Video games, films and series: the marriage of genres is accelerating, boosted by the hope of juicy profits, like the arrival in cinema ofUnchartedhit title on Playstation consoles, in theaters February 16.
The Japanese giant Sony has not skimped on the means to transpose its game to the screen, which borrows a lot from the saga IndianaJones : he recruited a panoply of famous actors including the Briton Tom Holland, darling of the young generation and hero of Spidermanbut also the American Mark Wahlberg (Infiltrators) and Spaniard Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro).
Intended for a family audience, this feature film raises a lot of expectations. “It’s a colossal success in the game (more than 40 million copies sold to date, editor’s note) which should not result in a failure in the cinema”warns Laurent Michaud, video game economist.
If it becomes a blockbuster, Sony, king of consoles and a major player in the film industry, will obviously have a vein to exploit. The group “has plenty of other successful video game franchises it can draw from”underlines Mio Kato, analyst of LightStream Research publishing on the Smartkarma platform.
The recipe is nothing original and big screen ports have long since emerged, starting with a Super Mario (1993) of poor quality. First real success at the box office, despite mixed reviews: tomb Raiderwhich hit screens in 2001 and featured American actress Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.
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Other characters have also gone the opposite way, for a result that is again often debatable, but some games have been unanimous with players and critics, such as goldeneyefrom the saga james bondon the Nintendo 64 system.
As John Evershed, director of strategy for American animation studios Trioscope, notes, there has recently been a massive increase in video game adaptations into films and series. “Just two years ago, there was only one notable adaptation of a television series based on a game: Castlevania (a game from the Japanese group Konami in a universe inspired by Dracula, Editor’s note). There are now over 12 series in various stages of development and/or production.”he told AFP.
Among them : Arcanebroadcast as Castlenavia on the American streaming platform Netflix. This animated series, a variation of League of Legends, the flagship entertainment of the American studio Riot Games, was released in November, a few hours after the Worlds final of this e-sport title among the most followed in the world. Produced in collaboration with the French studio Fortiche Production, it was unanimously acclaimed by critics.
The French Ubisoft has also decided to bring its flagship games to the screen, such as Rabbids Where Assassin’s Creedexpected soon in series on Netflix.
Experts give several reasons for this craze for this kind of adaptations. “Video games have become overwhelmingly important in the leisure activity. They are more culturally relevant for 18-34 year olds than music or cinema (in terms of the size of the industry)“, emphasizes John Evershed.
The base of the number of players has also widened considerably. As Laurent Michaud remarks, “Now there are people in their 50s, 60s who are playing. When you release a film based on a game, you know you have the possibility of attracting a huge audience”.
In addition, notes Daniel Ahmad, analyst at Niko Partners, “streaming platforms, like Netflix, can hope to attract and retain viewers who are gamers in order to increase their user base, and one way to do this is to provide content that appeals to them, such as only games“.