Video game-based films

June 17, 8:03 PMAtlanta Game Lifestyle ExaminerSummer Munger

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This fall, videogame enthusiasts can look forward to the release of Tekken in movie theaters to pump up sales for the release of the highly anticipated Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion; due out in December. Is it possible for Tekken to transfer smoothly from game to film? The odds definitely aren’t promising.

Fighting games have not had an easy run on the silver screen. In fact, the transition from great game to great film is nearly impossible to make. Street Fighter was the first franchise to attempt this feat and its production company had names like Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia emblazoned on the poster. The movie was panned by critics and failed to even secure ten million dollars in revenue on its opening weekend. Mortal Kombat, released less than a year later, had much better luck. Even with fewer recognizable actors, it grossed over twice that of Street Fighter in its opening weekend and finally forged a spot in the box office for the genre.

Though the success of fighting games on film is a mixed bag, one franchise that certainly has had monetary success is Resident Evil. There are few movie experiences that compare to watching a horror film on opening night in Atlanta with a packed house. Audience members scream, talk back at the screen, warn the protagonist about the monster at her back; the whole nine yards. Resident Evil was not only scary, it was fun. But even with monetary and public success, the series was still snubbed by critics at nearly every corner. The Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Chris Hewitt is quite frank on what he thinks about the subject, stating in a review that it is “the lamest current genre of film: video game-based movies."
 

What will it take for video game-based movies to earn the respect of the critics? Does it truly deserve their respect to begin with?
 

In the end, the answers to these questions don’t matter. What matters is how the film affects the viewer. Best of luck to Tekken; it will almost certainly have to run the gauntlet.