The famous film Super Mario Bros is set for a release this Thursday and the excitement is high. Here’s finding out why adaption of games into films or digital series clicks with the audience

Sheetal

Many of us have been fans of arcade video games such as Super Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Angry Birds. And when it inspired filmmakers to produce a full-fledged show or film on them, audiences didn’t disappoint and the franchise only grew. As The Super Mario Bros Movie hits the theatre this Friday, we find out why there’s a sudden rise in film/series adapted from video games.

Adventurous ride

HBO series The Last of Us, which was first released in 2013, is hailed by gamers as the best adapted series from a video game. In India, it is available on Disney Hotstar. Released in January this year, the series’ success can be gauged from the fact that it was renewed for the second season in January itself.

The action-adventure horror game was the brainchild of Israeli-American creative director and writer Neil Druckmann. In fact, he assisted Craig Mazin in screenwriting and together they came up with post-apocalyptic drama based on the game. It is a joint production by Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Naughty Dog, the Mighty Mint, and Word Games.

The company Naughty Dog (since December 2020) has delivered another successful game that has inspired a film — Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was made into an action-adventure film Uncharted in 2022. Druckmann served as the designer for this one. Fans of the beloved PlayStation were surprised to see how much of the game was changed to fit the story in a single movie’s runtime — it squeezes in a new story while re-enacting action sequences from multiple games. And, it all made for decent viewing with what Nate (Tom Holland) and Sully (Mark Wahlberg) had to offer to the big screen.

Fantasy zone

In the fantasy zone, the big hero that transformed from a video game into a movie was Prince, which was set in Persia. The film, released in 2010, was titled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and was based on video game series, Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal brought the animation character to life and the film grossed over $336.4 million against a production budget of $150–200 million.

Another 2016 film, Warcraft was an off-shoot of video game by the same name. The film was directed by Duncan Jones.

The most recent fantasy adaptation is that of the game Witcher, but many do not know that even the video game was first a book series. Currently a Netflix series, in The Witcher the titular character, Geralt of Rivia, is played by Henry Cavill, famously known as DC’s Superman.

Child’s play

The Angry Birds game has been transformed into a series, Angry Birds: Summer Madness. In 2016, the film The Angry Birds Movie was quite a hit.

And now, The Super Mario Bros Movie is set to be released in theatres. The last Mario film, Super Mario Bros was released in 1993 and based on Nintendo’s video game series started in 1985. Another video game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, is a classic that was adapted into a live-action movie in 2020.

The reverse game

Here are video games adapted from successful film and series:

• Star Wars has been a huge franchise since the 1970s. Many games have been based on it with one releasing this month.
• The Batman franchise too has multiple games like Batman: Arkham Knight and Batman: Arkham City based on it.
• Spider-Man is a part of an exclusive roster of PlayStation games by Sony, including The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
• Harry Potter is a film series based on the novels by JK Rowling. Now in 2023, the producers have created a game Hogwarts Legacy, which is set in 1890.

(With inputs by Yathesht Pratiraj)