VG Opinion Poll #14 - Possible VG movies?

[glasfen]

One thing leads to another...

VG Opinion Poll #14

While there have been innumerable movies based on comic books (or graphic novels, depending on your take), the list for video games is comparatively short. That might be due in part to the fact that most, like the Mario Brothers movie (which tanked infamously) and the Mortal Kombat movie (which I remember being purposefully silly), were not box office hits (Doom did okay). You may wonder where I'm going with this. Well, try to follow this train of thought:

I was driving home, listening to bLiNd's Jade Catacombs which got me thinking about BGC's In Your Prime. That reminded me of finishing Metroid Prime 3 recently and the video at the end. Which made me wonder who would fit the part of Samus in a Metroid movie (Ali Larter came to mind). But it occurred to me that there might not be enough demand for video game movies. Which leads me to this question:

What video game or series would you most want to see turned into a movie?

a. Metroid

b. The Legend of Zelda

(IGN should have finished the movie instead of toying with us!)

c. Mega Man

d. Castlevania

e. Ninja Gaiden

Please note: I tried to be fair and grab from several systems. These are all character-specific games (meaning the focus is a main [human] character who could be played in a live-action film). Oh, and I left out Metal Gear because it's in the works. Check out this list for more.

Vote and be heard! If you have other suggestions, feel free to list them. PM me for anything else.

[Salluz]

B, D or A. Not sure if I can only choose one or not. I've heard Castlevanian rumors, but I doubt it.

[Soul Splint]

Mega Man would out-bomb the Mario Bros. movie; it would be unrecognizable.

Metroid or Zelda would have the best chance of representing itself well, and are also the choices I would most like to see.

[WillRock]

The legend of zelda for me.

That done right would be purely awesome.

[PROTO·DOME]

Metroid would definitely make the best movie by far. Lots of material and backstory. (Although it may just turn out to be a medicore Sci-Fi...) Zelda wouldn't have much story to go on seeing as the plots are essentially linear. And Megaman? Really?

[Moseph]

I've heard Castlevanian rumors, but I doubt it.

It was officially canceled a few months ago, according to Wikipedia. Actually, Van Helsing is a bit like what I'd expect a Castlevania movie to be like, only a little sillier.

I'll go with (A) Metroid. Does John Woo still have the rights to that?

[Thalzon]

A) Metroid would become an actiony Tomb Raider clone set in space.

Legend of Zelda would be doable but end up as hokey fantasy fare on par with the DnD movie(s?).

C) It would follow superhero movie conventions more than anything and would probably, yes, be unrecognizable. And terrible.

D) It's called Hellsing and don't for a second think it would be better than that.

E) No rubber ninja suit? No dice, man.

I'll go with E because I want rubber suited ninjas.

[anne amère]

the SMB movie was fantastic what's wrong with you people

[LuketheXjesse]

Ninja Gaiden would probably make the best movie transition

and suck anyway.

[SoulinEther]

None. But if they were being made anyway, I'd be most interested in seeing a Castlevania movie... the games have quite a lot of story to work with.

[DCT]

Zelda could be pretty epic if pulled off correctly, as could Metroid. I think I would be interested in seeing a Mega Man movie, just to laugh my ass off at how horrible it'd be.

-D

[Final Hero]

(A) and ( would probably be the best options of the ones listed.

(A) would run the risk of turning into a hokey C-class Sci Fi movie the likes of which would only be shown on SyFy, though - although it definitely has potential. But it would require a director capable of exquisitely-careful handling of the source material... not to mention a top-notch screenwriter. Still, it could easily happen... the big danger here, to be honest, was that rather than finding an actress to play Samus who was a good actress first and attractive second, they'd go the other way around and just choose an actress based solely on her looks, as is a common achilles heel of many sci fi/fantasy movies/tv series.

(, I'd be afraid of becoming like the "Dungeon and Dragons" movie franchise, because of how many games are in the series and of how extensive the terminology and diction unique to the series is... y'know, where the first movie is passable albeit barely, but the sequels (yes, there is at least one sequel in the "Dungeons and Dragons" movie franchise!) are laughable and poorly executed. Still, it would also have the potential to be something more like the "Lord of the Rings," albeit probably to a lesser extent. The other problem with Legend of Zelda, though, is that it would be a fantasy-genre movie; and aside from "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" the fantasy genre has always been largely ignored in film, and, when paid attention to, severely under-funded and staffed with fourth-string actors.

©... I'm sorry, but the children's television shows ruined - in my mind at least - any possibility of MegaMan becoming a serious film for adults, although I could still see some sort of "Speed Racer"-esque big screen production of it... y'know, that could be claimed to have been made for adults, but everyone knows it's really a children-oriented movie. The children's series really ruined it for me, though - they were seriously worse than the "Pokemon" series... well, worse than the first season of "Pokemon" anyway. It's hard for me to take anything MegaMan-related seriously anymore.

