It's common knowledge that video games have had a rough go of things in Hollywood. It's still a young entertainment medium -- comparing them chronologically to film, games have really only reached their "talkie" phase -- but a story is a story, and games really just haven't been adapted very well. That hasn't stopped filmmakers from trying to crack the code though.
There was some promise in "Halo," which Peter Jackson was going to produce and "District 9" helmer Neill Blomkamp was going to direct. Until it fizzled out, that is. The next great hope on the horizon is "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," which hits theaters next May. Both of these games have rich, well-developed stories. "Twilight" producer Wyck Godfrey, who has his hands on adaptations of "Gears of War" and "Dead Space," argues that the big problem with game adaptations thus far is related mostly to the source narratives.
"I feel like the video games are getting more sophisticated in terms of the storylines," he said in a recent interview with Collider. "Both 'Dead Space' and 'Gears of War' are games that have great storylines."
He's got a point. There's a big difference between breaking bricks and squashing mushrooms in a fantasy kingdom, all while searching for your damsel-in-distress princess (who's always in another castle!), and fending off alien invaders who also happen to be religious zealots committed to spreading their beliefs through force ("Halo," for the uninformed).
I think the big problem arises when people turn to narrative-light games as adaptation sources. Look at "Super Mario Bros.," a cinematic travesty largely because the game's minimal story was rewritten to fit a movie. Godfrey's clearly got the right idea in turning to more recent fare, and popular, story-driven titles no less. It's easy to see how either of those games could become a cinematic reality; not so much with titles like "Guitar Hero" and "The Sims."
Godfrey doesn't offer a timetable for either of his coming adaptations during the interview, but he restates a few things we already know, mainly that Len Wiseman is on "Gears" and D.J. Caruso is on "Dead Space." He has a bit more to say on what we can expect from "Gears," which should feature "a ton of visual references." The project isn't yet a go, but Wiseman has "put together a whole presentation, so we should know pretty quickly if this version is going to move forward or not."
What are your thoughts on game-to-film adaptations? Do you think "Gears" and/or "Dead Space" would work as movies? What are your favorite examples of adaptations that we've seen so far? Would you go as far as calling any of them a proper succes? Share your thoughts in the comments section below... remember, you can sign in using nothing more than your Facebook ID!
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