Well, it's official. With the success of "A Minecraft Movie" ending the 2025 dry spell at movie theaters, and the recent successes of "Five Nights at Freddy's," "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and the "Sonic the Hedgehog" franchise, movies based on gaming IP are the big new thing. Many more are on their way, including the recently announced "The Legend of Zelda" movie, a new "Street Fighter" next year, and everything from "Death Stranding" to "The Sims" in development. So, what does this mean?
First, gaming has become the dominant medium for pretty much everyone under the age of thirty, and is starting to encroach on the attentions of older people too. I've watched with interest as gaming franchises have made up a bigger and bigger part of media fandom over the past few years - not just your AAA titles, but mobile games, gacha games, and everything related to them. Gaming is a major component of the popularity of Twitch streamers, many Youtube channels, and other internet content. Esports has grown from a curiosity in the 1990s to a billion dollar industry in the 2020s. New game and console announcements are major events, and the impact of the recent Trump tariffs on the availability of the Nintendo Switch 2 made headlines.
This comes at a time when the cultural impact of movies has significantly diminished, and television series aren't doing much better. It's not clear now if movie theaters will ever recover from the pandemic, and the streaming wars haven't been good for anybody except maybe Netflix. After nearly two decades of the comic book superhero boom, audiences seem ready to move on to something new, and the IP-driven nature of modern blockbuster filmmaking means pre-existing source material is a must. Right now, the best candidates to entice young viewers back to the theaters are the video game franchises. The Mario and Sonic games are the most famous, having been around for decades, with instantly recognizable characters who have been heavily merchandised. It's no accident that the most successful movies based on games have been the ones that can lean on their familiar characters and reliable branding.
Movie adaptations of popular games have previously been a very mixed bag, for a variety of reasons. A lot of bad films have been made from good games over the years, including "Assassin's Creed," "Doom," and the first attempt at a "Super Mario Bros." movie back in 1993. The difficulty often stemmed from trying to translate stories intended for one medium into another, but really boiled down to games being considered either a niche hobby or strictly kids' stuff. Most movie audiences were assumed not to be familiar with gaming conventions. After many years of persistent attempts with one adaptation after another, this is no longer the case. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of the audience members who bought tickets for "A Minecraft Movie" are familiar with "Minecraft," and the movie is clearly made for the existing fans.
Games becoming a popular source of IP for movies also signals an important shift. Movies have traditionally adapted different mediums - there was the run of '60s TV show adaptations in the '90s, every Stephen King novel becoming a horror movie in the '80s, and stage musicals steadily becoming Hollywood musicals in the '50s and '60s. The fact that this cross-pollination between games and movies and shows is finally paying off, is a sign that games are getting their day in the sun as a primary part of mainstream culture. Their legitimacy is assured at last! I don't know if we've actually had the first good movie based on a video game - which was a goal I remember being discussed in the past - but we've definitely had the first good show, HBO's "The Last of Us." Frankly, that speaks better as to the artistic bona fides of TV series compared to movies right now.
Movies - well, as a medium their fortunes have waned before, most seriously with the rise of television in the 1950s, which led to a slew of new innovations. Despite all the doom and gloom, I don't think they're going anywhere. People like going to movies, and they remain cheaper than many other forms of entertainment. However, I think the content is going to have to evolve, and the audience is necessarily going to look and behave differently. The rise of the video game movies is just one of many changes we can expect coming soon to a theater near you.
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