Miss Scarlet, In The Movie Theater, With These 22 Incredible Films Based On Games
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In case you didn't know Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves arrives in theaters this weekend, and the critics are raving!
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Chris Pine would tell you, but he's a bit tied up at the moment.
And the arrival of Super Mario in theaters is right around the corner.
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So many mushroom.
Tetris just arrived on Apple TV+, Bodies Bodies Bodies came out last summer, and The Last of Us just wrapped its first season. Clearly, gaming is all the rage.
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So, I thought what better time than now to do a roundup of all the best game-related films. Video games, arcade games, card games, and board games are all acceptable.
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But no sports.
So, let's begin. Here are the best gaming-related films of all time.
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1.1Up (2022)
Let's start with one of the few e-sports films. If you, like me, have been aggressively hoping for another Pitch Perfect movie, then I'm here to make your wishes come true by telling you that 1UP will scratch that itch — just with video games instead of a cappella singing. The film (which, full disclosure, was produced by BuzzFeed Studios) follows Paris Berelc as a college student who forms an all-girls e-sports team to take on the very douchey boys team. Trans icon Hari Nef plays her bestie, and Ruby Rose plays their coach with an amount of humor and humanity I did not get from her in Batwoman or The Meg. The film has that scrappy, rapid-fire, slightly raunchy humor of the original Pitch Perfect and isn't afraid to be weird and clever. The relationships are very sweet (especially the nerdy romance plot line), and as someone who has not played a video game since Mario Party 5 came out, I was intrigued by the world of e-sports.
2.Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
So much more than an "advertisement for cleavage," Bodies Bodies Bodies follows seven entitled, privileged, uber-wealthy Gen Z friends who decide to play a Murder in the Dark/Mafia-style game in a shadowy mansion while riding out a hurricane. Of course, the podcast-hosting, woke, pill-popping influencers are thrust into a world of chaos when an actual body (body body) appears and they have to figure out which of them is the murderer. The script is whip smart, the acting (especially from Lee Pace and Shiva Baby's Rachel Sennott) is masterful, and the film packs as many laughs as scares (two things the other horror comedies on this list struggled to conjure any of). This film is also a PSA for making sure not to drain your car battery by leaving your lights on. My parents should have showed me this in high school. Would have saved us all a lot of jumper cable uses.
3.Clue (1985)
Mr. Green in the conservatory with the revolver? This ’80s comedy, based on the classic board game, takes the mystery of who killed Mr. Body and turns it into a slapstick black comedy. The band of comedians, including Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, and Martin Mull, arrive at a large mansion on a stormy night, only to witness murder after murder to increasingly humorous effect. The film is chockfull of quotable lines (“Flames on the side of my face”) and has developed a cult following, even if it did poorly in theaters. Also, the three alternative endings available give the whole thing an extra dose of kookiness. I’d hazard to say that the movie is better than the book — I mean, board game.
4.Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Gaming movies are an interesting genre because so many different directions can be taken (just roll that polyhedral die), but the latest Dungeons & Dragons film (which is completely separate from previous films) is mostly just a fantasy comedy based on a journey the roleplaying game can create. Rather than have characters actually play D&D or engage in some meta commentary, its just a fun romp with wizards, elves, etc. A star-studded cast including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Justice Smith make up the film's party, and a television spinoff is headed to Paramount+.
5.Free Guy (2021)
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Dungeons & Dragons, Free Guy is a very meta comedy about the non-playable characters (NPC) in a video game with scenes leaping back and forth between the game characters and their counterparts in the real world who created Free City. Ryan Reynolds stars as an NPC who suddenly becomes sentient while Joe Keery and Jodie Comer play the pair of programmers who created the game. The film was directed by Shawn Levy, who knows how to have a good time, and it features one of the most satisfying endings in recent history.
6.Game Night (2018)
It's honestly a bit shocking that we don't have more games based on murder mystery scavenger hunts, but Game Night executes the premise flawlessly, so maybe everyone else is just afraid to try and top it. Headlined by Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, the comedy follows a group of friends who get together for a game night. When one of them goes missing, however, they think they've stumbled upon a fun immersive mystery game rather than what it really is, an actual kidnapping. The ensemble is excellent, and the twists and turns are delightful to follow. Plus, I quote "Oh no, he died" constantly.
