Video Game Movies are the new MCU

[clearspira]

Clearspira, is someone holding a gun to your head and forcing you to watch the movie for tween girls that you aren't interested in?

Nah. I just enjoy complaining about shows that i'll never watch.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

While comic book movies edge on dramatic success. Sonic made it as a standard kids cartoon movie.

Failed video game movies usually just have very obvious production efforts for superficial features, like cgi quality or acting/directing/screenplay. Not too unsimilar from 3d cartoon movies popping up after the success of toy story that don’t have greatest direction or charm.

[hammerofglass]

If we're ragging on Disney shows we're never going to watch here can we talk about live-action Moana? The original just came out, who could this possibly be for?

[stryke]

If we're ragging on Disney shows we're never going to watch here can we talk about live-action Moana? The original just came out, who could this possibly be for?

The Rock after what happened with Black Adam is my main assumption. Well that and Disney's money men and women who are attempting yet another shameless cashgrab.

[Lazerlike42]

Three overall successful films does not a new Cinematic Juggernaut Make.

Once we've had 3 more films, based on Video Games, that have been released to both critical and financial success THEN I'll agree that it's the next big thing. Please keep in mind that the two Sonic the Hedgehog films were financially successful but weren't critical darlings. The first film sits at 64% with critics which isn't that impressive as it's only 4 points higher then The Secret Life of Pets 2 while the Mario film is at 57% by critics. And in terms of both films being hits at the Box Office, the Live-Action Disney films were major box office hits for close to a decade and are still ongoing and still making the studio bank.

Why am I bringing this up when I'm usually the more optimistic of the lot? Simple, don't count your chickens before they hatch.

It's popular to hate on the MCU right now because it hasn't been doing as well as it use to. Ignoring the fact that most of the films and shows are critically and commercially successful. Of the 8 Multiverse Saga films released in the last few years none have bombed at the box office and so far all their shows have managed to do well in the ratings.

Back in 2009 Star Trek made a big comeback thanks to Star Trek (2009) with the series becoming a huge hit with reruns, talks about new shows and movies but soon after Wrath of Khan aka Into Darkness that seemed to change with most of the major projects getting critically mixed reception at best. And it was said, time and again, that Trek we knew was gone and wouldn't be as good as it was.

Today?

Picard's Third Season is a massive hit with many people annoyed that there will not be a season 4, Strange New Worlds is loved by both the fans and critics with many existed for what comes next and Lower Decks is likewise a huge hit with many looking forward to it's upcoming season. Even Prodigy, which I thought wasn't going to do that well, is well liked and is getting a second season.

This has been going on for almost 4 years now and it will no doubt swing in the other direction at some point which IS my point, there is no such thing as a perfect franchise and announcing something that has done well but not great and still has many issues (follow-up to follow right after this) doesn't mean you have a new golden goose.

Case in point, in 2016 Disney released the Live-Action Remake of The Jungle Book which was met with critics and fans singing the praises of the movie and how the Disney Live-Action Remakes were about to turn around in quality and that we'd get films that were not only as good as the original movies but even better.

Today?

No one talks about the Disney's Remake of the Jungle Book and when you do mos think you're talking about the one made back in 1994 which is more notable for it's nightmare fueled Third Act that is so terrifying most quote king Aurthor during his quest for the Holy Grail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Unxp5sCmM4

And no, the remakes did NOT turn around and start surpassing the originals they were, as they've almost always been, average films that entertain for a bit and are soon forgotten.

And that's my opinion on the Sonic movies and the current Super Mario movie, they're fun films but I don't think they're great and don't find them memorable and I don't see them as the Next Big Thing.

Video Game TV Shows, on the other hand?

I think the modern reality is that being a critical success doesn't really matter: it's the money that matters. Now that's always been true, but it used to be that at least generally there was a correlation between commercial success and critical acclaim. This is no more a given. Sure, you get films that are successful in both ways, but you also get a heck of films (and series) now which are critically panned but rake in the money because for whatever reason, this gulf has developed where critics just can't understand - or maybe they just choose not to? - the public's tastes.

Yes, the Super Mario film has gotten some pretty mixed - even poor - reviews, but that's kindof the point: what critics think doesn't correlate to the a film does financially anymore and it doesn't really matter what critics say when the film is making so much money.

[TGLS]

Yes, the Super Mario film has gotten some pretty mixed - even poor - reviews, but that's kindof the point: what critics think doesn't correlate to the a film does financially anymore and it doesn't really matter what critics say when the film is making so much money.

I dunno; if even NintendoLife gives it a 6/10 I'm given a bit of pause here.

[Lazerlike42]

Yes, the Super Mario film has gotten some pretty mixed - even poor - reviews, but that's kindof the point: what critics think doesn't correlate to the a film does financially anymore and it doesn't really matter what critics say when the film is making so much money.

I dunno; if even NintendoLife gives it a 6/10 I'm given a bit of pause here.

I'm going to approach this from two angles.

First, let's say the film is objectively terrible. It's still had a record breaking opening. It's still made all that money. The studio is still going to be incredibly happy with the return on investment and greenlight more films like this in the future, regardless of what NintendoLife or any other critic says.

This is the point: it's about the money, not the art. One might find fault with this film or Top Gun or Hogwarts Legacy or any other successful film or product for some artistic or some other element of "quality" - but the bottom line is that these all made tons of money and so they're successful. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of examples of things that people considered artistically great but which just didn't make the money they needed to and so that was the end of it.

The second angle is to say that I have seen the film and I think it's pretty good. Is it the highest quality film you've ever seen? No, but it's certainly not bad. It's certainly worth seeing. It's certainly entertaining. I hear people say "it isn't groundbreaking or anything, but it's fun," but I think it may be groundbreaking in one way: it manages to do something I honestly thought was not possible in that it is a fully fledged film with a developing plot and dialog and character development and all of the stuff a movie needs BUT it somehow also feels like it is a near perfect representation of a largely plotless game world. It feels like I'm watching someone playing any of the games, from the original NES Super Mario Bros. to the more modern ones on the Wii U or Switch, but it also feels like a real movie that engages me in the same way a film is supposed to. It's really quite the achievement.

[Frustration]

The people who go to 'event' films even if they're heard it's terrible are just reinforcing the studios' willingness to release bad films.

[hammerofglass]

The people who go to 'event' films even if they're heard it's terrible are just reinforcing the studios' willingness to release bad films.

"Event" films with big spectacles are usually the only ones where there's enough of a quality difference to justify the extra expense of seeing it in a theater.

[Frustration]

There are good 'spectacle' movies! And there are terrible ones.