14 DAY TRIAL // Hollywood is lacking ideas, that's why the producers from Los Angeles are turning their heads to other types of media, like comic books or games, for inspiration. Writers tend to limit themselves only to developing some minor aspects of the stories from videogames and saying that the movie will offer precious insight that couldn't have been done in the games.
In both cases, comic book inspired movies or game related titles, the results weren't very pretty. Most of the times, fans went to the cinema only because of the title and the relation to their beloved comic book or game character and sadly ended up watching a terrible movie which destroyed the story in the original source. There have been successes, like the recent The Dark Knight which portrayed the Batman comic book very accurately and had very good actors in the leading roles. MTV talked to director Sam Raimi, the man responsible for the movie versions of Spider-Man. He offered his insight on the recent success of comic book movies and the not so rich history of game inspired titles.
“There has been 40 years of different comic books... Writers have had to really get into the characters of the superheroes themselves. They explore their relationships, their loves, their villains, their stories - there's so much more to draw upon. In the world of video games, it's usually more of an environment or a scenario, not character-based... but they certainly could be better. There's World of Warcraft - what an awesome video game! It has such great, adventurous characters in it and such fantastic landscapes and rules... You could make a brilliant World of Warcraft movie - as fine as any of the best superhero movies - if you had the right writers and directors.”
His last words in this statement should be heard by Hollywood - if you want to make a successful movie based on a game, then you must get the best in the field on it. Producers shouldn't just rely on the popularity of a game to make people go to the cinema, but offer them a pleasant experience that would make them come back to view a sequel to the movie presented.