New Video Game Movies to Be Released Soon

The history of video games being transformed into movies includes some huge success stories and a few terrible disappointments. However, this hasn’t stopped the movie industry from turning some of the most popular games into films. Following the recent Uncharted and Sonic releases, a couple of relatively unheralded games are about to be made into movies.

The Details of Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone

Both of the movies mentioned are to be produced by Sega, who are said to be joining forces with production firm PictureStart to convert these games into films. The first mentioned is Space Channel 5, which is based on a music game that was created by United Game Artists and released by Sega for the Dreamcast in 1999 before coming out for the PlayStation 2 and the Game Boy Advance.

In the game, you play a news reporter who gets caught up in an alien attack, and you need to use dance moves to fight them. It received overall positive reviews although its sales weren’t great, so it may be a surprise to see it being adapted for the big screen. Maybe this is a sign that producers are looking deeper to find solid material, rather than simply focusing on hit games that might not have the potential to become cinematic stories.

Comix Zone was released by Sega in 1995 for the Genesis console and then came out in a few other versions. It’s a beat-up type of fighting game done in a bright, vibrant comic book style. You play Sketch Turner, a struggling musician, and artist who’s working on creating a new comic book. A lightning strike hits his drawing, sending him into the comic book universe where he has to battle with powerful alien enemies.

It’s played over a series of platforms that are designed to look like cartoon panels over a couple of pages of the comic book. As well as fighting, Sketch has to solve puzzles before moving to the next panel. Like Space Channel 5, it wasn’t a particularly big hit and it’s sure to come as a surprise to a lot of gamers to see it get turned into a movie.

The Opposite Approach

Of course, we’ve also seen the opposite approach of turning popular movies into games, and this has arguably worked better than making games into film, so far. For example, 2006`s Scarface: The World Is Yours and Alien: Isolation from 2014 are two great examples, while Star Wars and Star Trek are among the other popular movies to have successfully moved to the gaming world.

This can also be seen on the most popular real money casinos such as the All British Casino, MrQ, and Mr. Green available on VegasSlotsOnline where slots based on Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, and Terminator 2 are among the slot games on offer. Each site typically offers a welcome bonus which could provide bonus funds or free spins. There are thousands of slot games, many of which are based on or inspired by movies.

We can also see Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, Gotham Knights, and Hogwarts Legacy among the video games to be released later in 2023. So there’s no sign of this trend slowing down anytime soon. Indeed, the recently released was one of the biggest game releases of the year to date and an instant hit.

Image Credit: Pixabay

What Does the Future Hold?

There’s no doubt that we’ve seen a blurring of the boundaries between different types of entertainment in the last few years. With the likes of The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones crossing over to different kinds of media, it’s becoming easier to see these big brands as complete multi-media offerings.

This is likely to continue, as movies, TV shows, and games can all now be crossed over in so many different ways to meet consumer demand, with the Pac-Man movie one of the upcoming films based on games to be announced.  These latest titles to be revealed by Sega also show us that this crossover isn’t limited to the biggest names anymore, as even more hits or cult classics can now be transformed into other areas of popular culture.

We’ll need to wait to see whether Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone are more successful as movies than they were as games. However, the trend for seeing more crossovers shouldn’t be affected by the results of these launches.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)