7.Jumanji (1995)
Perhaps the most iconic board game movie of all time is Jumanji, even if it's not actually based on a real board game (although a board game was created with the release of the film). In the film, which was actually based on a picture book, a pair of kids find an enchanted board game which both releases fantastical elements into the real world and pulls players into its board. Robin Williams stars as a man who has been trapped inside the game for decades but returns to help the kids play their way through the game to safety. The original book and film were followed by the Kristen Stewart vehicle Zathura which is basically the same thing just set in outer space. The better sequel however is....
8.Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
While I don't usually put two films from the same franchise on a single list, I couldn't skip the ingenious sequel/reboot in which players are sucked into an old school video game. Rather than unleash lions into suburbia, Welcome to the Jungle places the consciousness of four players into game avatars forcing them to complete the game without losing all their lives and dying forever. The body-swapping style of the film provides plenty of comedy fodder for the all-star cast of Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Dwayne Johnson. There's also loads of meta video game humor here, and it's a rare reboot which actually used the original's IP well.
9.The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
Of the documentaries on video gaming, far and away my favorite is this one about two obsessive Donkey Kong players in a heated rivalry. As you can imagine, gamers who have spent years of their lives practicing a single arcade game are a bit eccentric, and Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, the gamers at the center of this documentary, are no different. Mitchell is a professional with several records under his belt, but Wiebe is bound and determined to unseat him in Donkey Kong. The documentary follows his pursuit of video game glory and the unbelievable world of arcade gaming that continues to thrive in niche subsections of the population.
10.Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
While critics certainly weren't kind to the original Tomb Raider adaptation, the box office results told a completely different story. The adaptation of the video game franchise, which starred Angelina Jolie, not only significantly over-performed at the box office, but it also snatched the record for largest opening by a female-led film. In 2001, video game movies were rare, female-led action films were rare, and to see one perform so well at the box office was groundbreaking. The role is still one of Jolie's most iconic, and it's a high energy pulp scavenger hunt that's perfect popcorn viewing.
11.Mortal Kombat (2021)
While fantastic martial arts movies abound in Asian cinema, the genre has languished in Hollywood as of late (unless you count blips in the Marvel and John Wick universes). The Mortal Kombat reboot, based on the video game franchise and a pair of films from the '90s, represented an exciting, modern big budget entry into the genre. While the film's plot has its holes, the bloody action sequences are topnotch, and fans of the video game franchise won't be disappointed.
12.Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
My parents always told me that the Ouija board is an evil vehicle STRAIGHT from the devil. If someone ever got one out at a birthday party, I was to call home IMMEDIATELY and get out of there because Satan was not to be messed with. Well, if only the characters in this supernatural horror film had been so smart. But no. They just had to go and start using a Ouija board in their fake séances, and wouldn’t you know it, the daughter gets possessed. The prequel to the 2014 film Ouija is set in 1960s Los Angeles and details the grizzly details surrounding Lina's (Annelise Basso) demon-via-board-game origin. Honestly serves the family right. Hell, I’d refuse to even touch the box in an aisle at Walmart. Who knows how the demons are transferred!
13.Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (2009)
If you haven't played the Professor Layton games for Nintendo DS, then you are missing out, because the puzzle-solving mysteries are incredibly satisfying and just the right amount of difficulty. They're also each built around a compelling narrative mystery, and so it makes sense that the Japanese animated film based on the games would be well-written. While the film got a limited release in the US and is largely unknown, it's well worth searching out, especially for fans of the games.
14.Ready or Not (2019)
Now, readers, THIS is a romp of a horror film. The aristocratic family rich off a board game empire invoke a sick demonic ritual to keep their fortune that forces them to hunt down and murder a new bride in their manor house. It's sort of a hide-and-seek-themed game just with murder. What follows is 95 minutes of grisly, unadulterated fun. We’ve got crossbows. We’ve got a battle-ax. We’ve got throwing knives. Samara Weaving is exquisite as the bloody bride the family is hunting, and the ending is….explosive.
15.Ready Player One (2018)
Rather than watching a movie about one video game, how about watching a movie about seemingly every video game ever made? And also every TV show? And also every '80s anime film? Based on the bestselling novel, Steven Spielberg's ode to nerds follows Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) as he fights his way through a virtual reality scavenger hunt based on '80s media. While I would argue that the book is better than the movie (when is it not?), the film is a lot of fun and especially The Shining sequence in the middle is incredible. The whole thing makes you wish you could play your way through a video game that was half as cool.
