Adventure Games as Movies?

[Datadog]

I like to listen to TV shows and movies in the background whenever I'm at work and I just finished listening to a YouTube playthrough of "King's Quest VI" today. It's like listening to an audio book and the story still hits me every time. This is probably one of the best romantic fantasy adventures ever made - pretty much right up there with "The Princess Bride."

It took me back to last year when I was showing it to a friend and they were hooked on it for hours, saying things like "This should be a movie." And while listening to the game instead of playing it, I found myself agreeing more than ever.

Thing is, studios are adapting everything these days. TV shows, comic books, video games, boat rides, and now they're just starting on graphic novels and anime. They're digging for untapped resources and I can't help but wonder how long it'll be before someone comes across adventure games. I don't think studios are too hard up for adapting games that don't even sell anymore (and they'd probably ruin them,) but I think if I ever got into that business, I would seriously consider leading the charge myself since there's so many great stories to share.

Anyway, I thought I'd bring up the topic here - what are people's thoughts on turning adventure games into movies?

[MusicallyInspired]

The only one I WANT to see is Fate of Atlantis.

[misslilo]

The only one I WANT to see is Fate of Atlantis.

I guess there's still time for our "old" hero to do that one

[Datadog]

They're making a fifth movie, so we can keep crossing our fingers that Indy will eventually fire himself out of a torpedo tube.

Ironically, that's the other game I showed my friend and she kept saying that one would never work as a movie (mind you, she said that right after the scene where Indy interrogates a parrot.)

[Tawmis]

Anyway, I thought I'd bring up the topic here - what are people's thoughts on turning adventure games into movies?

I could easily see Leisure Suit Larry being a movie ... a mixture of all the games (namely the originally three) with it ending with him finding Patti.

Police Quest could obviously easily be done into a movie, if, once again, you use the main three (mostly the 1st and 3rd one).

And of course, I'd love to see a GABRIEL KNIGHT TRILOGY movie...

[DeadPoolX]

I wouldn't want to see any of these games made into movies. Whenever Hollywood takes on the task of converting a game to the silver screen, it's bombed. Granted, some movies were dead from the start, such as DOOM. Other games had a reasonably good storyline (like Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark) but were ultimately screwed up when becoming a movie. Some game-to-movie translations haven't even made it into the theaters, and were only released as direct-to-video films. BloodRayne is a perfect example of this.

[Datadog]

Yeah, that's why I wouldn't want certain studios trying their hands at these. If 20th Century Fox got their hands on "King's Quest," the first thing they would do is put a sword in Graham's hand and teach him medieval kung fu.

Still, if the games stay under the radar long enough, the real fans might get to take a crack at them.

I could easily see Leisure Suit Larry being a movie ... a mixture of all the games (namely the originally three) with it ending with him finding Patti.

And of course, I'd love to see a GABRIEL KNIGHT TRILOGY movie...

You read my mind on these ones. Gabriel Knight would be one of my first picks.

[Tawmis]

I wouldn't want to see any of these games made into movies. Whenever Hollywood takes on the task of converting a game to the silver screen, it's bombed. Granted, some movies were dead from the start, such as DOOM. Other games had a reasonably good storyline (like Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark) but were ultimately screwed up when becoming a movie. Some game-to-movie translations haven't even made it into the theaters, and were only released as direct-to-video films. BloodRayne is a perfect example of this.

You're a beam of positive light, DPX. I think we're thinking fictional world here - where we could get a good movie out of these people in Hollywood.

[DeadPoolX]

Yeah, that's why I wouldn't want certain studios trying their hands at these. If 20th Century Fox got their hands on "King's Quest," the first thing they would do is put a sword in Graham's hand and teach him medieval kung fu.

Even worse, Uwe Boll could acquire the rights and end up directing it!

You're a beam of positive light, DPX. I think we're thinking fictional world here - where we could get a good movie out of these people in Hollywood.

Well, in that case, I could see it working.

[Datadog]

Even worse, Uwe Boll could acquire the rights and end up directing it!

Ugh - scary thought. He's always on the lookout for obscure video games to make bad movies out of, and these games are obscure enough to get his attention.

All the more reason for someone else to acquire the rights before he does.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hollywood making good movies? Surely not any more... :p

I don't particularly like movies that get made out of computer games, because so often they turn out to be drek. Doom was mentioned, but how about the execrable Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies? Punch, kick, upper cut, lather, rinse, repeat, ad nauseum. A giant yawn from start to finish. :p Then again, there wasn't much hope for them (as movies) to begin with...

[AndreaDraco]

When I read, almost in the same statement, Gabriel Knight and Uwe Boll... I almost had an heart attack! I just got up: this isn't a thread one should read with an empty stomach!

[Datadog]

When I started this topic, I was really hoping no one would bring up Uwe Boll.

How about we just discuss which adventure games we would wishfully like to see as GOOD movies, and whether we have any casting choices or ideas about how they could be made?

Personally, the two big ones floating through my head the last couple of days are the Gabriel Knight and King's Quest series.

Gabriel Knight is simple enough in live-action and all one would need to do is cut a few corners to fit it all under the two-hour bracket. Much like how Jane Jenson had to re-adapt "The Beast Within" to make it work in book form. All three games already have a strong story outline in place with lots of good dialogue to work so there's practically no changes necessary. I'd also like to see Mark Hamill reprise his role as Mosely in there, with Tim Curry playing Wolfgang (too old for Gabriel himself, but a nice nod to the fans.)

The reason I keep thinking about King's Quest is because that is the grand-daddy of them all. I think it would work great as an animated film series, actually. But the style of the animation I'm thinking of would be more like a big-screen hi-res version of the graphics in KQ6, where it all looks like highly detailed hand-drawn animation, probably simulated with CGI and motion-capture. Most of the games can carry their own stories with a few creative liberties, although maybe KQ1+2 can be meshed together so that Graham recovers the treasures and saves the girl in one movie.

Some other ones I'd really like to see: Full Throttle, The Secret of Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey

[Almirena]

Consider a world where the shadows are not what they seem...

Consider a world where the most ordinary of events can hide secrets...

Consider a world in which the baroque and the modern collide, and where blood and regrets run like wildfire through the veins of a man who is unaware of his family heritage...

Gabriel Knight.

Coming to you soon. A film directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

Can you imagine it?

[AndreaDraco]

Yes. I can imagine it. But I see it directed by David Lynch, in a similar manner of Blue Velvet