Feature: The Most Profitable Video Game Movies

Very Nice Article. I also wish BOM has marketing numbers. I previously thought those were included in the Production budget.

The whole movie game thing is so hard to pick what you want. After seeing so many terrible adaptations you really have a negative outlook about them, But then on the other side, in your head you wonder and Fantasize about how cool Resistance, Halo, Gears, ect, would look as a movie.

The comment about the second Pokemon movie from the NYP and the Hitman film from the Boston Globe really made me laugh.

Hahaha N/A. You know Street Fighter and Mario Bro.s has to be some where in the single digits. Legend of Chun-li was just really disappointing. I was hoping Kristin Kreuk, MCD, McDonough and cast would get something better. BTW that Taboo guy from BEP had no business playing Vega. Really the worst movie games i've seen. If you don't count that original dragon ball movie. Speaking of DB. I know about the Manga and the show but seeing as it has a ton of games that terrible movie they put out with Chatwin should be in here somewhere.

I actually liked Silent Hill and Doom but that's probably because i've never played any of those games.

Alone in the Dark was okay. Problem being accepting/believing Tara Reid as a scientist? Not floating the boat there.

I've never saw Bloodrayne though I meant to buy the two disc dvd many times. I liked Kristanna Loken from Mortal Kombat: Conquest. Just saw and bought the first episode of Pain Killer Jane on PSN. Still don't know if i'll ever pick up that movie.

Once again a franchise i've never played. Dead or Alive. Bought the DVD because I recognized Jaime Pressly, Sarah Carter and Steve and Brian J. White (obviously no relation and yeah I had to look up three of those names but I know the face). I didn't really get what was going on. I felt kind of misled based on the first trailer.

And again another franchise i've never touched but I bought the movie. I loved Final Fantasty Spirits Within. Minus the Gai stuff I thought it looked great and had a good story and good characters. Steve Buscemi and Peri Gilpin (those names I did know) played nice off each other. It's actually one of my favorites.

Forgot to add one thing about Uwe Boll. I think he get's an overly bad rep. Only because i'd rather him make a movie about Syphon Filter than wait 20 years before some big Hollywood director decides, "hey, let's make this game a movie", just for it to still turn out as a crappy adaptation.

I suspect that part of the reason these type of movies get such lousy reviews is because unless they are exceptionally brilliant they will not live up to peoples desires. Being based on a popular game means they will get heavily hyped and any film that for its budget comes out OK will be considered an abject failure.

People do not want a good movie based on a popular game they want a brilliant movie and anything less is treated far worse then an equivalent non game movie.

Personally I find the first Tomb Raider movie to be a superb 90’s big budget action flick, Alone in the Dark is great as a 20 million B movie, and Dungeon Siege an OK fantasy that looks like a lot more then 60 million was spent.

Final Fantasy The Spirts Within is a masterpiece of computer graphics and should be seen by any true lover of movies for the experience even if they hate the story.

Some of these movies aren't that terrible, but the only ones that I sort of enjoyed were the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider movies. I haven't seen Silent Hill, although some have told me it's actually decent.

Silent Hill and Mortal Kombat are the two best video game movies ever made. Why? Because they faithfully recreated the games that inspired them on the big screen. I've heard people say "but the acting/dialogue was cheesy/corny in those two movies". Thats funny because I don't remember any Shakespear-esque lines in the actual games themselves. Anyway, those two movies are the ones that ALL video games will be judged against because they have set the standard.

Yeah I forgot to comment about the first MK. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was very cool when I was a teenager. My aunt took my cousins, me and a few neighborhood kids in her Van to see it at Kings Plaza. One of few nice memories from back then.

It's great to see these movies discussed, mostly with positivity. I have a real soft spot for Tomb Raider 1 (hated the second) but can see why some don't love it. Silent Hill, though, is excellent-as a movie and game adaptation. Sean Beans horrid accent aside ( just have the dude speak with any on of his English accents).

HOWEVER, I have to nit-pick....the profitability is incorrect as studios receive roughly 55% of the final US take, and overseas can be similar or sold as rights. As rightly said, DVD and other factos add profits, marketing subtracts, but it is important to note that 55% as box office profit is a good rule of thumb.
(Although I believe it's 85% first weekend, 45% afterwards, so front-loaded pictures do better for studios than similar grossing films with legs).

@BouncingOffClouds, thanks I hadn't thought of that - I should have! So I guess those profit numbers I came up with would be more realistic if almost cut in half.

Nice roundup. I'd agree with BouncingOffClouds on true cost/profitability. To cover P&A (prints & advertising) on top of the production budget, as well as all other costs, I would typically double the budget. The more expensive a production, the more is typically spent on P&A in a bid to recoup. It's a useful rough guide.