8 Unforgivable Errors Every Video Game Movie Makes

One of the main issues when adapting a video game is figuring out who to target it towards. Some try too hard to win the approval of the game’s diehard fanbase but that limits their scope and those that aim for mass-market appeal face other problems in the form of diluting what makes the game worth adapting in the first place.

The majority of attempts try to please everyone and end up being a confused mess of ideas like Xavier Gens' misguided attempt to make Agent 47 an action hero in 2007 which was bafflingly followed in 2015 by another adaptation with the exact same problems.

Resident Evil’s movie franchise, which has mercifully just been taken off life support with the ingeniously titled ‘The Final Chapter’, is a good place to look for an example of trying to please everyone but missing the mark entirely. From the very first instalment, the series was confused about what exactly it wanted to be and who it was for. Are they horror films? Action adventures? Are they meant to be serious? These are questions that will never be resolved.

You would think with the amount of money a lot of these adaptations get thrown behind them that they’d be able to do some viewer research.

Solution

The target audience must be considered as carefully, if not more so than the other points raised. Deadpool is an example of a movie that did this right and reaped the critical and financial rewards.

The creators had a vision very much in-line with R-rated nature the character and knew exactly who to target it towards – this focus paid off big time. When the next big-budget video game adaptation comes along here’s hoping that they abandon the scattergun approach and figure out who they’re making it for.