No one can deny that video game movies have come a long way in thirty years. As someone who grew up in the nineties, I can tell you—the early days were rough. All of us who grew up with Nintendo and Sega Genesis were dying to see early films like Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros., and Street Fighter. But guess what? They all sucked. Video game movies were so bad that Paul W.S. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat, which is a fairly cheesy movie now, seemed like a masterpiece to us in 1995.
Luckily, things have improved, as not only have VFX come a long way, but so has Hollywood’s take on the genre. Perhaps the key was not being so slavishly devoted to recreating the games, with A Minecraft Movie taking a unique approach and ending up as the highest-grossing movie of last year. Conventional live action also doesn’t always have to be the way to go, as Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its sequel proved.
Next week sees perhaps the most highly anticipated video game movie in recent memory hitting theaters—Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, which follows the Minecraft example and isn’t slavishly devoted to recreating the game. It will be followed, in short order, by Paramount’s Street Fighter, which has good buzz, while The Legend of Zelda and a Minecraft sequel come out in 2027 and beyond. Video game movies are here to stay, but what’s your favorite? Take the poll and let us know!
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