Video games are the next big thing in film and television

By Alexandra Suich Bass, Culture editor, The Economist

God may have created the world in six days; that is also how long it took Markus Persson, a Swedish developer, to design the first version of “Minecraft”. Permitting users to build their own worlds and visit others’ creations, it became the most successful video game of all time, surpassing 300m sales worldwide. Profits that dramatic were sure to attract Hollywood’s attention and inspire plans for a sequel, of sorts. In 2025 “Minecraft” the film, starring Jack Black, an American actor, will come to the big screen. It will serve as a pixelated pulse-taking of audiences’ appetite for adaptations of their favourite games.

Video games are big business—and are inspiring big plans in Hollywood. In addition to “Minecraft”, cinemas will, in 2025, host “Mortal Kombat 2” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2”, both based on popular games. Some 30 projects adapting video games into films and television series are in development, according to ign, an entertainment website.

“We’re seeing a content reset at the big studios,” says Alice Thorpe of Ampere Analysis, a research firm. Superheroes have lost their invincibility; studios are scanning their catalogues and intellectual property to find their next golden goose. Many have come to believe that video games could be the new comic books, providing recognisable characters with the power to conquer big and small screens.

Video games come with several advantages. Chief among them is cultural and commercial cachet. Gaming is the largest sector of entertainment, by most estimates surpassing the sales of film and recorded music combined. Video-game properties also have a built-in fan base. Look no further than the Game Awards, the industry’s annual show, for proof: in 2023 it attracted 118m viewers, six times more than tuned into Hollywood’s mainstay, the Academy Awards.

Hollywood’s experience adapting video games has not always been a happy one, however. The coming year will mark two decades since the release of a film based on “Doom”, a classic first-person shooter game. Its title became a four-letter summary of its fate—and that of many other game adaptations.

Risk appetite for adaptations started to change thanks to the small screen. Successes on streaming services included “The Witcher” (2019) and “Arcane” (2021) on Netflix. hbo’s “The Last of Us” (2023), set in a post-apocalyptic America, won critical acclaim and Emmy awards, while staying faithful to the original game. The second season is expected in 2025.

Then there was the breakout film of 2023, “Super Mario Bros”, which was the second-highest performing film of the year (after “Barbie”), taking nearly $1.4bn globally at the box office. It set a model of appealing to children and parents alike, reimagining a game as a “nostalgia play” for people who grew up with it, says Ms Thorpe.

There are three things to watch out for in the coming year. One is how video games are changing who participates in Hollywood. “More and more game creators are getting involved creatively” in the development of film and television properties, says Geoff Keighley, who hosts the Game Awards. This can be good, to the extent that it preserves a game’s authenticity and helps it translate to film or television. Of course, creators are also hopeful that an adaptation can propel game sales, as occurred with “Fallout” (2024), a post-apocalyptic show that drove new users to the role-playing games on which it was based.

Second, Hollywood will more deeply embrace video-game technology in film-making. It is already changing visual effects in profound ways. Studios now use game “engines”, first devised to make video games, to implement intricate special effects on set. Instead of green screens, studios can use huge wraparound screens showing a background scene in real time (rather than adding it after filming). As game engines spread in Hollywood (and not just in video-game adaptations), they will change the way actors, directors and set-designers do their jobs—and make for more visually spectacular experiences.

Third, watch how Hollywood integrates some of video games’ storytelling techniques and action sequences into films. Video games are starting to “provide a fresh source of inspiration to film-makers”, says Hermen Hulst of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Much as there were debates about video games’ impact on society, there are sure to be discussions about whether video games rub off on Hollywood, for example by making films more violent.

The coming year will also offer a reminder of entertainment’s new pecking order. The biggest release of 2025 is not going to be a Hollywood production but a video game, “Grand Theft Auto 6”, the first version of the epically popular game to be released in more than a decade. Mr Keighley predicts it will be the “biggest entertainment launch of all time”. It will be “bigger than any movie, any streaming show, any music show”, he says. When it comes to games, Hollywood, known for its rivalries and jealousies, is no longer the leading star. ■