There’s no doubt that video game adaptations are on the rise. You’d think with so many bad renditions of these games (i.e. everything Uwe Boll’s done) that production companies would stay away from them, but after seeing how much bank these games earn, it’s hard to resist. In a way, I can’t really blame them. With Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li coming out today, I’ve decided to do a little break down for you of all the upcoming video game movies, including personal favorites, sequels and those in pre-production. Which ones are you looking forward to seeing the most?


COMING SOON

Far Cry

Uwe Boll has done it again. He’s gone and taken a video game and made it into a piece of crap movie about Jack Carver, a retired Special Forces Officer who has to rescue a photographer after his boat is destroyed by an unknown party and she disappears. As most of these types of movies go, there’s more going on than it seems. Luckily, none of us have had a chance to see it (unless you live in Germany or LA, in which case it came out in December), so we’ll more than likely have to wait to DVD or for the Sci-Fi Channel to play it.


Tekken

I’m really not sure what to make of this movie, being that the writers have done projects ranging from Firehouse Dog to Wrong Turn. The only thing I can find that’s good about this movie, other than Luke Goss starring as a young man with a great power who must battle a team of elite fighters who desire it, is that the director, Dwight H. Little directed Halloween 4. Then again, he also directed Free Willy 2…


Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I don’t know about you all, but I know the reason I want to see this movie: Jake Gyllenhaal. He is yummy wrapped in mmm-good! Oh, and he’s a good actor (who usually does bad movies). In this movie, Gyllenhaal plays a prince who teams up with a rival princess in hopes to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Aside from him, I’m a fan of director Mike Newell, so the movie can’t really be TOO bad…at least, I hope not.


The King of Fighters

Combing several fighting games like Final Fury and Art of Fighting, The King of Fighters is just that…people competing against one another to see who the king of the fighters is. Set to come out at some point this year, King of Fighters (the movie dropped the “The” for whatever reason) stars Never Back Down’s Sean Faris and is directed by Gordon Chan, who has helmed a ton of Chinese movies along with Kung Fu Master and The Medallion. Could be good, but I won’t hold my breath.


BioShock

With Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski onboard along with The Aviator and Sweeney Todd writer John Logan, this movie actually has a fighting chance to be decent. I mean, the story is pretty interesting, which is about a plane-crash survivor who discovers an underwater utopia filled with very bad things/creatures/people. The movie doesn’t have a cast at the moment, despite being set for release next year, so I won’t get too excited just yet.


SEQUELS

BloodRayne III: Warhammer

Does anyone really watch the BloodRayne movies? I don’t even watch them when they’re on USA or Sci-Fi, which says something because I’ll pretty much watch ANYTHING on USA or Sci-Fi. I’d even take Uwe Bowel’s (yes, that’s what I call him) shitty House of the Dead movies.


Doom 2

The first one was god-awful (and still bums me out because I love the game), so why would they make a second one? Hopefully now that Dwayne Johnson has been in some decent(ish) movies, he’ll wise up and not return for the sequel. Then again, I said the same thing when I saw him in The Mummy Returns and he did The Scorpion King shortly after.


Mortal Kombat: Devastation

Say what you want, but I actually love the Mortal Kombat adaptations. Sure, they’re not good films by any means, but they’re pretty damn amusing. In fact, because of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, I can’t see James Remar in any other movie without making some sort of Lord Rayden joke. You could imagine my fun when I heard he was in The Unborn AND Pineapple Express.


Silent Hill 2

The first one was sort of “meh” with me. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t horrible. To be totally honest, I don’t remember much from the first movie, which is how I’ll probably feel if/when I see the second. I think Jodelle Ferland (the girl who plays Sharon/Alessa) is the cutest thing since a stack of puppies, so it would be nice to see her again in something.


Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell & Rainbow Six

Alright, so these aren’t exactly sequels, but books and ideas of Clancy’s being adapted left and right (i.e. The Sum of All Fears, Patriot Games), it’s no wonder production companies picked up on the idea to adapt his video games (some of which were adapted from his books). I wonder if they’ll cast Harrison Ford in one of the roles?


PRE-PRODUCTION

Castlevania

I used to play the shit out of this game on my Nintendo as a kid, so of course I’m excited to see this happen. Plus, the whole horror movie aspect of the game has me completely intrigued. However, as much as it’s like a video game version of The Monster Squad, it could never be the awesomeness that is that movie.


EverQuest

With Harry Potter rounding up, its no wonder that movie studios are looking for some sort of new and magical thing to adapt, so why not EverQuest? Although I’m not personally a fan of the game series myself, I know a lot of other people are. It will definitely draw in some sort of crowd.


Gears of War

Not to be confused with God of War (I’m sure you hardcore gamers don’t), which is also getting its own movie, Gears of War could be an interesting movie. They’ve had a series of video games and books that were adapted from ideas in the game, which could make the process from game to film easier than expected.


Pac-Man

As much as this piques my interest, this sort of makes me raise my eyebrow. I have no idea how they’re going to make a movie out of a game about a little round dude who goes around eating stuff while trying to stay away from ghosts. Then again, they’ve made movies out of less than that, so I suppose anything’s possible.


The Sims

This one’s definitely a “What the fuck?” reaction, but perhaps more than I feel with Pac-Man. I mean, it’s a game about humans doing everyday things. I thought the game was a stupid idea, but a movie? That’s just too much. The last time I checked, most movies are about people doing everyday things, and they’ve even made movies about people playing games about people doing everyday things…so I give up.


PERSONAL FAVORITES

Duke Nukem

With a 2011 release date, I could not BE more excited to see this! Personally, I’d love to see Ron Perlman take on Duke Nukem (he looks like the character to a tee), but as long as they don’t put something ridiculous and stupid in Duke’s boots, I don’t care what happens. I’ll be there opening day regardless.


Earthworm Jim

When I first got my Sega, which came with Earthworm Jim, my parents used to have to pry my fingers off the controller at night to get me to sleep. When the cartoon came out in 1995, my parents sort of gave up. I lived and breathed Earthworm Jim, and in a way still do since I have an action figure of his sidekick Peter Puppy on my desk at home.


Halo

I don’t know anyone who isn’t excited to see this movie because of the man behind it: Peter Jackson. We all know that everything he touches turns to gold (even his old stuff like Meet the Feebles is awesome), so this movie more than likely will not suck. In fact, it’ll probably own faces for a solid few months.


Metroid

One of the oldest video game legends is finally getting a movie…maybe. It’s currently in pre-production, so it doesn’t have anything attached to it as far as a writer, director or actors go, so it might take a while. It could definitely be worth the wait, if the right people stick their noses in though.


Return to Castle Wolfenstein

When my Sega finally became outdated (or broke, whichever happened first), I used to go to my friend Lyndsie’s house to play Wolfenstein 3D on her computer. Actually, it was more like watching her play, since she wouldn’t really let anyone else have a turn, but I had great fun either way. Despite being eerily similar to Doom, I still think Wolfenstein rules, so the movie easily could too.