The next video game-movie blockbuster?

From "Animal Crossing" to "Fortnite," these games might have what Hollywood's looking for.

“Elden Ring” (FromSoftware)

The Gist

• “A Minecraft Movie” continued its box-office dominance this weekend with another $80 million domestically, and it’s passed $550 million worldwide.

• It’s clear that video games are the new IP treasure trove for a movie business desperate to find the next generation of franchises.

• Here are a few I think are ripe for adaptation for the big screen, based on popularity, cinematic potential, and more.

Nobody knows anything. That was apparent last week when “A Minecraft Movie” blew past all projections to earn over $160 million at the domestic box office in its first weekend.

But as the movie continues to woo young audiences (it’s making another $80 million this weekend and has passed $550 million worldwide) — not to mention HBO debuts the second season of its hit series “The Last of Us” tonight — it’s clear that video games are Hollywood’s new IP treasure trove.

That doesn’t mean everything will work. Game-based movies have a long history of flopping, from the original live-action “Super Mario Bros.” to “Borderlands” just last year. But the entertainment business has finally learned what games might be worth adapting, the best medium for them, and who to market them to.

So here I am, not knowing anything, with the video games that could make for the next big-screen blockbuster (that aren’t already in development), based on a number of criteria: sales and popularity, cultural footprint, cinematic potential, expert observations, and just my gut.

---

Among Us

Remember “Among Us”? The mobile game peaked in 2020 with tens of millions of players during the pandemic; I have fond memories of playing it with my friends in isolation. Apparently there is an animated TV series in development at CBS Studios, but this should be a movie (see below for more).

---

Animal Crossing

I’ve written recently about how there appears to be a lack of animated movies from Hollywood compared to the seeming demand. The animated video game movie “Super Mario Bros.” was one of the biggest movies of 2023 at the box office, and “Inside Out 2” was the biggest last year. For the last couple years, the most-streamed movies have been mostly animated titles that were first released theatrically. So it seems like a no brainer that an “Animal Crossing” movie could be a hit with kids — or at least their young parents who would bring them to the theater. The latest game, “New Horizons,” is one of the best-selling games ever with nearly 50 million units sold since it debuted in 2020.

---

Black Myth: Wukong

This is cheating, since this would undoubtedly be a non-Hollywood production. A Chinese game based on a classic Chinese novel, “Wukong” has sold at least 25 million copies and broke Steam records when it debuted. I wrote last year that it appeared that the vast majority of the game’s players were based in China, echoing a struggle that its film business has faced in launching its IP outside of the region. But as we’ve seen with the latest Chinese blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” — which has grossed over $2 billion — the country doesn’t exactly need the rest of the world (though, the movie still earned $20 million in the US, which isn’t nothing). A Chinese movie based on the game would certainly do blockbuster numbers there, and maybe even translate to other territories like the US (I’m not here to speculate on how current political events would impact that).

---

Dead Space

Research firm Omdia identified the sci-fi/horror franchise “Dead Space” as a game property with cinematic potential given its narrative-focused linear storyline. While the series isn’t a colossal hit (about 10 million copies sold across the franchise), there’s always an appetite for horror in the movie marketplace, even if the genre seems oversaturated at times. Last year’s “Alien: Romulus” — which grossed $350 million worldwide — was heavily inspired by the games.

---

Elden Ring

I recently wrote about how Hollywood should give up on the next “Game of Thrones” for TV; shows like “Rings of Power,” “Wheel of Time,” and “The Witcher” have failed to crack through the zeitgeist in meaningful ways compared to the HBO fantasy hit. But I do think there’s room for that kind of fantasy epic on the big screen, and “Elden Ring” — the second-biggest game of 2022, behind a “Call of Duty,” and now one of the biggest games of all time at almost 30 million copies sold — fits the bill. It might be risky given the inevitably high budget, but even a big-budget flop like 2016’s “Warcraft” still showed a hunger for the property internationally, earning $400 million outside the US (granted, $225 million of that was in China, but again, I’m not going to speculate on today’s political climate). At any rate, an “Elden Ring” movie seems all but certain given Sony’s recent investment in the game maker’s parent company, with the specific intent to capitalize on its IP library.