(D) and (E) I really don't know enough about to voice an opinion on.

Also, to be fair, I think - due to how unknown the "Mario" movies are in the vast majority of pop culture - that there's a possibility that series could be salvaged as a movie franchise by pretending the movies made don't even exist and starting over from scratch with a bigger budget and a more serious, quality script and actors.

Anything's possible, though - I mean, hell, they're making "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" movies now. I give it ten, fifteen years at the max before the film industry realizes that there's a huge fan base out there in the video game industry and capitalize on it with movies.

[Cerrax]

A) IF IT WAS DONE CORRECTLY

I think Super Metroid would make an excellent sci-fi horror flick a la Alien. I've always had a pretty epic idea of how the movie would go (I even began writing a script for a little bit).

More likely it would be turned into some mindless sci-fi crapfest.

I don't trust Hollywood with mah vidjahgames. Leave my childhood memories alone dammit!

EDIT: Ali Larter as Smaus? Really? I actually find myself envisioning Kristanna Loken as Samus. That red suit she wears in Terminator 3 could easily be blue

[Alexis]

Either A or B for me.

And only if they didn't screw them up.

I'm already pretty worried about this Prince of Persia movie. That was a good game and they better not ruin it with this movie.

[Hyperion5182]

Any of these titles would be an LOTR class undertaking.

When i use that reference in film i mean a specific timeframe a specific budget and a determined effort to make it work.

Metroid: So much would involve the lead. Honestly i would have the suit distort voices slightly if for no other reason than the voice actor for the American Motoko Kusanagi from GiTS would be the perfect voice. (No idea if the actor is even Female or if she was that she would have the body to pull that off)

Legend of Zelda: The only way i would go to see this movie is if the actually did what has been happening with many of the 'remakes' when they update them. I dont want a re-hashed story. I would love to see some new ground on the franchise.

Megaman: While many point to the cartoons i point to the X series of games. Everything past X-4 showed that a movie in an animated form was a possiblity and that it could actually be rather well done. The fact of the matter is however i could easily see this going live action with the advances in special effects. If it was done in the X universe and done properly I can honestly see this being a fun film.

I agree with several who said Hellsing when they thought of Castlevania. Enough said there.

Ninja Gaiden? I would prefer MGS first.

[Final Hero]

Metroid: So much would involve the lead. Honestly i would have the suit distort voices slightly if for no other reason than the voice actor for the American Motoko Kusanagi from GiTS would be the perfect voice. (No idea if the actor is even Female or if she was that she would have the body to pull that off)

Mmm... I agree, she would have the perfect voice for it. Dunno if she has the body for it, though - do a Google image search for "Mary Elizabeth McGlynn" and judge for yourself (most of the images of her don't really show her body). Still, if it was an entirely CGI film - something like Advent Children - she would definitely be my choice, hands-down.

[Sinewav]

Honestly, they all could be good 'if done right'... the problem is, they wouldn't be. I'd love to see A) Metroid and B)Zelda the most, but honestly, I'd perfer if they didn't even try because I know they'd screw 'em up. Metroid is very dependent of its mellowness and sense of subtlety, and Zelda would have to be LotR quailty to live up to the source material (plus you know they'd make Link talk).

The video games I might trust them with (because I think they're the least likely to be massacred) are D) Castlevania and E)Ninja Gaiden. The plots are extremely simple and call for some very flashy action scenes. In addition, both of them can afford to be a little hokey without stomping all over the source material because frankly, the games themselves were pretty over-the-top campy sometimes (not a slam on them at all, it's a big part of their charm). On the flip side, they'd probably screw that up too, by making the films take themselves too seriously or try too hard to be artsy (see Max Payne).

I realize that I didn't make a clear cut vote. Interpret the above post into your numbers however you wish.

[Gario]

E.)

Seriously, people, have you ever played the NES series? The story for that was epic and the character development was great. It's dying for a movie remake... although as we all know all VG movies are a bad idea. Ninja Gaiden is the only one that might work (and because of the xbox overshadowing the old series with the new, the story and such could still be fresh with the audience).

Megaman: While many point to the cartoons i point to the X series of games. Everything past X-4 showed that a movie in an animated form was a possiblity and that it could actually be rather well done.

Only X4 had ingame movies on the PSX 1 (I never played MMX7 on, so I can't say anything about that). I agree that they were pretty well done, though.

[glasfen]

the SMB movie was fantastic what's wrong with you people

Hey, man, I liked it. But even Nintendo admitted that it did poorly.

Anything's possible, though - I mean, hell, they're making "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" movies now. I give it ten, fifteen years at the max before the film industry realizes that there's a huge fan base out there in the video game industry and capitalize on it with movies.

And probably just like the comic book and Saturday morning cartoon movies (coming fall 2010, Smurfs: The Movie... Get blue or get out!) good vg flicks will be few and far between. Even those that stay true to the games will suffer as they won't bring in the public dollars that more "mainstream" game movies (read: greedy bastardizations) will.

