It seems that Hollywood still has an obsession for turning video games into movies, in spite of their poor track record with critics and at box offices.
The latest game that might get a movie is Pokémon GO, the mobile game sensation that conquered the world in just a short week.
Pokémon GO is a mobile game by Niantic, the makers of Ingress. It encourages players to walk around their neighborhoods and communities in search of Pokémon and uses augmented reality to show random creatures at various locations. The game also encourages players to join teams and play with others, giving it a social aspect as well.
Deadline reports that Legendary Pictures plans on turning the mobile game into a movie, although its very concept is pretty much the opposite of what a movie can offer. A movie cannot add that interactive element of exploring one's own familiar world, nor can it offer any kind of social feature that gets people together.
So, why does Legendary think it's going to make a good movie, when it's obvious that it simply cannot? It all comes down to dollar signs: Pokémon GO is one of the highest money-making mobile games on the planet now.
Of course, Legendary's movie could just focus on Pokémon itself, but do we really need a live-action Pokémon film? It's a hot property right now because of the mobile game, after all, and if features of the mobile game can't work for a feature film, what exactly would the angle of such a movie actually become? Will those creatures look like anything decent in a film based in the real world?
However, this news comes from the same industry that thinks moviegoers want to see a trilogy of films about Tetris, a simple game about dropping different-sized shaped blocks on each other. As it stands, most video game movies can't interact with audiences the way actual games can, although the critically-panned Warcraft still managed to do decently at the box office. The Assassin's Creed movie might also have some luck, so who's to say that we're not ready for Pokémon GO the movie?
In the meantime, Pokémon GO is everywhere, with people doing a lot of crazy things to "catch them all." Legendary plans on striking while the iron is hot, but it's likely the film's production will take longer than the trend that now dominates mobile gaming.
