How Well Did Video Game Adaptations Perform at the Box Office in 2024?

At one point in time, video game adaptions were less than well-received. Who can forget the 1997 movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, or even worse, 1993's attempt at a Super Mario Bros movie? In many ways, it felt like filmmakers didn't quite know what made the games enjoyable in the first place, and instead attempted to copy and paste the beloved characters into their own lacklustre – and oftentimes bizarre – universe.

In 2024, however, that seems to have changed. One of the biggest films of the year, for instance, is set to be Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – a cinematic take on everybody's favourite blue mammal. At the time of writing, this movie is set to top its opening weekend at $55 million to $50 million, with Sonic currently beating Mufasa as a first choice movie pick, 11% to 7%.

With the last two movies grossing $319.7 and $405.8 million at the global box office, it's fair to say that these movies prove good video game adaptions can be done, and it's not just Paramount Pictures delivering them at this point. In 2024, there have been a number of impressive video game adaptions, both movies and television shows, and while it's hard to pinpoint their box office performance – many of them were released through streaming companies like Netflix – it's clear that they have been hits.

A New Wave of Video Game Adaptions

We should start by noting that the current performance of video game adaptions has less to do with a shift in audience interest, and more to do with the type of video games that are being released. In the past, it seemed like many film production companies were looking at what was popular in the gaming world, and rushing straight to the nearest director.

This is a big reason why the movies failed. If they were to do this in 2024, we'd be getting adaptations of online bingo or PUBG Mobile – both very popular games at the moment, but not exactly transferable to the big screen. Instead of doing this, filmmakers started looking at the games that translate smoothly and cleanly to the big screen, no matter their popularity.

When the first Sonic movie was released, for instance, the franchise wasn't exactly in the perfect place. The days of Sonic's immense popularity were long past, but that didn't stop it from being suitable for the cinema treatment. As a result, the popularity of Sonic has well and truly been rekindled, but only as a consequence of the movie itself.

This new method of adaptation can be seen in the most successful video game movies and series of 2024. Amongst the list are movies like Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Fallout, and Arcane – all of which have exceeded expectations and rivalled even the heavyweights like Deadpool & Wolverine and Wicked in terms of audience appreciation. As we mentioned before, it's hard to pinpoint exact box office numbers – the world of cinema has changed over the last twenty years, with the majority of audience members watching their favourite movies and shows on streaming services – but the reports so far have been overwhelmingly positive.

Conclusion

It's set to continue, too. In 2025, even more video game adaptions are going to be put on the big screen, and with filmmakers seeming to have found the sweet spot, it's likely they'll do well. All that's left for video game players to do is sit down and enjoy this new era of video game movies, and be thankful the mistakes of the 1990s are not being repeated. In fact, we're sorry we even had to remind you about that period. But context is everything!