EDIT: Ali Larter as Smaus? Really? I actually find myself envisioning Kristanna Loken as Samus. That red suit she wears in Terminator 3 could easily be blue

Ali was the first to come to mind due to the long blonde hair and blue eyes (as in the MP games). I did not know of Ms. Loken until you mentioned her. Sure, she could work. Does she have the edge and soft side for it, though?

do a Google image search for "Mary Elizabeth McGlynn" and judge for yourself (most of the images of her don't really show her body). Still, if it was an entirely CGI film - something like Advent Children - she would definitely be my choice, hands-down.

I can see your point. I was thinking about all of these (including Mega Man) as live-action films.

[Cerrax]

I just think video game movies are a stupid idea. "hey guyz, lets take a perfectly valid form of narrative and remove the most interesting part! Then we'll rewrite the whole story for twelve year olds and spend millions making it look as good as it used to!"

[Gario]

I just think video game movies are a stupid idea. "hey guyz, lets take a perfectly valid form of narrative and remove the most interesting part! Then we'll rewrite the whole story for twelve year olds and spend millions making it look as good as it used to!"

Agreed. You've basically got it, right there.

[Final Hero]

And probably just like the comic book and Saturday morning cartoon movies (coming fall 2010, Smurfs: The Movie... Get blue or get out!) good vg flicks will be few and far between. Even those that stay true to the games will suffer as they won't bring in the public dollars that more "mainstream" game movies (read: greedy bastardizations) will.

Please, don't even joke about that. I hope and pray to God every day that the movie industry will leave Saturday morning cartoons alone, and stop screwing around with the comic books - honestly, the only comic book movie series I've seen that I thought worthy of the original is the new Batman series.

I mean, look at some of the farces that have already been produced. The Scooby-Doo movies? Make me want to mail a bomb to the movie production companies that created them, every time they come on tv. (I never would, mind you, but that's besides the point.)

I can see your point. I was thinking about all of these (including Mega Man) as live-action films.

In all honesty, I think - if the movie industry has to eventually expand out in to video game movies, as I'm afraid it must - I'd rather see them be done as all-CGI movies, because (a) it would most closely preserve the characters and scenery, ( would allow - in many ways - a more faithful following of the story lines, and © might also inspire viewers of the movies who have never played the games to go out, buy, and play the games. Kind of how movies these days are inspiring the video game companies to make games off of them (a mistake, in most cases, but never mind that)? Well, imagine that with a video game-based movie... except the video game companies would already have an existing, high-quality game for the new masses to play. It might even inspire the companies to re-release the games with better graphics... the danger there being, of course, that they might also be inspired to change the storylines to more closely follow the movie(s).

Besides which, movies that are exclusively CGI are the future of the industry. It won't be long before almost every genre has more than half of its films made completely in CGI.

[anne amère]

a zelda film like super mario bros would be awesome

link is just some guy living in an apartment in san francisco

moblins are just these gay punks wearing shirts that say "MOBLIN" on them

stalfos are dudes wearing punisher t-shirts

link also owns some beat-up stationwagon with the license plate EPONA

[Sinewav]

a zelda film like super mario bros would be awesome

link is just some guy living in an apartment in san francisco

moblins are just these gay punks wearing shirts that say "MOBLIN" on them

stalfos are dudes wearing punisher t-shirts

link also owns some beat-up stationwagon with the license plate EPONA

I think we've got the makings of a badass fanfilm right here.

[glasfen]

In all honesty, I think - if the movie industry has to eventually expand out in to video game movies, as I'm afraid it must - I'd rather see them be done as all-CGI movies, because (a) it would most closely preserve the characters and scenery, ( would allow - in many ways - a more faithful following of the story lines, and © might also inspire viewers of the movies who have never played the games to go out, buy, and play the games. Kind of how movies these days are inspiring the video game companies to make games off of them (a mistake, in most cases, but never mind that)? Well, imagine that with a video game-based movie... except the video game companies would already have an existing, high-quality game for the new masses to play. It might even inspire the companies to re-release the games with better graphics... the danger there being, of course, that they might also be inspired to change the storylines to more closely follow the movie(s).

Besides which, movies that are exclusively CGI are the future of the industry. It won't be long before almost every genre has more than half of its films made completely in CGI.

I think, as you do, that it's only a matter of time before movies based on video games are the norm. It seems that Hollywood is dying for licensed stories as they can't seem to produce enough original material.

That aside, I can see your point about CGI. While I don't think it will replace live action, I think we have been acclimated to its inclusion in movies to the point that you can get away with semi- or mostly-CGI films like Mega Man, for example, should be to minimize deviation from the game(s).

And, yes, of course movies can help the fan base of the original work (whatever medium it might be). So a Mega Man/Zelda/Castlevania/etc. movie would get people interested in the source games but, I would argue, only if the movie is done right.

Good points, FH.