8 Fictional Universes that Deserve their Own Movie

[American Tanker]

You put 40K in this list, but not Crimson Skies?

*sigh* Figures.

What, you don't want something similar to Red Tails that's set in an alternate history 1930s?

 

[ExileNZ]

Half Life 2 basically has an unofficial series.

It's called Colony, and while the plot goes in a different direction and the characters all have different names, the overall scenario is City 17 right down to a "T". The visuals are heavily inspired by HL2 and half the sound design is almost ripped directly from the game.

Overbearing, faceless police force? Check.
Walled off city? Check.
Flying drones using retrofitted alien tech? Check.
Oh and of course, "World taken over effortlessly by aliens no one's ever seen, who now run the planet from space with the help of human collaborators"? Check, check and check.

Took me a while to get to like the characters, but the story is solid and I really only started watching it for that City 17 nostalgia.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Starcraft. I want a Starcraft movie, ideally animated. In a perfect world, animated by Blizzard themselves. Their animators have the chops. The recent Overwatch shorts have proven that several times over. Sadly, I doubt it will ever happen, but a man can dream.

Though, Warcraft is getting a live-action movie for some odd reason. Maybe it isn't too much of a stretch with Warcraft's success and the general reaction to the Overwatch shorts that Blizzard finally realizes, "Hey guys, we could have been making LOADS OF MONEY by making film adaptations of our IP's entirely in-house. Maybe we should be doing that now, and rake in the moolah and acclaim."

Seriously Blizzard, the point is a dead horse at this point, but I'll keep beating it. Make some goddamn movies, they will be glorious.

 

[Squilookle]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

A movie is 2-3 hours of passive entertainment while a game is upwards or 6 or more hours of interactive entertainment. Which do you think is more engaging?

 

[Solbasa]

I know Mass Effect does have a movie in the works, with Legendary and Warner Bros. Granted, it's been "in the works" since like 2010 and we know very little about it. But it hasn't been cancelled or anything, so I assume it's still coming at some point in the future. There was also Paragon Lost, released back in 2012, as others have mentioned, as well as a Dragon Age movie, Dawn of the Seeker.

Didn't J. J. Abrams talk about making a Half-Life or Portal movie a few years ago? I remember he was brought up onstage by Gaben at some big event and they were talking about working together on a movie there.

As for Halo, as other people have mentioned there was Forward Unto Dawn, around when Halo 4 came out.

 

[LegoDudeGuy]

Starcraft. I want a Starcraft movie, ideally animated. In a perfect world, animated by Blizzard themselves. Their animators have the chops. The recent Overwatch shorts have proven that several times over. Sadly, I doubt it will ever happen, but a man can dream.

Though, Warcraft is getting a live-action movie for some odd reason. Maybe it isn't too much of a stretch with Warcraft's success and the general reaction to the Overwatch shorts that Blizzard finally realizes, "Hey guys, we could have been making LOADS OF MONEY by making film adaptations of our IP's entirely in-house. Maybe we should be doing that now, and rake in the moolah and acclaim."

Seriously Blizzard, the point is a dead horse at this point, but I'll keep beating it. Make some goddamn movies, they will be glorious.

I have to concur with this, the in house cinematic department they have is absolutely amazing, and I would LOVE to see some sort of TV or Movie project come from them.

Personally, I would like to see a TV series set in the Overwatch or Diablo universes, as they both have so much going on and I think a TV series would play more to there story and lore strengths, plus it would give the team a format to work with that's more familiar to them.

 

[Devieus]

I think it's worth pointing out that two of these universes do have a movie. Mass Effect has Paragon Lost [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Paragon_Lost] and Halo has Forward Unto Dawn [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_4:_Forward_Unto_Dawn].

Don't forget that Dragon Age had a movie called <url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Dawn_of_the_Seeker>Dawn of the Seeker and, according to that one Facebook comment, Warhammer 40,000 had <url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarines:_A_Warhammer_40,000_Movie>Ultramarines...

There's also Damnatus [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatus], a full-length German fan film set in the Warhammer 40K universe.

Spoiler: Image

Ugh, Ultramarines. Just your usual sort of space marine wank-material.

I think a big-budget 40k movie could work, but you would definitely need to find the right person to direct it. Someone who can treat the 40k setting like the silly thing it is. The last thing we need is more ultra-serious space marine war-porn, afterall.

Something more sprawling, adventurey and fun would make for a good movie I think. Something about a rogue trader, or maybe even Ciaphas Cain.

