Video Game Adaptation Favourites of all Time

Ahead of the cinema release of video game adaptation Uncharted this week in the UK, new data has found the best video game movie, revealing Pokémon’s ‘Detective Pikachu’ to be a favourite across the globe.  

• Pokémon’s ‘Detective Pikachu’ scored the best video game adaptation with scores 53/100 on Metacritic and 68% via Rotten Tomatoes  
• Second is ‘Rampage’ seeing a box office of £350 million, Critic scores of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and an IMDB rating of 6.1/10 
• ‘Warcraft’ in third, this video game movie was the highest earner at the box office with £376 million 

Gaming experts SolitaireBliss, analysed 34 video games made into movies looking at both critic and viewer ratings and box office income adjusted for inflation to find the most popular video game movie.  

First is ‘Detective Pikachu’ from the Pokémon franchise. Released in 2019, the adventure game could be played on Nintendo, where players accompany Pikachu to solve mysteries. Starring Ryan Reynolds in the movie, the film took in £348 million at the box office, making it the third highest-earning video game movie adaptation. The film received a Metacritic score of 53/100, and the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of all films in the list, at 68%. 

‘Rampage’ is the second highest in the list, after placing second at the box office with £350 million. The video game was first created in 1986, made originally as an arcade game, and players control three monsters with aims to survive against the military. The movie claimed Hollywood stars Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris to play the lead roles. 

The Third most successful movie based on a game is ‘Warcraft’. Starring Paula Patton and Dominic Cooper, the film scored 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and 32/100 on Metacritic, but ranked highly after being the highest earner at box office with £376 million. Warcraft is built up around five core games in the franchise, where opposing players order virtual armies to battle against each other. 

The action-adventure game adaptation with Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley, ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’, ranked fourth in the listing with an average score of 51 in the viewer and critic score, the movie made more than £317 million at box office when it was released in 2010.

Released in February 2020, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ takes fifth place in the ranking. The movie featuring Jim Carrey received an IMDB score of 6.5/10 and 63% via Rotten Tomatoes. The series follows Sonic battling a mad scientist.  

Sixth most popular is ‘Tomb Raider’ released in 2018, the film took in almost £225 million at the box office. ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’, the first instalment of this series of movies in 2001, placed eighth in the list. The game ‘Tomb Raider’ is an action-adventure which follows Lara Croft travelling the globe for lost artefacts, involving puzzle solving and fighting enemies.  

The Resident Evil series with Kaya Scodelario placed twice in the top ten with ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ ranking seventh in the list, and ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ in ninth. The Franchise is a survival horror series which includes zombies and puzzle solving.  

Tenth in the list is the fighting, action-adventure game adaptation ‘Mortal Kombat’, the video game movie received a Metacritic score of 60/100 and IMDB rating of 6.1/10.  

Commenting on their findings, a spokesperson from SolitaireBliss said, “With the release of the new video game movie adaptation, Uncharted, it’s fascinating to see how viewers and professional critics score the movies based on games, and comparing that with how each film performed at the box office. Movies based on video games have the advantage of a set of fans already familiar with the brand, and likely keen to see it. However, it can be a double-edged sword as those same fans are likely to have strong opinions and high expectations. This data shows that plenty of video game films have made good money, but many have struggled to impress fans and critics.”   

This study was conducted by SolitaireBliss, which provides an online gaming service allowing users to play a wide array of card games and challenges.

Further information can be found at SolitaireBliss, who commissioned the data.