Detective Pikachu (2019)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
Starring Ryan Reynolds as a talking, coffee-swilling Pikachu, Detective Pikachu is the live action Pokemon movie we’ve all been waiting for.
A joint collaboration of Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, and The Pokemon Company, Detective Pikachu is based on the 3DS game of the same name. The movie sees the tiny electric detective team up with ex-trainer Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) to get to the root of the mysterious disappearance of Harry Goodman, Tim’s father and Pikachu’s former partner.
Although the first looks at the unusually hyper-realistic Pokemon left us apprehensive, this year’s latest spate of trailers has more than made up for it, showing off a world in which Pokemon have been embedded, cage fight-style Pokemon battles, and even the legendary Mewtwo himself.
Detective Pikachu comes to the big screen on May 10.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2019)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
We weren’t quite sure what we thought when the first teaser posters for the Sonic movie were unveiled. The humanoid proportions, downy fur texture, and, god forbid, two separate eyes were enough to give even long-time Sonic fans pause.
But the film does boast a fairly star-studded cast, with Parks and Rec’s Ben Schwartz lending his voice to the spunky Sega mascot and Jim Carrey voicing his nemesis Dr Robotnik.
The movie will show Sonic join forces with small town sheriff Tom Wachowski(played by James Marsden) in order to take down Robotnik and his forces.
Like Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog will be a combination of live-action and CGI and is set to release just in time for the holidays on Nov. 8.
The Witcher (2019)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
Netflix’s upcoming The Witcher series will be adapted from not just the game series, but also the Polish fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski that they were based on.
Although gamers’ general love of The Witcher, is likely responsible for Netflix’s decision to secure the rights, no doubt helped by the popularity of The Witcher 3, the upcoming series will stick more closely to the book and won’t include characters from the games that weren’t also in the novels.
Henry Cavill will star as monster hunter Geralt, which we first got a peek at back in October. The reception to it was… mixed, probably due to Cavill looking a lot younger than Geralt’s supposed to be. But for those unsure about the integrity of the series, Sapkowski himself is on board as a creative consultant to keep the show true to its source.
The Netflix series is pegged for a late 2019/early 2020 release.
Halo (2020)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
It’s been in the works for a while now but the Halo TV series is at last coming to our screens, even after all the false starts and rumors. The epic sci-fi FPS is being re-imagined as a 10-episode live-action series, courtesy of Showtime, with an estimated hopeful release by 2020.
Story details of the series are locked down pretty tightly, but it’s been confirmed that Master Chief will be a prominent figure in the show.
There’s some real talent behind the series too, as Stephen Spielberg’s Amblin Television is producing. Taking the role of executive producer and showrunner is Kyle Killen, creator of such critically loved TV series as Lone Star and Awake.
Rupert Wyatt is in the director’s chair, and his work directing Rise of the Planet of the Apes and this year’s Captive State tell us he’ll be a great fit for Halo’s high-science fiction narrative.
Minecraft (2019)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
A Minecraft movie is kind of an odd concept, you have to admit. On one hand a children’s movie based on Mojang’s stupidly popular and addictive world-building game sounds like an almost guaranteed success, but on the other hand, how do you adapt a game that has so little narrative into a film?
This is a conundrum that’s seemingly proved difficult for production, as Always Sunny’s Rob McElhenny was the movie’s original director and co-writer but left the project in August. Adam and Aaron Nee have since been brought on to write, and based on their previous work in comedy and animation, it looks like the film should be in good hands.
Taking a game of simple building blocks and spinning a fun story out of is not impossible, as The Lego Movie proved. If the Nee brothers can capture that same tongue-in-cheek humor and set it in the Minecraft universe we have have a classic family film in the making.
Monster Hunter (2020)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
Most known for their butchering of the Resident Evil movies, husband and wife team Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich are back once again to tackle a Monster Hunter adaptation.
The fact that it’s them behind the project is enough to raise an eyebrow or two, as their warping of Resident Evil’s characters and storylines has many considering the films some of the worst video game movies of all time.
But we shouldn’t lose hope just yet. Most people don’t play Monster Hunter for the story and, simplistic as it may be, this makes the game the perfect blank canvas to imprint a script onto.
Jovovich plays Captain Natalie Artemis, and we already know that Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, and T.I. Harris have also been cast as the Hunter, Admiral, and Harris respectively.
So The Monster Hunter movie is up in the air until we know more. We could get a fun, campy movie with fantastic creature design or another Resident Evil-style disaster. We’ll have to wait until 2020 to find out.
The Division (TBA)
Video Game Adaptations to Look Out For
After the overwhelmingly okay Assassin’s Creed movie of 2016, Ubisoft is back at it again with The Division.
Once again they’re pulling in big name talent. Back in 2018 it was announced that David Leitch (Deadpool 2) would direct the movie, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain starring.
This isn’t the only game Ubisoft are pushing a film adaptation for, with planned movies for Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and even Rabbids. With such a glut of film adaptations coming from the company, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were trying to jumpstart a video game movie empire.
The Division 2‘s recent release has all but renewed interest for the franchise, and a post-pandemic New York is a rich setting for writer Stephen Gaghan (Syrianna) to craft a gritty and layered dystopian story.
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