The Best Video Game Movies Ever Made

For whatever reason, movie adaptations of games almost always land as box office poison or get panned by critics, moviegoers, and the game’s original fans alike.

One doesn’t have to look much further than the absolutely atrocious reception to Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Assassin’s Creed, Bloodrayne, Hitman, or Street Fighter, to see evidence of the game success to movie failure pipeline.

In a genre rife with failures, there has been the occasional commercially and critically successful movie adaption of well-known games now and again. We thought we’d revisit some of the most enjoyable video game movie adaptations to grace theater screens.

1. Tomb Raider (2018)

2018’s Tomb Raider isn’t the first adaptation based on the Tomb Raider games. Previously, there had been two installments starring Angelina Jolie as the eponymous grave-robbing protagonist, Lara Croft, less than warmly received by fans and critics.

In this later 2018 adaptation, the filmmakers sought inspiration from the more recent entries in the Tomb Raider franchise, including the more realistic, critically acclaimed 2013 Tomb Raider and some elements from its sequel, 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Lara Croft’s (Alicia Vikander) adventurous father (Dominic West) mysteriously goes missing. In an attempt to find him, Lara travels to a strange, uncharted island where he was last seen, leading her to face booby traps, hostile environments, and treacherous secret organizations.

A minor success at the box office, Tomb Raider received mostly positive reviews, with particular praise for its action sequences, grittiness, and ability to capture the more grounded tone of the modern Tomb Raider games.

The response to Vikander’s Croft was divided, but no matter what, the 2018 Tomb Raider is easily seen as far superior to earlier film adaptations, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life.

2. Silent Hill (2006)

People associate Silent Hill with video game horror, along with Resident Evil. What sets Silent Hill apart from other horror games, however, is its unusual, innovative approach to survival-based video games.

Unlike other contemporary horror games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill frames its stories from the perspective of an average person. Not only that, but the game also avoided using cliched story elements that other horror games drew upon, was less action-heavy, and focused more on psychological horror. Seeking to emulate that tone in a film, 2006’s Silent Hill retains a basic premise and plot line similar to the 1999 video game. Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) is a young girl who suffers from bouts of sleepwalking and night terrors that end with her screaming the words “Silent Hill.”

Trying to find a solution, Sharon’s mother, Rose (Radha Mitchell), decides to take her to the West Virginian town of Silent Hill.

After they suffer a car accident while en route, Rose wakes up to find Sharon missing and must venture into the fog-shrouded, seemingly abandoned town of Silent Hill to find her. Silent Hill may have been a bit too ambitious for its good. Visually, it’s an impressive movie (something many critics agreed upon). Still, it suffered from a somewhat confusing storyline, overly long runtime, and too large a focus on weighty subjects like religious fanaticism.

3. Monster Hunter (2020)

Director Paul W.S. Anderson sure likes to make movies based on popular video game series.

In 1995, he first adapted the classic fighting arcade game, 1995’s Mortal Kombat. In 2002, he established himself as the main creative voice behind the first six Resident Evil films starring his wife, Milla Jovovich. All of these movies, however, suffered a middling to negative critical reception among viewers.

By 2020, Anderson — never deterred by negative reviews — set out to craft another movie based on a hit video game franchise, this time modeled tackling the long-running Capcom series, Monster Hunter. Jovovich stars as U.S. Army Ranger Captain Natalie Artemis, who finds herself transported to a strange new world populated by humans living side-by-side with large, man-eating monsters.

Like most of Anderson’s previous movies, Monster Hunter earned a mixed response from viewers. However, particular praise was directed towards the film’s action scenes and impressive visual effects, for which it even earned a nomination at the 19th Visual Effects Society Awards.

It may not be a great movie, but it’s among Anderson’s best and is a satisfying enough film based on a unique video game.

4. Rampage (2018)

Compared to the other movies on this list, 2018’s Rampage wasn’t based on a universally well-known video game.

Instead, it took inspiration from a fairly obscure, outdated game series that originated in the 1980s. It focuses on human players turned into rampaging giant monsters through genetic experiments conducted by the aptly named Scumlabs. In a loose adaptation of the game series, Dwayne Johnson stars as Davis Okoye, a skilled primatologist working at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary who forms a close relationship with a rare albino gorilla named George.

When he comes in contact with a dangerous, experimental chemical, George begins showing more aggressive behavior and growing progressively larger. When a highly secretive government organization attempts to capture George, he escapes, wreaking havoc across the U.S. with two other creatures — a crocodile and a wolf — who have grown similarly to kaiju-sized proportions.

