Video game adaptations have flipped the script, from massive box office flops to popular billion dollar franchises.
Here’s how video games became one of Hollywood’s most valuable storytelling sources, writes Film News Blitz writer Jesse-Ann Baron.
The genre Hollywood got wrong
Originally, video games were box office poison.
Studios rushed adaptations onto screen without truly drawing from the source material.
The adaptations either strayed so far from the game’s storyline or they took themselves too seriously to be enjoyed.
The earliest video game adaptations were all alike because all went big with visuals to compensate for the lack of good acting and writing.
In the early 1990s, films such as Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter were big-time critical and commercial misfires.
The early releases even from big franchises today like Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat were viewed as low-tier B-movie action films.
Hollywood clearly did not take video games seriously and this left gaming audiences disappointed.
In the beginning there was a clear disconnect between Hollywood and gamers.
The film executives viewed the source material as below the standards of a good blockbuster film.
Consequently, the gaming lore was often discarded to rewrite whole stories to make the game fit the formula of a Hollywood action film.
This can be seen in the 2002 Resident Evil movie where the main characters were sidelined by a whole new character written by filmmakers.
Many gamers were excited to see their favourite characters and intricate gaming storylines play out on the big screen but they were met instead with unrecognizable plots.
The lack of understanding resulted in a decade of adaptations alienating the same audience they tried to attract.
Fast forward to now, the genre has blown up with video game adaptations grossing hundreds of millions at the box office.
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Barbie movie and A Minecraft movie
What changed for video game adaptations?
A few things happened at once.
Studios no longer treated video games as fast cash-grabs or their IP as disposable.
The IP was taken very seriously from the built-in worlds to the deep lore.
Filmmakers shifted their perspective and built stories that respected the source material- and gamers started noticing.
Actual credible Directors were taking these projects which signalled to the industry that these films were not creative ends.
More importantly it is now common to have close collaboration with the original game creators, ensuring that the adaptations are true to the narrative and tone of the game.
Technology finally caught up and suddenly these big gaming worlds could be visually brought to life more truthfully.
All these combined resulted in the current success of game adaptations today.
In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu movies became big successful video game adaptations with the latter grossing $433 million worldwide.
The potential was finally seen and this led to bigger budgets, stronger writers and more opportunities.
Hollywood finally started treating gamers as a respected audience and they responded by showing up in their numbers.
How much money are video game adaptations actually making?
These past years have shown that if done right games can be big hits.
The 2023 Super Mario Bros. movie became the highest grossing game adaption with worldwide gross of $1.36 billion.
Compare this animated adaption to the first adaptation in 1993 and there is a massive discrepancy between the two.
The first Super Mario Bros. movie had a worldwide gross of just $20.9 million with over a billion dollar difference.
This big jump shows how differently these adaptations are being done and received today.
This is demonstrated again with the 2026 sequel Super Mario Galaxy which has already become the first film this year to cross $1 billion in its release.
These adaptations are increasingly popular with the 2025 Minecraft Movie reaching almost $1 billion worldwide itself.
It seems these films have a clear foothold in Hollywood and are not going anywhere anytime soon.
These are some honorable mentions of recent successful game adaptations:
Angry Birds (2016) – $325 million worldwide
Tomb Raider (2018) – $275 million worldwide
Five nights at Freddy’s (2023) – $297 million worldwide
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) -$336 million worldwide
The big screen is not the only place where these adaptations are making money.
Games have broken into streaming which has allowed creators to let these complex storylines unfold over multiple episodes.
The most notable is the The Last of Us HBO adapted series which is praised for being the most accurate video game adaptation ever.
Everything from the costumes, dialogue and visual framing is taken directly from the game making it an instant hit for gamer audiences.
The rest of the streaming platforms followed with Netflix bringing the popular Arcane to life and Prime Video with Fallout.
After the 1990s massive game flops, the 2000s ushered in great films like the eerie Silent Hill but only now is the box office reflecting the improvement of these adaptations.
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What’s next for video game adaptations?
There is no sign of this genre’s success halting anytime soon.
This is evident with Mortal Kombat 2 in cinemas now, the new Street Fighter expected to hit screens in October and Resident evil coming in September.
More video game adaptations are also already in development, with studios continuing to invest heavily in their production.
Upcoming releases for 2027 with high expectations are The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft Movie 2 and Angry Bird Movie 3.
Other highly anticipated films are in development such as the popular Sims, Elden Ring, God of War and Call of Duty.
Keep your eye out for these live-action adaptations of the most popular video games in history.
Video games have billions of fans and players and these films and series tap into this massively diverse demographic.
Now gamers are not an afterthought, they’re the main audience.
At this rate don’t be surprised if a GTA 6 film is announced before the actual game releases.
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