Video Game Adaptations Come of Age (Yes, I’m Talking About The Last of Us)
An idea whose time has come | #006
This is part of a series on trends in the media and technology space. It’s trying to understand why we are where we are and, what comes next. Welcome to trend analysis.
Season one of ‘The Last of Us’ is over. Done. Episode nine came out last Sunday and with it, Joel and Ellie’s story from the first game reached closure. Of course, there was little closure for the characters because (spoilers ahead – don’t read this paragraph or the next if you haven’t seen the last episode or played the game) Joel decided to massacre an entire hospital full of people, who were trying to save the world. Trying. But, of course, we as the viewers can understand him. Sort of. After all, in the process of trying to save the world, the only thing that mattered to him, Ellie, would be lost. One death for a chance to restore order in a zombie infested, post-apocalyptic nightmare world. Just one. One too many for Joel, who did what most parents might have done (or wanted to do) and save his (adoptive) daughter.
There’s also little closure for Ellie, our other main character, because she thought that her immunity would be useful – an opportunity to regain what had been lost. Instead, she wakes up in a car with Joel, who tells her that her special resistance is not worth anything. He lies. But she doesn’t believe him. She’s in turmoil because she wants to, but inside, she knows that he’s lying and that something terrible has happened. All she can do is bring herself to accept the situation, to accept Joel, and hide that nagging doubt deep down.
“What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot!” - Ellie, ‘The Last of Us’
Yes, I wrote all of that because I too am reeling from the finale, even though I played both games. When the ending hits, with Ellie questioning Joel’s version of events and the discussion around whether Joel did the right thing comes back to the forefront, it’s hard to ignore. Personally, I believe that there is no right in his situation. It’s hard to agree, to come to a consensus. On the other hand, what we can agree upon is that the show was good. Great. Much better than every live action game adaptation that has come before. And maybe (hopefully), it’s the start of a new trend because things weren’t always this way.
Part one: Really old video game adaptations
Let’s start with the first video game movie that I ever saw, ‘Pokémon: The First Movie’. Released in 1998, it was an animated mess, combining three different plot elements into one larger movie. The main focus of the film was the third part, ‘Mewtwo Strikes Back’, a seventy-five-minute piece on the idea of existentialism and purpose from the perspective of Mewtwo, a living weapon designed from the DNA of another Pokémon, Mew. Did I mention that this film was targeting children? Nonetheless, the film made money, with a box office gross of $170 million, on a budget of just $5 million. That’s a big deal.
So, naturally, the best thing to do was copy it. And Pokémon did. There have been twenty-three films in total, with the latest one being released in 2020. The only problem is that they were all pretty terrible. And also, the box office gross has never matched that of the first few.
What about other early adaptations? Were they any good? Well, the short answer is no. The long answer is also no but let’s just run with it shall we?
On the animated front, there was also an awful Final Fantasy film called ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’. Unfortunately, this time, it didn’t make any money, otherwise there might have been another twenty. The main problem was that the film was trying to do a lot – it was made in English (when the original game franchise is Japanese IP), the director was a first timer, it featured a CGI character intended to be an artificial actress (in 2001) and it just cost a lot of money. $130 million more than twenty years ago. That’s a little more than $220 million in today’s terms. A risky bet that didn’t pay off.
With no luck on the animated side, it’s time to look at something even more crazy – the very first live action video game movie. I’m going way back to 1993. That’s right, it’s ‘Super Mario Bros.’ time. This movie was bad. I mean, none of them have been good so far but at least Pokémon was for children. ‘Super Mario Bros.’ was for nobody. It cost $40 million and made $20 million. The critics hated it, with Ebert and Siskel putting it on their list of worst movies of the year. Hell, even Bob Haskins, who played Mario, didn’t like it, calling it “the worst thing [he] ever did.”
He can afford to say that because he gave up on the video game film early. If only he’d known what was yet to come.
Part two: Really bad video game adaptations
Heading into the mid-to-late-2000s, with ‘Super Mario Bros.’ far away in the rear-view mirror, common consensus was that the technology had not been up to the standard needed to make these adaptations. This is especially true from a live-action perspective. But no longer. With vastly improved resources, a larger gaming base and big actors showing interest (I mean, Angelina Jolie played Lara Croft), things were going to change. Right? Right? Not exactly.
