Something I was thinking about today, but what really makes movie adaptations of video games so difficult? Most adaptations of games to movies are generally bad. Any ideas for why this is? And how can they generally improve?

Because you remove a core element of a game, the gameplay, to do it, leaving the movie to draw from the usually lacklustre story and visual design.

And of those, the story usually needs to be condensed as videogames are usually 6+ hours long affairs, and the visual design can be exceedingly difficult to transfer onto film with a limited budget, especially in the case of live-action.

Movies that take the premise but do a completely new story (mostly) unrelated to the game are usually the best in my experience. Though not a guaranteed success. Good example: Silent Hill. Bad example: Doom

Usually Hollywood tries to appeal to the casual crowd and either water down or remove certain aspects from it to make it more appealing.

sounds familiar...

They're usually directed from someone who hasn't played the games or knows very little of them. Also there's http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kK5g-qgIoPc/U8wprRo8bCI/AAAAAAAABoI/Hsdl82XoSmE/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-07-20-21h41m47s78.png.

I don't think most people creating movies based on video games have any intention of taking the time to make a quality movie. I think they just rush their piece of crap to the theaters as quickly as possible and hope that the people playing the video games blindly pay for seeing the movie before finding out how bad it is.

In the long run that may turn people off from playing their games. Look at all the D&D movies, there wasn't a single good (or even not crappy one) one. I'm guessing ten's of thousands of people won't even try D&D after seeing the movies. Same with video games, but seems as though there isn't much long term thinking going on.

I feel like the opposite is the problem. Directors attempt to replicate a game's presentation, story, setting etc. and without gameplay those secondary elements must stand on their own and ultimately fail to entertain.

Hey! A fellow Marylander!!

To your point; I feel more that video games and movies are diametrically opposed to one another, and that a movie must simply deviate from the games 'script'. If money truly is the only motive, then why do video game companies want their games made into movies? especially if the perception is that they will make the game less popular?

I saw a movie set in the Halo universe, which I thought was pretty good. It wasn't based directly off the games afaik, even though Master Chief was present. (He was not the main character.) There was definitely some thought behind it, and they managed to twist some of the common movie tropes (who survives/who dies, the obligatory love story etc)

But, I haven't played Halo, so I may be the wrong person to judge

What I was thinking (could be right or wrong ) is that a lot of movies I've seen that are based off of video games come out after millions of copies are sold. So they sell several million copies, the sales slow down, then they create a movie, show decent trailers, and a few million people that like the video game line up to watch the movie on opening weekend before any reviews are in and pump several million dollars more into the company that created the game and movie.

It has been awhile since I've watched a movie or even payed attention to what movies have been based off of games or books so my opinion could be outdated.

I have found that rarely 2 players have the exact same experience when they play the same video game. So you have a writer that experienced the game one way, a director who may have experienced another, and the viewer who will most likely experience it yet another way.

Take Skyrim as an example. Some players avoid quests. Some players plow through the main quest as quickly as possible. Other players get into the roleplay aspect and become hunters or millworkers (chopping wood), and so many other non-quest related activities.

So, if a movie based on a video game strikes a note with a viewer, they are lucky, indeed. That is my take on it, anyway

Are you talking about the Forward Unto Dawn movie? I personally wasn't fond of it, or the more recent Nightfall one. Full of so many clichés it was just cringe worthy. I'll give some credit to the movies as they portrayed the Halo universe perfectly. I think there is potential for a Halo movie, even more so now considering how much the Halo universe has grown. Just have yet to see a good one with an actual good cast of actors and someone who can write a good plot that isn't so predictable and cliché.

Anyway, I think there are three main reasons video game movies are bad:

1. They're making movies for the wrong video games. Games with little to no plot don't work well for a movie (Super Mario Brothers, Mortal Kombat). Who knew?

2. Some video games have the potential to be a movie with their stories, but those making the movies never stick to the material of the game, because they know little of the game itself (Max Payne). Max Payne never fought demons ("or perhaps it symbolized the demons he was fighting WITHIN HIM? WOAAAAH!")

3. Video games just might not have the amazing story that we believe they have to make a good movie. Because video games are video games. I don't necessarily agree with this, as some games have some brilliant story telling.

That's a very good outside-the-box interpretation.

Thanks!!

They are either cashgrabs, or the studio deviates too far from the source material.

Just about any game with any presence of a story can be made into a good movie. A game doesn't need a good story for a film to create a good story for it. It's simply about how passionate the studio is and whether they really intend on being faithful or are simply forcing the game's 'universe' into their personal fan-fiction.