that if you were to take Mega Man and throw a crazy sci-fi real life taste into it, it would work out nicely. I imagine something visually comparible to the newer TRON movie and be filled with awesome explosions, laser beams, and gnarly looking robots. It could be the much more epic looking Mega Man that was always on the box art of the games.