Things did change, just not for the better.
I don’t want to spend this entire piece just talking about bad adaptations, so I’ll let the chart do most of the talking and focus on a single big one – the 2010 ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’. Just a quick note, I’m not cherry picking. In fact, ‘Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time’ was not absolutely terrible. I mean, it does have a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score above 50%. On Metacritic, its even better, with a critic’s core of 50. I promise, this is not horrific (I mean just look at the chart – it’s the highest rated one in ten years) for the space. But the reason I want to look at it in depth is because the movie represented Hollywood’s ambitions and it failed to deliver.
There are three major problems with the film. Firstly, the budget was absurd (this is sort of a theme with these adaptations). The Hollywood Reporter had mentioned an estimated budget of $150 million-$200 million, which would make it one the most expensive movies ever made at the time. Then there were ambitions, which I mentioned. Aspirations of making another ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, which was both well received and made money. Not to mention the multiple sequels. And finally, there’s the important part of not caring about the games. The film doesn’t really use the game’s story as such, crafting one of its own.
All of this meant that despite being both the highest grossing, over $300 million, and most well-rated live-action video game adaptation in a while, it failed and crushed Disney’s hopes with it.
Part three: Really good video game adaptations
All was (fortunately) not lost. Starting in 2016, ‘Warcraft’, ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ and ‘Rampage’ all made more than $200 million at the box office. Then, in 2019, things went one step further, with ‘Detective Pickachu’ crossing a new threshold – it became the first live-action English video game film to be rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It also made money, more than $400 million at the box office, an unexpected success. ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’, which came out the next year, continued this trend, with a fresh rating and $320 million for itself.
So, now it was possible to make a passable film and earn enough money to justify the cost. Actors were back in a big way and studios were looking for IP. With all this groundwork out of the way, it was finally time to make great content.
I’m not going to jump straight to ‘The Last of Us’ from here, mainly because before great content came to live action, it first appeared on animation. ‘Castlevania’, TV series that premiered on Netflix, was definitely the first to be truly well received but it was ‘Arcane: League of Legends’ that really changed the game.
I mean, it’s ‘League of Legends’, it doesn't make any sense. The game is primarily a combat game, with players occupying their half of a map, defending it and trying to take territory from the opponent. They control champion, characters within the game that have special abilities. Its not exactly known for its riveting story. And yet, somehow, the show was stunning. On the numbers front, it was Netflix’s number one show in more than fifty countries within a week of its launch. Critics loved it. The audience loved it. Fans of game were pleasantly surprised at the level of depth it offered. Awards shows handed out whatever they could. Personally, I think it was incredible and its (probably) not that controversial to say, but I liked it more than ‘The Last of Us’.
What went right this time? I think it’s the same three things done right. Firstly, the budgets were still very high, with a reported cost of $8 million-$10 million per episode. On the other hand, the visuals were top quality, so, money well spent. That the designs were made by a small studio under the supervision of Riot Games, the company which made the game itself, also has to do with this. Then, the aspirations were not showcased upfront. In fact, a second season was only announced after the end of the first one unlike in the ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ story. Finally, the show relied heavily upon the source material. There wasn’t a lot to pull from with regard to the game itself but, the show took from the lore of the game and spent time building up the back story of well-known champions in the game. It is compelling stuff, and it works for both fans and first timers.
This brings us back to ‘The Last of Us’, a major hit for HBO. It also followed the formula above – high budgets, limited initial aspirations and faithful to the game. Accessible to both fans and outsiders. Well made. Game changing. Trend setting.
Part four: Where do we go now?
The good news is that making a great adaptation is no longer impossible. It can be done and the formula for it is relatively straightforward. And other players are ready to step up with Amazon making a ‘Fallout’ adaptation.
On the other hand, misses are still likely, especially when the original creators are not involved in some way or if the story of the game is ignored. For now, I’m happy to re-watch ‘The Last of Us’ and wait for more of the same.