It may feel hard to believe, but video game movies have begun to turn a corner. The long-ridiculed genre has seen a steady uptick in critic reviews and box office performances thanks to many curse-breakers like Sonic the Hedgehog, Werewolves Within, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This has fueled optimism for future video game movies, raising expectations much higher than they were in the 1990s and 2000s.
Numerous video game movie adaptations are currently in the works, including sequels, reboots, and big-screen debuts. It’s worth noting that just because a video game adaption is in development that doesn’t mean it will come to fruition or not see extensive rewrites and changes. In any event, it’s exciting to see what the future holds for video game movies, as strange as that might sound.
10 Five Nights At Freddy’s
Tentative Release Date: October 27, 2023
Five Nights at Freddy’s is an immensely popular horror franchise for young players first releasing in 2014 and consistently releasing new games and media every year since. At its core, Five Nights at Freddy’s is all about surviving the night from murderous animatronic animals at a pizza restaurant, but its lore has grown far deeper than that.
Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s is locked in for the Halloween season, going head-to-head with Saw X. Five Nights at Freddy’s stars Josh Hutcherson as security guard Mike Schmidt and Matthew Lillard as William Afton, the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment whose past is at the center of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise.
9 Borderlands
Tentative Release Date: TBA
Borderlands is a hilarious looter shooter that has never taken itself seriously. Borderlands has fun and frantic gameplay, whether playing alone or with friends, and will never miss an opportunity to make players laugh. For those who doubt Borderlands can tell a great story, look no further than Telltale Game’s Tales from the Borderlands, which boasts fantastic writing and characters.
Borderlands stars Kevin Hart as Roland, Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Jack Black as Claptrap, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis. A first-look silhouetted cast shot was released in 2021. Borderlands recently filmed reshoots in January after a test screening in November 2022, leaving a 2023 release in doubt.
8 Minecraft
Tentative Release Date: April 4, 2025
Much like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Minecraft has been incredibly popular with children, resulting in it becoming the best-selling video game of all time. Minecraft’s simple sandbox-building concept has encouraged creativity with players building everything from replicas of their homes to entire cities.
Minecraft has since expanded to different genres, including the narrative-driven Minecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games. After many delays and turnover, Warner Bros.’s live-action Minecraft movie is planned to release in early April 2025. Jared Hess, known for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, is set to direct the Minecraft film with Jason Momoa to star.
7 Return To Silent Hill
Tentative Release Date: TBA
Silent Hill is at the beginning of its video game renaissance with a remake of Silent Hill 2 deep in development and a new Silent Hill entry recently announced. Silent Hill will make its return to the big screen with Return to Silent Hill.
The original Silent Hill movie is one of the most underrated video game movies, but its sequel Silent Hill: Revelation, loosely based on Silent Hill 3, is much less beloved. Return to Silent Hill brings back the original film’s director Christophe Gans and will serve as a sequel to the original Silent Hill, drawing from Silent Hill 2. Konami release storyboard images in late 2022.
6 Street Fighter
Tentative Release Date: TBA
Street Fighter hasn’t had a good history in theaters. The original Street Fighter movie was widely panned, although it’s gained a cult following thanks to Raul Julia’s performance as M. Bison. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is frequently cited as one of the worst video game movies.
Legendary Pictures acquired the rights to Street Fighter in April and began development on a new movie. The animated Street Fighter II: The Movie and Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, a web series with a movie cut, both prove that a great Street Fighter movie can be made. Hopefully, the third time’s the charm for Hollywood.
Tentative Release Date: TBA
A Metal Gear Solid film was first announced way back in 2006, but has only started building up momentum in the late-2010s. Squeezing the story and exposition-heavy Metal Gear franchise into a movie format may feel insurmountable, but if Columbia Pictures makes it work, fans may receive an absolutely thrilling espionage film.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts, known for Kong: Skull Island, was hired to direct the Metal Gear Solid film in 2014 and is still on the project. The most recent known script was submitted in late-2019. A year later, it was announced that Oscar Isaac was cast as Solid Snake. There have been no further developments since.
4 Ghost Of Tsushima
Tentative Release Date: TBA
Ghost of Tsushima is one of Sony’s newest hit I.P.s made by Sucker Punch Productions. Ghost of Tsushima‘s critically acclaimed story with a gorgeous directorial style and setting draws heavy inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s classic samurai films.
Ghost of Tsushima will be developed by PlayStation Productions with Sucker Punch being among the executive producers. Chad Stahelski, known for the John Wick series, will direct with Takashi Doscher penning the script. Stahelski has stated that he wants to “push the color palette” for the Ghost of Tsushima film while also expressing interest in a grainy black-and-white “Kurosawa mode” version of the film, which the Ghost of Tsushima game can be played in.
3 Pac-Man
Tentative Release Date: TBA
With Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario leading the charge for great video game movies, the time is definitely right for Pac-Man to get in on the fun. Pac-Man has made a few cameo appearances in movies and played a major role in 2015’s Pixels, but has never had a theatrical solo film.
As of 2022, a live-action Pac-Man movie is in the works by Wayfarer Studios in conjunction with Bandai Namco Entertainment and Lightbeam Entertainment. The Pac-Man movie will be based on an original idea from Chuck Williams, who was an associate producer for the first Sonic film. That fact should give Pac-Man fans some reassurance.
2 BioShock
Tentative Release Date: TBA
A BioShock film originally entered development in 2008 with Universal Studios. Budget issues and original director Gore Verbinski’s desire for the film to have an R-rating ended all hopes for the early attempts at a BioShock film.
The BioShock film was revived in 2022 and found a home with Netflix. Netflix will produce the film with Take-Two and Vertigo Entertainment. Francis Lawrence, known for I Am Legend and three of The Hunger Games movies, is set to direct. Meanwhile, Logan and Blade Runner 2049’s Michael Green will write the script. Netflix is hoping the dystopian BioShock will kickstart a cinematic universe.
1 Gears Of War
Tentative Release Date: TBA
Much like BioShock, Gears of War has struggled to transition to the big screen. Its rights were originally bought by New Line Cinema in 2007. By 2016, Universal was developing the film as a movie set in the Gears of War universe rather than based on a specific game.
Following those same footsteps of BioShock, Gears of War reentered development through Netflix along with The Coalition. Nothing is known about this iteration of the Gears of War movie. Actor and former WWE star Dave Bautista has continued to campaign for the role of Marcus Fenix and once lent his voice and likeness for a limited-time DLC skin for Marcus in Gears 5.
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