Rampage may not be the most faithful adaptation of a video game, but it’s still an enjoyable movie that earned praise for its performances (especially for Johnson and his costar, Jeffrey Dean Morgan), action, and impressive visual effects.

5. Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

Sonic the Hedgehog, a project that had been in development since the early 1990s, kept fans in anticipation. The first entry in a planned film series, Sonic the Hedgehog follows the titular supersonic speedster (voiced by Ben Schwartz) as he joins forces with a local sheriff (James Marsden) to stop the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) from taking over the world.

The production of Sonic may have had its ups and downs — the initial reaction to Sonic’s physical design was so overwhelmingly negative that the movie’s producers delayed release and worked on redesigning him — but the finished result was one that ultimately lived up to and even surpassed most fans’ expectations.

Much of the movie’s positive critical response highlighted the action, design, humorous tone, and performances of Schwartz, Marsden, and Carrey (many critics saw it as a return to form for Carrey and one of his best roles in recent years).

It would earn nominations from several award ceremonies, including the People’s Choice Award for Family Movie of the Year and the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film Release.

6. Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)

A movie similar to Sonic the Hedgehog in terms of fan anticipation, Pokémon Detective Pikachu had a lot to live up to, especially due to American gamers’ mostly poor responses to the original animated Pokémon films.

In this loose adaptation of 2016’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu game, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is an insurance agent and former Pokémon trainer whose police detective father (Ryan Reynolds) goes missing.

To solve the mystery of where he is now, Tim teams up with world-class detective Pikachu (also Reynolds) and several other fan-favorite Pokémon creatures to find out what happened. Pokémon Detective Pikachu may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but most critics agreed that fans of the Pokémon would perhaps be the most appreciative of this film.

7. Mortal Kombat (2021)

The third Mortal Kombat adaptation, Midway’s most recent film version of the famous fighting game franchise, manages to avoid many of the pitfalls that plagued the original films. It utilizes a more fleshed-out story, better visuals, and more than a few homages and clever references to the original game series.

Cole Young (Lewis Tan) is being hunted down by a mysterious, skilled assassin named Sub-Zero, who can manipulate ice. Looking for answers, Cole joins a group of like-minded warriors, mercenaries, and top-notch assassins chosen to defend Earth from a hostile, alternate realm of existence known as Outworld.

The Mortal Kombat franchise has a rich, detailed universe inhabited by numerous unique characters, each with complex backstories. Adapting such a large series for the film did not come easy — as shown by the icy reception to the earlier, negatively reviewed Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Still, the 2021 Mortal Kombat does surprisingly well translating the universe onto film.

The first in a planned cinematic franchise, Mortal Kombat may have earned somewhat mixed responses from critics but was enthusiastically approved by fans of the classic gaming franchise.

8. The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)

Although not the most well-known video game movie, The Angry Birds Movie 2 is actually a hilarious, underrated entry on this list and a vast improvement on its earlier, less-than-stellar predecessor.

Set three years after the events of the first movie, the residents of Bird Island (led by Red, played by Jason Sudeikis) are still engaged in a lengthy prank war with neighboring Pig Island and their leader, King Leonard Mudbeard (Bill Hader). However, the two groups put their rivalry on hold when the nearby residents of Eagle Island attempt to invade both islands, forcing the Pigs and the Birds to work together to defend their land.

The movie’s premise may deviate from the mobile game it’s based upon — in the handheld Angry Birds series, the Birds and Pigs never team up — but such creative liberties ensured the movie would be new and exciting to all viewers, providing plenty of welcome surprises as a result.

Far better received than the first Angry Birds movie, Angry Birds Movie 2 boasts a fantastic ensemble cast of wonderful vocal talents, including Sudeikis, Hader, Leslie Jones, Josh Gad, Rachel Bloom, Awkwafina, Sterling K. Brown, Eugenio Derbez, Danny McBride, Tiffany Haddish, and Peter Dinklage.

9. Werewolves Within (2021)

Another film based on an obscure game, Werewolves Within, was released in 2016 as a light-hearted multiplayer VR mystery game in which players tried to find out who among them was secretly a werewolf.

The 2021 indie horror-comedy of the same name abandoned the medieval fantasy setting and moved it to a small town in contemporary Vermont. Werewolves Within follows a group of people trapped inside together during a snowstorm.

As the storm worsens, the group gradually begins to suspect that someone hiding amongst them is actually a werewolf. Horror comedies can be a tricky genre, but Werewolves Within more than manages to balance some side-splittingly comedic scenes with plenty of genuine scares.