For decades now, it seems that movies based off video games have been doomed to obscurity at best, or are commercial and critical flops at worst.
However, as video games and the stories behind them have become increasingly integrated into our culture, the past stigma that seems to have been associated with the idea of a “video game movie” is slowly dissipating. More video game movies than ever are on the horizon – and they seem much more promising than those of yesteryear.
The announcement made by Platige Films, that a movie based on The Witcher, is coming to theaters worldwide in 2017, is a crowning example.
The company responsible for The Mummy (and a personal favorite film, Rat Race) has partnered with Platige Films, who have really proven themselves this year with their involvement in the cinematics of The Witcher series, most notably as of late, “The Trail.”
With The Witcher finally getting a movie, it seems we might be entering a sort of game-movie revolution, a do-over from the old days of universally panned game films. And yes, The Witcher might have started as a hit Polish fantasy series, (and even had a critically panned movie made after it in 2001, six years before the release of the first Witcher game) but the thing that earned it worldwide attention was, without a doubt, the video game series, and when this movie comes to theaters in 2017, chances are the people who are going to see it (myself included), are out there because they loved the games.
But let’s look at the big picture, shall we?
We’ve got the Warcraft movie coming in 2016, along with Assassin’s Creed, and there’s even a Five Nights at Freddy‘s film in the works (and say what you will about the games, it’s a brilliant and terrifying idea for a movie).
And now? We’ve got The Witcher coming in 2017.
Compare these huge-budget titles to some of the game movies of yesteryear, like Resident Evil or, god forbid, the fever dream that was the Super Mario Bros Movie.
It seems clear that, with the growing popularity of the video game industry, combined with an upswing in the kinds of directors and producers willing to take up the mantle of making a legitimately good video game film, that the announcement of a Witcher film is yet another sign that we’ve stepped out of the age of the critically-panned video game film and into the realm of taking the stories and worlds that gamers know and love and translating them into something everyone will find worth watching.
Or at least, let’s hope.
