A Renaissance of Video Game Movies

Peter Smith

Contributing Writer

For many years, Hollywood adaptations of video games have been... less than stellar. Just looking at their Rotten Tomatoes scores should say a lot about their quality. Street Fighter has a measly 11% Tomatometer score. Resident Evil: Apocalypse, 19%. There was even a Tekken adaptation that somehow managed 0%! But could the 2020s see a turning point for this genre of entertainment?

Adapting media into another form is far from a new concept. Conversions as common as comic books to cartoons or as rare as songs to movies are ever present in the entertainment industry. One of the most infamous conversions is video games to film.

One of the first mainstream adaptations was Super Mario Bros. in 1993. This film was essentially related to the Nintendo classic in name only. Instead of a colorful kingdom of blocks and mushrooms, the titular brothers are sent to a dinosaur-themed city in an alternate dimension. This city is run by King Koopa and his reptilian Goomba henchmen. Keep in mind the original Goombas are based on chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms, not dinosaurs.

The film was an absolute flop. It did not make back its budget. It only scored 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and 35 on Metacritic. Despite its “so bad, it’s good” quality to some people, Super Mario Bros. still left a bad taste in the public’s mouth. Even actors Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper greatly regret starring in this film!

The main problems with Super Mario Bros. and many video game adaptations after it are a flimsy or nonexistent plot and a weak connection to the source material. Many of these films, such as Mortal Kombat and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider opt for flashy action sequences and shove the story and character personalities to the wayside. They leave audiences confused, bored, and wanting to play the games instead.

However, one film would change this track record.

Detective Pikachu was based on the Pokémon series, specifically a Nintendo 3DS spinoff of the same name. The film stars Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, a man who teams up with an English-speaking Pikachu, voiced by Ryan Reynolds, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his father Harry.

Was the film perfect? No, but it was still a very fun time for both die-hard Pokémon fans and general audiences. Detective Pikachu was a box office success. It became one of the first international video game movies to earn and maintain a “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 68% on the Tomatometer and a 79% audience score. How was it able to accomplish this? Forbes writer Scott Mendelson said it best in his review. “Detective Pikachu works because it’s a good movie first and a promising franchise-starter or a brand cash-in second.”

Most movies that came after seemed to take this advice and run with it. The Angry Birds Movie 2 greatly improved on the original and showed that comedic films based on mobile games can work. Both

Sonic the Hedgehog movies were filled with humor, action, and creative ideas while still being faithful to the source material. And Werewolves

Within, despite bombing financially, is currently the highest rated video game movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic! All of these films make sure to be faithful and engaging first and foremost. These films seek out to appeal to gamers with nods to their origins and grab nongamers’ attention with a fun or dramatic story.

Even Mario is getting a second chance with Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The teaser trailer introduces gorgeous animation, an all-star cast, and a much more faithful representation of the Mushroom Kingdom.