By Steven Hartman · December 16, 2024
At one point in the 1990s, turning a video game into a movie seemed like an easy cash grab for studios wanting to reach the coveted teenage/young adult male audience. However, Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Street Fighter (1994) were met with critical disappointment and lackluster box office. As comic book movies gained a massive audience and even picked up a few Academy Award wins and nominations, it became apparent that video games could follow a similar route.
If you want to make a movie or TV pilot with a video game vibe, check out these 10 screenplays.
Screenplay by: Parker Bennet & Terry Runte and Ed Solomon
Decades before the mega-hit animated film, Super Mario Bros. had a live-action version starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi. At a time when The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Batman (1989) were the leading comic book heroes doing well at the box office, the studios found enough interest in turning Nintendo’s blockbuster game into a movie.
It’s actually not as different on the outside as the animated film as both follow two down-on-their-luck yet optimistic plumbers who find themselves in an alternate universe. However, the 1993 version is about the Mario Brothers trying to prevent the evil King Koopa from trying to take over the world.
Download the script!Read More: Game Over: The Worst Video Game Movies Ever
Screenplay by: Patrick Massett & John Zinman
One of the most anticipated action video game adaptations at the time was 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. This movie was pure 2001 as action films reigned supreme in the summertime with big Hollywood stars taking the lead. Angelina Jolie was one of the most sought-after actresses at the time, and her decision to play the popular video game character was a sign that the entertainment industry believed in the power of these adaptations.
The film follows Lara Croft, who, just like Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), is an archaeologist who finds herself in the midst of a treasure hunt searching for two pieces of ancient artifacts known to control time. Of course, she must recover the treasure before the villains of the film get to it first.
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Screenplay by: Roger Avary
Silent Hill is a film based on a survival horror game where the players find themselves in the haunted town of Silent Hill. In the video game, the protagonist is an “everyman” who comes across the town’s cult and must learn the origins of someone close to them (like a daughter, wife, or even themselves).
The film is similar in that Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell) ends up in Silent Hill because it’s a place her sick daughter keeps referencing and she feels there is something there that can help her. However, when she arrives near the town, she gets into an accident and wakes up to discover her daughter is missing.
As Rose searches through the town for her daughter, she finds that there is something wicked in this seemingly abandoned town and they don’t really like her snooping around.
Download the script!Read More: Horror Redux: The Most Terrifying Horror Movie Remakes Ever
Screenplay by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Resident Evil was a popular video game dating back to the mid-1990s. In 2002, it was adapted with Milla Jovovich as the start tasked with shooting zombies and trying to survive. The first film was so successful that this franchise has spanned multiple games and movie sequels. Resident Evil: Extinction was the third film (there have been six movies total), and follows heroine Alice (Jovovich) as she travels through the Nevada desert to bring down an evil corporation operating a genetics lab.
If you’re looking to write a zombie apocalypse script or want to see how blockbuster action sci-fi films are written, check out this screenplay.
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Screenplay by: Greg Russo and Dave Callaham
When Mortal Kombat hit the arcades and video game systems in the 1990s, it was only a matter of time before its cultural impact would bleed into the movie industry. The first film was a moderate success at the time and even spawned a few sequels.
It would be nearly 20 years before Mortal Kombat tried to entice a new generation of gamers. It’s not easy to take a game in which two players fight to the death with no major story and turn it into a feature-length narrative, but Mortal Kombat accomplishes this by taking some of the “hero” characters and putting them into a competition that involves saving the universe from a group of heels.
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Show Creators: Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin
The Last of Us was originally released in 2013 as an action-adventure game about a man who lost his daughter after a mutant fungus outbreak infects most of the world. Navigating through a post-apocalyptic landscape, Joel takes care of a teenage girl, Ellie with immunity who might be able to save mankind.
The TV series follows this concept pretty closely with several parts of the video game directly inspiring the episodes. Joel (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with taking Ellie (Bella Ramsey), humanity’s last hope, through quarantine areas with questionable people and getting her to a haven.
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Show Creators: Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Fallout is about a post-nuclear Los Angeles where survivors live in underground bunkers. When a group of bandits violently raids one of the shelters, Lucy (Ella Purnell) flees into an unforgiving wasteland filled with radiation, mutated monsters, and a lawless society of those who remain on the surface.
The Emmy-nominated TV show is based on a series of popular role-playing video games that have included locations, such as Southern California, Boston, and Washington D.C., after a nuclear war.
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Screenplay by: Pat Casey and Josh Miller
The video game version followed a blue hedgehog speeding through worlds collecting as many rings as possible before facing a series of enemies at the end of the level.
There really wasn’t much to the story of the video game, which meant the filmmakers of the successful franchise had plenty of room to develop Sonic and those he encounters on Earth.
The fun, family film became the third highest-grossing movie of 2020, which immediately set off the need for a sequel (and eventual third movie). The movie follows Sonic as he befriends a local police officer who helps him reclaim the rings he lost. Amid their shenanigans, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), the video game’s supervillain, chases after them in hopes of capturing Sonic and his technologically advanced rings.
Screenplay by: Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Another video game-turned-movie with a Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) vibe is Uncharted (2022). The movie follows Nathan (Tom Holland) as he’s recruited by a treasure hunter to help track down Magellan’s fortune. While Sully (Mark Wahlberg) is far from the most trusted ally, the two work with each other to discover clues, elude bad guys, and find the hidden treasure. The video game series is filled with treasure hunting adventures making it ideal for expanding into the cinematic universe.
This action film was a test of Holland’s appeal beyond Spider-Man and kept the character close to the web-slinging superhero’s personality complete with naïveté and gravity-defying stunts.
Show Creators: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Michael Jonathan Smith
The video game Twisted Metal centers around a demolition derby-type match-up where players choose their vehicles and try to be the last remaining survivors in an all-out battle with guns, mines, and other weapons.
In the TV series, the character of John Doe (Anthony Mackie) must deliver a mysterious package through a wasteland meeting a series of characters he must either befriend or defeat along the way. The show creators had to build a concept and story around a game without a major narrative.
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Just like comic book movies, the development of video games into movies and TV shows has proven to be mostly successful and is a good way for screenwriters to study the art of world-building, character development, and how to adapt material from intellectual property.
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