Yet More Movie Adaptations?

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

After Minecraft inexplicably stormed both the movie and pop charts - Steve's Lava Chicken Song is still somehow charting in the UK - you bet there are going to be even more video game adaps coming your way.

 

One that I got excited about for almost five minutes... Ryan Reynolds in Dragon's Lair for Netflix.

And yes, it was going to be an interactive version â la Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, but the resulting 400-page (!) script was deemed too unwieldy to film as a project. Not to mention, apparently the interactive stuff is a massive pain in the a**e to load balance for on the backend. After some disasters with US live sports, they're not keen on having their kit fall over again with a blockbuster.

 

So now Dan and Kevin Hageman have rather a lot of material to pare down to make one single story. But I am disappoint.

 

Other than our own dear Paragon City - and I'm not sure the multiplexes are ready for a video game cape movie, even if they could get Cassandra Peterson to play me...

...are there any decent games left that haven't been turned into movies? Which ones would you like to see?

[battlewraith]

In terms of games that I think have great stories and could potentially be great movies:

 

Bioshock

Half-Life 2

maybe Hades as a full length animated feature.

[Octogoat]

Dishonored

[Techwright]

On 6/19/2025 at 1:27 PM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

...are there any decent games left that haven't been turned into movies? Which ones would you like to see?

 

See, when you say "decent", that's a loaded question. "Decent" is subjective.  

 

I went through a Top 100 list, and a surprising number have some movie, good or rotten, out there.  I do think there's a few though.

 

Homeworld: similar to Battlestar: Galactica, but I think there's enough difference there that it can hold it's own, particularly if they show the techno-tribalism in the protagonist race. Karan S'Jet, the human computer, is a fascinating character on her own.  If successful, they can do the prequel and tell the Deserts of Kharak story.  

 

I've not played these, but have seen some of the game "movies" that players have stitched together:

1. God of War franchise

2. Red Dead Redemption franchise

 

I'm not sure The Legend of Zelda franchise has ever had a live-action movie (though probably some anime somewhere).  There is a reserved page on imdb.com for a 2027 live action movie, but it has no real details, so it's more or less a placeholder for something that might never happen.

 

In that vein, there appears to be a placeholder for a TV series for God of War as well.  It has one comment, that Jason Momoa would like to play Kratos.  Other than that, there's nothing to say this really is happening.

 

While I think Dragon's Lair would be the stronger of two to adapt, let's not forget its little sibling Space Ace.  That was a hilarious send-up of the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type tale, with the hero pulling a reverse-Captain America, being hit with a beam that turns him to a wimp with moments of restoration.  I'd love to see it come to screen.

 

I'd also point to the Portal franchise.  While there was an excellent fan-made short out there, I could wish for a full adaptation.

 

And in regards to cape adventures, CoH may never make the cut, but would Overwatch?  I've not played the game, just seen some of the introductory animation, and wonder if it might not have a draw at the box office.

 

Oh, and for the gamers of the 1980s:  

Pitfall!  - One of Activision's great successes from the 1980s. I envision a blend of Indiana Jones and Jumanji  (and honestly, why haven't they released a Pitfall! game that isn't a 2D scroller?  One like a Tomb Raider, Legend of Zelda, or Uncharted game, but with its own cheeky humor, would be much appreciated, at least by me.)

Defender - first a coin-guzzling success in the arcades, then a popular cartridge game (and frequently ripped off by others), this side scroller, lone-fighter game of alien invasion might make a great film, if they take the time to write a strong script around it.  Otherwise, it's likely to be hammy like Independence Day, or a bomb like Battleship.

River Raid - another Activision cartridge success, I envision this one somewhere between Top Gun, The Dam Busters, and Firefox (with Clint Eastwood).

 

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Techwright
added content

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

6 hours ago, Techwright said:

River Raid - another Activision cartridge success, I envision this one somewhere between Top Gun, The Dam Busters, and Firefox (with Clint Eastwood).

Just read the Wikipedia on River Raid, and much praise for Carol Shaw. I didn't even know they did platinum sales cartridges to hang on the wall, let alone that game designers could earn enough to retire on back on the day.

 

Also - given it was the OG vertical scrolling shoot-em-up, I'm surprised that doesn't namecheck its obvious legacy: Spy Hunter.

There was a version of that in the works about 20 years ago, with - surprise - The Rock in the title role. John Woo, Paul WS Anderson and various others have been attached to direct over the years, but the rights remain with Universal, deep in Development Hell.

(Dwayne did get to play in the FMV for the 2006 game Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run, and is apparently still annoyed that only got 3/10).

Edited 3 hours ago by ThaOGDreamWeaver