Hollywood’s Struggle to Crack the Video Game Code
For decades, Hollywood has been attempting to “crack the video game code.” Despite the video game industry’s success in creating captivating stories and characters, none have successfully translated into a major motion picture.
While there have been close calls, “close” doesn’t equate to “success.” The issue of video games being significantly longer than movies and the difference in audience engagement between the two mediums remain unsolved.
Previous Attempts: Fun but Not Quite Successful
Mortal Kombat was entertaining, with its fun fights and colorful costumes. It made money and got a sequel, but it wasn’t a definitive success.
Assassins Creed managed to solve the time crunch problem that plagued video game adaptations for years. However, the rest of the movie fell short.
The Resident Evil movies, Silent Hill, and all three Tomb Raider films were watchable and enjoyable to some extent, but none were definitively good. They were, at best, qualified successes.
The closest thing to a good video game movie has been Castlevania, which is actually an animated series on Netflix.
Detective Pikachu: A Potential Game Changer?
Detective Pikachu might be the movie to change the game. Its bizarre premise, taken from a spinoff game rather than the main Pokémon series, works in its favor. The relative obscurity of its source material allows filmmakers more freedom to work with the material on their own terms, without the pressure of fan expectations.
The fact that Pikachu talks in this adaptation means that the character can be developed beyond the typical “cute animal sidekick.” It seems that Detective Pikachu has managed to break free from the curse of video game adaptations: adhering too strictly to the content of a video game.
It’s important to note that the issue isn’t with video games themselves, but rather the challenge of condensing a lengthy video game experience into a focused movie. With some of the shortest video games still being around seven times longer than the average movie, it’s a tall order for any filmmaker.
However, with Detective Pikachu, there’s hope that Hollywood might finally be able to pull off a successful video game adaptation. The pieces have been there for years; it’s just a matter of making it all work. And for Detective Pikachu, it seems like they might just have cracked the code.