After being in development for a decade, A Minecraft Movie has finally hit theaters. The movie has brought in a staggering $350 million in just twenty days, according to Collider.
A Minecraft Movie, and the Minecraft franchise by extension, is incredibly popular among all demographics. Even non-gamers have delved into the 2009 video game. So, if Minecraft is such a beloved franchise, why did so many people expect the movie adaptation to be terrible?
The short answer? It never seemed promising. After the release of the first trailer, the movie was flooded with criticism. The strange casting choices, overdone story, and cringe-worthy dialogue didn’t inspire confidence in fans.
These factors aren’t just unique to A Minecraft Movie. Video game movies as a whole have a complicated reputation. For every blockbuster Sonic movie, there are a dozen awful Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil movies.
Video game fans have long wondered why the quality of movie adaptations are so inconsistent. Well, in most cases, the reason lies in the original source material.
What sets video games apart from other entertainment mediums such as movies, books, and shows, is that video games are interactive. A player’s actions in a video game affect the virtual world around them. The interaction between a player and their world is what makes video games special.
When a game is adapted into a movie, it loses the very element that made it so special in the first place.
This doesn’t mean all video game movies are doomed to fail. Five Nights At Freddy’s, Pokémon, and the Sonic movies, are all considered successful adaptations. However, their successes can mostly be attributed to the strong story of each source material.
The first few Five Nights At Freddy’s games were point and click games. The simple mechanics of the games, along with an intense and extensive story, drew fans in. The movie performed well because the creative team stuck closely to the story that interested fans in the first place.
What about the other adaptations of story driven games? Wouldn’t it make sense for adaptations of strong stories to perform better? In theory, yes, but this isn’t always the case.
Take Resident Evil for example. The Resident Evil games are loved for their well-written characters, unique horror elements, and overarching themes about the dangers of capitalism and misuse of power. However, the movies aren’t so appreciated, and for good reason.
Every Resident Evil film, and even the Netflix show, has been received horribly despite having strong source material to adapt from. The reason these adaptations failed so badly can be blamed on terrible creative decisions. Lazy casting, unnecessary changes,
The main problem with video game adaptations is that directors and writers often take bits of inspiration from the source material instead of adapting it faithfully. It comes to a point where a movie adaptation ends up feeling like a completely different franchise.
Whether it’s terrible casting, a split from the original story, or mishandling a franchise, many things can ruin a video game adaptation. Right now, video game adaptations are in a dark age, and the future of this movie genre remains uncertain.
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