16.Resident Evil (2002)
Especially with The Last of Us taking the world by storm, you've got to give it up for a zombie-killer, post-apocalyptic survival video game adapted for screen. The Resident Evil film series just might be the most successful video game-to-film venture of all time as it has already spawned seven films. Milla Jovovich helms the series as Alice, and while there's plenty of zombie killing action throughout the series, there's something special about the original, especially since it's got Michelle Rodriguez in it, and M. Rod is one of the greatest action stars working today.
17.Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Much more kid friendly than Resident Evil, Sonic the Hedgehog is well on its way to creating an equally memorable franchise. I have seen both Sonic films at early morning IMAX screenings with one of my besties. We snuck in bagels and iced coffees and watched our favorite furry blue video game character surrounded by dozens of children's birthday parties and half-asleep parents (and we will be recreating the experience for Sonic 3). These movies are pure, wholesome delights. Jim Carrey is giving classic Jim Carrey like we haven't seen since he played Count Olaf. Ben Schwartz and James Marsden have great chemistry as Sonic and his dad(?). The plots are silly but stick to the high points of the Sonic video games (LOVE ME some Sonic Adventure 2: Battle). And if you are feeling a little too snooty to watch, might I entice you with the fact that Natasha Rothwell (of Mike White's acclaimed The White Lotus) is given some real hilarious material as a bridezilla who hates Marsden. The second film RAKED in over $400M, and a third film is on the way. PLEASE introduce Rogue the Bat into the franchise. I beg of you.
18.The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
No video game character is as iconic as Super Mario. (Sorry not sorry to Sonic, Pikachu, and whoever the dud from Halo is.) Finally, after decades in the shadow of the awful '90s live-action Mario movie, we're getting the glossy animated film we've been waiting for. All your favorite characters from Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario Golf, etc. have arrived to the big screen for their action adventure debut. Will Mario defeat Bowser? Will Goombas be flattened? Will I lose Bumper Balls one more time and throw my Nintendo 64 remote across the room? You'll have to watch to find out.
19.Tetris (2023)
While I was initially confused as to how anyone could make a movie about multicolored blocks falling from the sky, Tetris is not so much a movie about the game as about the complicated legal drama over the ownership of the mega-popular video puzzle. And if you're thinking "but is copyright law interesting?" the answer is "shockingly, yes." Tetris was created by a man who lived in the USSR, where individual intellectual property didn't exist, so the race to sell Tetris to the masses was one fraught with twists and turns. Taron Egerton is a blast as the man trying to secure the gaming rights for Nintendo, and for anyone who loves history or has played 800 hours of Tetris on their Gameboy, I'd highly recommend.
20.Tron (1982)
We love a "sucked into a video game" movie, and Tron really originated the genre back in the early '80s. A young Jeff Bridges plays Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer who is sucked into a digital world and must face off against various obstacles in order to return to the real world. The film was groundbreaking for its widespread use of computer graphics as well as its electronic score (something that was built upon by Daft Punk in Tron: Legacy). The world-building here is exquisite and remains one of Disney's most inventive films.
21.Werewolves Within (2021)
If you've ever been on a high school field trip, a youth group retreat, or an extended family vacation, chances are you've played the card game Mafia. Well, the old-fashioned card game of social deduction was transformed into the video game Werewolves Within in which citizens of a fantasy town must determine who among them is a werewolf. That game was then turned into this dark comedy in which a group of comedians slowly murder each other in an attempt to survive the evening and rid themselves of the werewolf in their midst. It's sort of like Bodies Bodies Bodies with a jokey, fantastical twist, and its cast is topnotch (for as long as they live at least).
22.Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Lastly, we have Disney's arcade-inspired film about a fictional Donkey Kong-esque video game character who is upset about his image as a villain and on a mission to fix it. The whole film is an homage to classic arcade games like Pac-Man, Paperboy, and Frogger. Ralph hops through a variety of old school games as he attempts to determine his place in the gaming world, and the voice cast that includes John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, and Jane Lynch make the whole thing pop. The movie deserves the top score on the leaderboard.
