Best Movies Adapted from Popular Video Games

Video games have been entertaining and bringing home the big bucks since the late 1980s. Fans love their games and will support them in about any form, which is why the movie industry has been kicking out their own renditions since the early 90's. With several big name games titles looking to appear in 2018-2020, it's only right to showcase the ones who got it right and paved the way for big screen adaptations of popular video games. So, get out of that gaming chair and check out these movies if you haven't seen them yet.

Mortal Kombat

Poor digital effects and bad costumes aside, Mortal Kombat was a game changer. Prior to its release in 1995, several video games like Double Dragon and Mario Brothers had failed miserably. With an approximate budget of 20 million, director Paul W.S. Anderson stayed true to the overall concept of the game. Fans enjoyed seeing the unique characters from the game on the live screen battling it with action-filled scenes and cheap shots to get a win. Mortal Kombat was even nominated for the best film of 1995 at the Catalonian International Film Festival and took home over a 122 million at the box-office worldwide.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Riding off the success of Mortal Kombat and two Pokemon movies, Tomb Raider hit the big screen in July of 2001 with Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. Despite a handful of flaws surrounding the overall film, Jolie was a perfect casting decision that led this flick to bringing in over 300 million worldwide. In the video game, Lara Croft is sexy, strong, and smart. Angelina Jolie took each of these character traits and converted them to the big screen with complete success. Then, in 2018 the franchise had a reboot with Alicia Vikander taking up the lead role of Lara Croft.

Resident Evil Series

While no one movie ever hit it huge, this series has a loyal fan base that can't get enough of the Milla Jovovich and the humorous blood and gore action. Since the first installment in 2002 to the most recent release titled The Final Chapter , the Resident Evil franchise has brought in over 1.2 billion dollars worldwide. Americans may snuff this entertaining series, but the rest of the world keeps spending money to enjoy it. Paul W.S. Anderson has the gift for writing gore, action and humor into a nice and complete package.

Max Payne

With shoot-'em-up movies flooding the big screen at the time, Max Payne only generated average numbers in the box-office. Since its release in 2008 however, the movie has been gaining a steady cult classic following. Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis make a good duo bringing plenty of action and decent acting to the table.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Based on the 2003 reboot of the original game released in 1989, Prince of Persia was tells a good story while keeping the audience entertained. Released in 2010, the movie received a wide mix of reviews. Despite what the critics had to say, fans still supported the film by spending over 350 million at the box office. Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Ben Kingsley overcome some fluffy writing parts to make this adaptation one of the best video game to movie films made to date.

Assassins Creed

Directed by Justin Kurzel, Assassins Creed released in 2016, and to date has accumulated over 230 million worldwide just from the box-office. With improved writing compared to other flop game to movie flicks, Michael Lesslie and Adam Cooper produce a well written story that entertains and looks good on the big screen. Michael Fassbender navigates the script well as Callum, bringing together scenes that could have been deal breakers. Filled with hard hitting action scenes and a well written story arc, Assassins Creed has proved that video games can become great movies.