One of the more (pleasantly) surprising inclusions amongst this year’s bountiful Best Picture nominees was undoubtedly Neill Blomkamp’s apartheid allegory, District 9. Not bad for a film that almost never happened.
It’s a well known fact that the successful collaboration between Blomkamp and Peter Jackson began life as a hotly anticipated adaptation of the revered Halo computer game franchise but due to a lack of financing Halo folded and spotty oiks the world over began sobbing into their wireless headsets.
Whilst Jackson’s involvement had gotten gamers the world over quivering with excitement, his failure to get Halo into cinemas has left people with a lot of questions. Why couldn’t the man who made Lord of the Rings find enough investment to produce a computer game adaptation? How has Paul W.S. Anderson’s dire Resident Evil movie spawned a franchise of all exponentially dire sequels. And, who on God’s green earth thought Wing Commander starring Freddie Prinze Jr was ever gonna be a hit? My intention here is to try to answer some of these brain teasers under the umbrella question of ‘Why can’t Hollywood make a good computer game movie?’
Having only just invested in a next gen console myself I am somewhat of a virginal gamer but I am very aware of the huge leaps that have been made in the all immersing, almost cinematic qualities of games such as Assassin’s Creed, Unchartedand Gears of Warto name but a few. With technological advancements making more elaborate story lines possible the gaming industry has managed to shake off its stigma long enough to attract the likes of ‘A listers’ like Keanu Reeves, Mickey Rourke and Liam Neeson. This burgeoning relationship between actors and the gaming industry reached new heights last year with the release of Midway’s Wheelman title which not only featured the vocal styling’s of Vin Diesel but also a character which shared more than a few computer generated alleles with the Hollywood star.
So if the gaming industry is doing its best to bridge that gap why are we, cinema patrons, still subjected to the likes of box office filler like Max Payne and Hit Man? Ever since Bob Hoskins’ outspoken reaction to 1993’s underachieving Super Mario Bros Hollywood has struggled to convince its talent that computer game adaptations are a viable rung on the career ladder, Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft outings being the exception that proves the rule. The rule being that if you throw enough money at someone they’ll pretty much do anything.
So, whilst some of District 9’s R and D originated in the gaming universe we still wait for an adaptation that proves as popular as its rapidly improving source material. Next up to the chopping block is Mike Newell’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based on the recently rebooted game franchise of the same name. The film sees Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role as ‘Dastan’ a pauper who is adopted by the king after showing ‘great valour’ during a battle. With the rest of the cast list made up by Brits, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina initial buzz is good, if not a little tentative.
The recently released CG heavy trailer does house some nice nods to the original games series but whether or not it has the ability to cross over to the mainstream, uninitiated audience remains to be seen.
After all, it a widely acknowledged truth that producer Jerry Bruckheimer envisaged P.O.P as the ideal replacement for the floundering Pirates of the Caribbeanfranchise. A lot could rest on whether or not Gyllenhaal possesses the charisma to lead such a movie, after all, this time around there’s no Jack Sparrow.
