Video games, not comic books, are Hollywood’s latest blockbuster

• Hollywood is increasingly turning video games into movies and TV shows.
• This trend contrasts with the decline in interest in comic book adaptations.
• Video game studios are cautious, fearing that mods could jeopardize their intellectual property.

People are tired of watching the Avengers. But Hollywood has a backup plan: video games.

Seven different major movie releases in 2023 were based on video games, including “Grand Turismo” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

At least 19 TV shows based on video games debuted last year as well, according to Ampere Analysis, a London-based market data firm, and the trend isn’t slowing down. “Bioshock” and “God of War” are now streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix, respectively.

Ampere found that Hollywood shifted its focus away from comic books in films and TV shows last year in favor of video game adaptations like “The Last of Us.”

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” grossed $1.36 billion in 2023, the second-largest profit margin after “Barbie.” Both films outperform “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Marvel’s latest entry in Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at ComScore, a media analytics firm, told the newspaper that movie studios are starting to realize that “the boom may be far from rosy” when it comes to comic book adaptations.

Comscore says superhero movies grossed about $1 billion domestically in 2023, which is 42% less than the previous year. Meanwhile, movies based on video games grossed $712.2 million, more than double the total from 2022, according to the outlet.

Despite this success, video game studios are cautious about film and television adaptations. Players are a committed fan base. This represents an opportunity for Hollywood, but also a challenge for video game studios, which are concerned about the threats that mods pose to their brands.

“If they don’t like something, they’ll tell you,” Helen Gouget, CEO of Ubisoft Film & Television, told the newspaper.

For example, Netflix canceled Resident Evil after just one season in 2022. Fans of the popular video game series called it “the most boring and useless garbage” of the year with “nothing in common with its source material,” Newsweek reported. on time.

Forbes reported that the show’s low audience ratings may have come from “racist review bombing,” given that Lance Reddick — who is black — portrays a typically white character in video games.

On a November 2023 earnings call, Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said that game studios “run the risk of compromising core intellectual property” when making mods, according to the magazine.

“It’s a big step,” Zelnick said during the call.

Video game adaptations often get a bad reputation as sloppy narratives, especially from younger gamers. Members of the University of Miami Electronic Gaming Association told school publications that they believe film adaptations fare better with audiences when game creators have a greater role in the storytelling.

Game and movie studios are integrating themselves into places like Discord and Reddit communities where they can see first-hand what young gamers are thinking about their products, the newspaper reported. One common finding is that players enjoy “Easter eggs” or small nods to the source material.

Adhan Razzaque, a 22-year-old software engineer from Austin, told the outlet that noticing Easter eggs in the 2022 Netflix series “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,” for example, made him feel like the production team was considering him as a player when creating. the offer.