Fortnite

This one feels almost too obvious. “Fortnite” would appeal to a similar crowd as “Minecraft,” the Gen Z/Alpha audience that’s growing up with the games. I’ve written at length about how many of Hollywood’s top franchises of the last 20 years are drying up; “A Minecraft Movie” solidified that the movie business’s future might rely on tapping into IP that young people care about. And in that regard, there’s nothing quite like “Fortnite,” which is mostly played by teenagers and early 20-year-olds; in 2020, Epic Games said that the free-to-play game had 350 million registered players. Plus, the possibilities for in-game marketing and cross-brand promotion are endless.

---

Grand Theft Auto

Another fairly obvious one: “Grand Theft Auto VI” will no doubt be the biggest game of the year — and likely one of the biggest games of all time — when it finally (hopefully) drops later this year. The GTA franchise would mainly appeal to millennials: the first game debuted in the late 90s, and the last main entry was a dozen years ago. But that game, “GTA V,” has had a long shelf life, with various re-releases and updates across console generations, which has only increased the anticipation for “GTA VI.” Casual fans just want to see mayhem, and the diehard gamers might actually care about the story and setting; finding the right balance for an adaptation would be the trickiest part of bringing GTA to the screen.

---

Halo

The “Halo” TV series was ill-fated, canceled at Paramount+ after two seasons. But it taught Hollywood a valuable lesson about bringing this beloved game franchise to life: don’t mess too harshly with the source material. Basically, Master Chief is a faceless tank that shouldn’t hook up with Cortana (did that really happen? I didn’t watch). “Halo” is still one of the most popular game franchises of all time, and there is plenty of lore and characters for a film adaptation to play with that wouldn’t disrupt the one thing every fan loves: seeing (or being) the Chief kicking alien butt. It hasn’t been for lack of trying: years ago, a Peter Jackson-produced and Neill Blomkamp-directed movie failed to materialize. I think it’s still worth a try (not that version, though).

---

Monster Hunter

I’m not very familiar with this franchise, so when researching for this piece I was surprised to find these games are so successful. Maybe that’s because 2018’s “Monster Hunter: World” catapulted the franchise into a new tier of popularity: it sold over 25 million units, putting it in the top 50 of all-time best-selling games. And this year’s “Monster Hunter: Wilds” became Capcom’s fastest-selling game ever in its first three days and is one of the most-played games on Steam of all time. But then I was reminded that Sony released a “Monster Hunter” movie in 2020 that was an obvious financial disaster. Even if it hadn’t been dropped in the middle of the pandemic, it probably would have flopped: directed by Paul WS Anderson and starring Mila Jovovich, there just wasn’t the kind of talent attached for it to be a hit. Would another try be more successful? Hard to say. But only one way to find out…

---

BONUS: Red Dead Redemption

Westerns are all but dead on the big screen, unfortunately. A once thriving genre at the box office, their primary audience (older people) just doesn’t go to the movies like they once did. But the western is alive and well on the small screen: Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” and its spinoffs are some of the most popular shows right now, and Kevin Costner’s “Horizon” — which bombed at the box office — found an audience once it hit Netflix. So rather than a movie adaptation, I’d say “Red Dead Redemption” is prime for TV (not to mention, the second game has sold around 70 million copies). There’s a lot of meat there for a series.

---

🎟️ FWIW The highest-grossing video game movies ever…

1. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023) — $1.3 billion

2. “A Minecraft Movie” (2025) — $550 million (and counting)

3. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (2024) — $491 million

4. “Warcraft” (2016) — $439 million

5. “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” (2018) — $429 million

6. “Rampage” (2018) — $428 million

7. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (2022) — $403 million

8. “Uncharted” (2022) — $400 million

9. “The Angry Birds Movie” (2016) — $352 million

10. “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time” (2010) — $336 million

As you can see, things really didn’t ramp up until this decade.

No news round up this week, so that’s it until next time.