The 10 best movie adaptations of video games

Movie adaptations have always been something to be anticipated. It breathes life into the characters you love and the stories you are infatuated with via a new medium. For us gamers, it is nice to not be in control for once and let the stories take us where it will. But which are the best video game movies?

If you are looking for a timeout from gaming, what other ways to spend your time than watching movie adaptations of video games? Here's a list of the best movies that will bring you along for a familiar ride with the same excitement as playing video games.

Angry Birds was a phenomenon during the bloom of smartphone gaming. In 2012, it became the first mobile game to reach one billion downloads. The success of the simple yet captivating game led to the production of two animated movies.

The first Angry Birds movie finally reveals why the birds hate the green pigs in the first place. The movie brings in characters we love from the game such as the iconic red, angry bird, the fast, yellow canary, and the explosive, black bird. When the slingshot made its appearance in the movie, you could hear all the fans geeking out.

Three years later, the sequel was released. Though Angry Birds 2 deviated from the main plot of the game with the bird-pig alliance, the movie was a better hit and received a higher score on Rotten Tomatoes.

There is a werewolf here and it is among you. That's the whole premise of Werewolves Within, a multiplayer, social-deduction game released in 2016. What a great game to induce paranoia and sharpen your deduction skills. That's why it makes a good horror movie.

The movie adaptation of the same name was later released in 2021. The mystery comedy horror brings together a group of people trapped in together by a blizzard. Suspicious things started to happen which caused the group of people to distrust one another and start killing each other to save themselves. The movie brings us for a ride as we try to guess who is the werewolf among them.

This is probably the most awaited movie adaptation of a video game in 2023. The movie brings to life the iconic Italian plumber, Mario, and other characters we love from the game franchise. The movie has an audience score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. It has also grossed 1.36 billion USD at the box office worldwide.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie tells the story of how Mario and Luigi were transported into the Mushroom Kingdom, where they have to defeat the powerful Bowser. We get to see them in action, along with the not-so-damsel-in-distress, Princess Peach.

The game is a classic survival, shooter game with players having to survive frightening creatures and zombies. Since 1996, there have been around 30 games created revolving around Resident Evil's world.

A good zombie game always makes a good zombie movie. At least, that's what we can see with six live-action films produced based on the Resident Evil game franchise. The movie series follows Alice, an original character created for the films and we can see cameos from the game throughout the films.

Although the movie has mixed reviews, the series itself has grossed over $1.2 billion USD and remains one of the most successful movie adaptations of video games.

The world of Warcraft is deep with complicated lores intertwined with fantasy and tangled relationships between the races of the world. There are five core Warcraft games and each game has the common goals of winning battles and destroying enemies.

The first adaptation of Warcraft tells the story of the beginnings of Orc's arrival in Azeroth, The movie depicts the classic clash between the orcs and humans, led by the iconic characters Durotan of the Frostwolf and Anduin Lothar of Stormwind.

Editor's note: Also, it has a Murloc in it. Where's the Oscar nomination?

Silent Hill is another horror game franchise that turns into a horror movie. The first game of the series follows the main character, Harry Mason as he searches for his missing adopted daughter in the town of Silent Hill. Later in the game, the truth about the origin of the daughter is slowly revealed and leads to multiple game endings depending on the player's decision.

In the movie, the early story follows the same plot where the parents are trying to find their missing daughter and stumble upon the truth about her origins. However, the characters and story are entirely different although there are familiar demons making appearances in the movie.

Sonic suffers an early debut with a horrifying character design that later forces him to go back behind the curtains and go through an intense makeover. The decision to rework his character proves to be the right choice as the movie becomes a huge hit with generally positive reviews.

The movie itself brings the legendary hedgehog on a journey to defeat his life-long enemy, Dr. Robotnik. The sequel came two years later and brought two more beloved characters from the Sonic world, Knuckles and Tails.

The action-adventure film is an adaptation of Unchartered, the game that follows a group of treasure hunters on their journey to uncover historical mysteries. The game is one of the most successful PlayStation games of its time with positive reviews on the plots, characters, gameplay, and graphics.

The movie itself takes inspiration from the plot of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In the film, Nathan Drake is recruited by Sullivan to locate the fabled treasure of the Magellan expedition. The movie stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan.

The fighting video game franchise is one of the best-selling fighting game franchises worldwide. Each one-on-one combat is fueled with personal rage as they are accompanied by detailed lore and conflicts among the characters of the world.

The movie follows Cole Young, an original character created for the film. To defend the Earthrealm against the Outworld, he had to seek out a clique of fighters while discovering his origin along the way.

The mystery fantasy comedy movie is loosely based on the popular Japanese media franchise Pokémon. It brings to life the adorable, chubby Pikachu set up in Ryme City where humans and Pokémon live together in harmony and Pokémon battles are illegal. Throughout the movie, there are also cameos of your favorite Pokémons as Pikachu tries to solve the mystery of his disappearing police partner.

Now you know what movies to watch for an awesome weekend! Just do us all a favor: Remember to put down the controller. After all, you aren't playing the movies.

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