4 Movies That Almost Lifted the Curse of Videogame Adaptations

Filmmakers have been turning their attention to video games for a long time, trying to adapt them to the big screen over and over again over the years, but the results have been consistently mediocre at best.

Fortunately, the so-called "curse of the videogame adaptations" seems to be on the wane, with more and more successful projects popping up here and there.

So let's take a look back at five videogame movies that came extremely close to being great.

Warcraft (2016)

The Warcraft fantasy universe is extremely vast and complicated, which was the main problem in adapting it to the big screen, despite the involvement of the developers.

The movie ended up being an overstuffed mess that confused the average moviegoer and angered fans by changing some important plot points.

The filmmakers shouldn't have started at the very beginning and gone for a simpler story, as the recent Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (which also takes place in a complex fantasy setting) did, proving that there's no need to over-explain everything.

Tomb Raider (2018)

After the games about the legendary Lara Croft were rebooted, the movie adaptation tried to follow the same path, deviating from the 2000s movies starring Angelina Jolie and choosing Alicia Vikander to play the new version of the character.

Unfortunately, the film received fairly mixed reviews, with some calling it "bland" and "uninspired," despite having some great elements, such as a unique take on the final twist of the 2013 video game.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Trying to replicate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney tried to launch a new franchise based on a famous action-adventure video game series, which, honestly, is a perfect material for a movie.

Although it was praised (though not by everyone) for its acting, great action and technical aspects, it was criticized for its weak plot and the fact that it deviated from the original at times.

It was also accused of whitewashing, as Middle Eastern characters were played by white actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton.

Ultimately, the film did not live up to the studio's expectations and underperformed at the box office, grossing $336.4 million against a budget of approximately $200 million.

Uncharted (2022)

Based on Naughty Dog's hugely successful video game series about adventurer Nathan Drake (often referred to as the "male equivalent" of Lara Croft), this film is a unique example of a movie that managed to become a box office success.

Starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, it was a nice mix of the stories from the first and fourth games, along with some interesting action, but was ultimately criticized for failing to capture the spirit of the games and "playing it too safe."

So while the franchise isn't technically dead, it can't be called an overall success, unlike more recent projects like The Last of Us TV series (which is also based on a Naughty Dog game).