Historically, film adaptations of video games have never gone well. Despite this bad track record, the new trend in Hollywood looks to be high-profile video game blockbusters.
The first of the new video game adaptations to hit theaters, Angry Birds, is shaping up to be a financial success. The animated movie pulled in $39 million dollars and took the No. 1 spot on its opening weekend.
Perhaps the most baffling news came earlier this week when it was announced that Tetris: The Movie will have a $80 million dollar budget. The “sci-fi thriller” film, which will be the first installment in a trilogy, is being made by a China-U.S. company called Threshold Global Studios.
A few weeks back, the first trailer for Assassin’s Creed generated some positive buzz for the upcoming movie. Set for a December release, the film will follow the age-old battle between the Assassins and the Templars during the Spanish Inquisition.
Warcraft, a $100 million dollar film adaptation of the classic real-time strategy series, is coming out next month.
We also learned this week that Nintendo is planning to get back into the movie industry. Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima has said that they will be working to produce an official movie within the next five years.
Of course, Nintendo infamously tried their hand at filmmaking back in the 1990s with the poorly-received Super Mario Bros. movie. Kimishima cited this failure as the reason why Nintendo’s future movie projects will not be live-action.
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