I think the "If the Emperor had a Text-to-speech device" series is well written for this and has something of an actual plot going through it, one that touches on just about everything in the universe. The animation is something to get used to though.

 

[Squilookle]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

A movie is 2-3 hours of passive entertainment while a game is upwards or 6 or more hours of interactive entertainment. Which do you think is more engaging?

I can sit down in front of a movie and know in two hours I will get all the lore, character development, conflict and resolution I need from the story. Half the time a game coming out today will still be spoon-feeding you the tutorial two hours into it. I'm not saying all games are dull, or that all movies are super engaging, but it's different strokes. If someone told me they'd rather just relax on the couch watching a movie rather than start playing a game not even knowing how long it will take to complete, I would completely understand.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

A movie is 2-3 hours of passive entertainment while a game is upwards or 6 or more hours of interactive entertainment. Which do you think is more engaging?

I can sit down in front of a movie and know in two hours I will get all the lore, character development, conflict and resolution I need from the story. Half the time a game coming out today will still be spoon-feeding you the tutorial two hours into it. I'm not saying all games are dull, or that all movies are super engaging, but it's different strokes. If someone told me they'd rather just relax on the couch watching a movie rather than start playing a game not even knowing how long it will take to complete, I would completely understand.

That still doesn't explain why you'd want to take a franchise from an interactive medium to a non-interactive one.

 

[Hawki]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

A movie is 2-3 hours of passive entertainment while a game is upwards or 6 or more hours of interactive entertainment. Which do you think is more engaging?

I can sit down in front of a movie and know in two hours I will get all the lore, character development, conflict and resolution I need from the story. Half the time a game coming out today will still be spoon-feeding you the tutorial two hours into it. I'm not saying all games are dull, or that all movies are super engaging, but it's different strokes. If someone told me they'd rather just relax on the couch watching a movie rather than start playing a game not even knowing how long it will take to complete, I would completely understand.

That still doesn't explain why you'd want to take a franchise from an interactive medium to a non-interactive one.

Few problems with your arguments:

-Quantity doesn't always equal quantity.

-Interaction isn't necessarily superior over non-interaction.

-There's plenty of films based on books, comics, stage plays, etc. Each of those mediums have different properties. Don't see why games are suddenly out of bounds.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Remind me again why we WANT more video game based movies? Do we LIKE complaining about how much they fucked it up?

Because someone is going to get it right someday but if fewer movies come out then the longer it takes.

But why do we WANT them to?

I heard somewhere that back in the 1890s, back when all these inventors were making, flying and getting themselves killed in rudimentary wood-and-canvas gliders, a balloonist of the time said something pretty much just like what you're saying now about the first batch of games-to-movie attempts.

And now we can get a planeload of people to the other side of the world in less than a day.

THAT is why we want to see more. That is always why we want to see more.

On topic, this was a pretty good list, though I'd personally take a Perfect Dark movie before a Halo one anyday. Also Interstate '76 and Crimson Skies on the PC need to be movies like... yesterday.

Making a video game movie is hardly on the same level as flying around the world in simplistic flying machines. Assuming they even succeed, a movie of these universes can't possibly be as engaging as the game, so I repeat why are we do we want this?

It is if you think of it as something currently in it's infancy, with a lot of teething problems, that could one day circle the globe satisfying millions of people..

And what makes you so sure a movie can't possibly be as engaging as a game? You haven't really explained that part.

A movie is 2-3 hours of passive entertainment while a game is upwards or 6 or more hours of interactive entertainment. Which do you think is more engaging?

I can sit down in front of a movie and know in two hours I will get all the lore, character development, conflict and resolution I need from the story. Half the time a game coming out today will still be spoon-feeding you the tutorial two hours into it. I'm not saying all games are dull, or that all movies are super engaging, but it's different strokes. If someone told me they'd rather just relax on the couch watching a movie rather than start playing a game not even knowing how long it will take to complete, I would completely understand.

That still doesn't explain why you'd want to take a franchise from an interactive medium to a non-interactive one.

Few problems with your arguments:

-Quantity doesn't always equal quantity.

-Interaction isn't necessarily superior over non-interaction.

-There's plenty of films based on books, comics, stage plays, etc. Each of those mediums have different properties. Don't see why games are suddenly out of bounds.

a) I'm going to assume you meant "quality" in which case alright I'll give you that one.
b) No, but I would think interaction is more engaging.
c) I'm not saying they are. I'm questioning why we're so eager for them to do it.