For years, I've heard the following mantra over and over again: Video Games just can't make the transition to film. I've heard the excuses. "The mediums are just too different." "There's no game that has a story to maintain a feature length runtime." "Video games are an interactive medium and therefore would suffer in the transition to a non-interactive medium." And time and time again, another theatrically released stinker would validate these naysayers.
Breaking the video game curse
Yet, despite box office bombs like "Bloodrayne" and "Resident Evil," I've never accepted this.
I've always maintained the belief that if a filmmaker is talented enough, they could make a film out of anything. And while I agree that what makes video games a great medium is their interactive nature, I've never accepted that as an excuse for why they can't make the transition to a non-interactive medium such as film. Besides, there's plenty of great films based on books, comics, and even theme park rides; the belief that good movies can't be made from entirely different mediums is just absurd.
Finally, Netflix's "Castlevania" has broken the video game adaption curse. With an upcoming second season and an "Assassin's Creed" TV adaption from the same team in the works, I thought I'd try to articulate what Netflix's "Castlevania" gets right that so many other game adaptions get wrong.
What works in one medium
While Netflix's "Castlevania" isn't quite a movie, it's a good TV show and useful blueprint for what a truely great video game film could be. It's not quite on the level of other Netflix TV adaptions such as "Jessica Jones," or "A Series of Unfortunate Events," but I could see myself recommending it to people who don't play video games, and that's more than I can say for tripe such as "Ratchet & Clank."
One of the most important rules is knowing that what works in one medium doesn't always work in another.
In "The Dark Knight," you won't see Batman's grappling hook or some goon throw acid into Harvey Dent's face during a trial. While those elements worked fine in the comics that they originated from, the filmmakers were wise enough to know that they wouldn't work in a modern film adaption. Likewise, you won't see characters whipping candles to collect hearts or throwing an oak stake into an orb in Netflix's "Castlevania," but you will see Dracula's love being burned at the stake and the Belmont clan subjected to fear and hatred by the populace.
The future of gaming adaptions
For many years, critics have predicted that superhero films will eventually go the way of the western. Audiences will at some point become burned out on such an over-saturated genre and it will just become niche. Sure, there'll be an occasional superhero film now and then, but it'll never be the box office giant that it once was. The question then arises: What's the next trend?
Many studios are hedging their bets on video games. In Japan, films based on the popular RPG "Persona 3" enjoy similar critical and box office success on par with Disney's Marvel films. In fact, the "Persona 3" films even have their own Marvel-style stingers that tease the next film.
In the west, other films based on video games are in the works.
Sony is planning a film series based on the acclaimed "Uncharted" games, a live-action/animated hybrid "Sonic the Hedgehog" film is being developed with "Deadpool's" Tim Miller producing, and Legendary Pictures is hoping to capitalize on the success of "Pokemon GO" with a film adaption of the game, "Detective Pikachu."
