24/7 Insights
- Hollywood has a bad history of making terrible video game movies, and the trends shows no sign of slowing down.
- Bad adaptations tend to be unoriginal and have low budget or interest in the source material.
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Something interesting happened while we were writing this article: the Borderlands movie was released, and oh boy did it make headlines, and not in a good way. We had to reorganize our list to make room for the new king of bad video game movies, and probably bad movies overall.
That being said, what is it about video games that convinces Hollywood to make the most embarrassing and low-budget movies we’ve ever seen? Is it because studio executives still see video games as cheap entertainment for children not worth their attention? Is it because young moviemakers who have yet to make a name for themselves think that video games can be translated 1:1 to the silver screen? Maybe video games simply don’t adapt well to a movie or television format.
Whatever the reason, it seems like we might never escape the bad video game movies, no matter how good some recent releases have been. So, which ones have been the worst? We wanted to compare television series and movies, but the movies are so far below the quality of any television adaptation, that this list is entirely filled with movie adaptations. There have been some bad television shows, undoubtedly, but these movies are far, far worse.
All the data for this list are taken from Rotten Tomatoes using its aggregated critic scores.
Why Are We Talking About This?
Movies and video games are absolutely massive industries, so when you combine the two you would expect to see obscene amounts of money being made. But the opposite is true. There is an opportunity to change this, and some studios are making great progress. So, it always helps to learn from the failures of the past and have a laugh while doing so.
#20 Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One
- Tomatometer: 19%
Unfortunately, the Pokémon seems to have received the short end of the stick when it came to movies, as three movies from the franchise made it on this list. Coming out during a time when video games were starting to gain more mainstream popularity and movie adaptations were beginning to be made in earnest, this movie was either a cheap cash grab or the evidence of an industry still trying to find its feet.
Even though it was widely criticized for its quality, it still managed to be a huge financial success across the globe, which might explain why these movies keep being made.
#19 Pokémon Heroes
- Tomatometer: 19%
Another disappointing and low-quality movie from this beloved franchise. While previous movies were distributed by Warner Bros., this installment was handled by Miramax at the behest of human troll Harvey Weinstein. It received a limited release in the United States where it grossed just over $700,000. It seems like this was a cheap movie made to capitalize on kids’ desire to see their game characters in a movie and nothing else.
#18 Assassin’s Creed
- Tomatometer: 18%
The Assassin’s Creed movie followed the same trajectory as the series it’s based on: a promising beginning and exciting ideas that deteriorated into uninspired garbage. At the time of its release, it was among the best of video game adaptations, which says a lot about the state of movies at the time. Most critics agree that the movie wasn’t bad necessarily, but it was boring, over-plotted, and generally not fun to watch. Sounds a lot like the recent additions to the game series itself.
#17 DOOM
- Tomatometer: 18%
DOOM took a generally plotless game about a character with no personality killing hordes of demons on Mars and turned it into a plotless movie about people with no personalities killing hordes of demons on Mars. Some critics compared it to watching your friend play DOOM without letting you take a turn. Some people involved with the movie apologized for the terrible result.
#16 Max Payne
- Tomatometer: 16%
Max Payne was a visually interesting movie that actually opened at #1 when it was released. Even the CEO of the developer of the original game criticized the movie pretty severely. Critics complained about story flaws, boring and lackluster performances, over-direction, and a confusing or illogical plot. Even so, it had a positive profit margin after release, unlike most of the movies on this list.
#15 Hitman
- Tomatometer: 16%
How well does a game about a hitman with almost no dialogue, no personal character arc, and no personality translate to an entertaining movie? Not very well, apparently. When the players aren’t the ones doing the killing, the story of a hitman tends to lose all its appeal. Bad writing, a bad and confusing plot, and unnecessary violence combine to make this hot mess. There was almost no part of this movie about which critics had anything good to say.
#14 Pokémon: The First Movie
- Tomatometer: 16%
Yes, we know, we know. This movie holds a special place in the hearts of millennials around the world. But nostalgia and happy childhood memories do not a good movie make.
Generally, if you weren’t a child when this movie came out, then it offered nothing of interest to you. While it was a fun movie for kids, many of the main themes and messages of the movie fall apart after any amount of scrutiny and fly in the face of the theme of the franchise as a whole. These themes were a bit too complex for children while the movie as a whole was too simple for everyone else.
#13 Pokémon 4ever
- Tomatometer: 16%
All three of the Pokémon movies on this list were released within a year of each other. It was a Japanese film released only in Japan with an English version being released the next year in 2002. It was panned for being predictable, produced only for hardcore Pokémon fans, trying too hard to draw cheap emotions from young viewers, having the emotional warmth of tin foil, and passionless.
#12 Street Fighter
- Tomatometer: 11%
Critics took issue with almost everything about this film, complaining about its bad martial arts, bad editing, unintelligible dialogue, bad casting, and that it was too noisy and too full of cheap effects. For a martial arts film, the martial arts featured were particularly disappointing.
Despite all this, the movie was a commercial success and earned three times its budget at the box office. Raul Julia who played the character M. Bison even earned a posthumous Saturn Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
#11 Wing Commander
- Tomatometer: 10%
When adapting anything, filmmakers have the choice of staying close to the source material or creating a new story loosely based on the original. Both methods have been effective, but with Wing Commander, being loosely based on the game by the same name couldn’t help it.
With an extremely limited budget, any sci-fi movie of this scope would have been bound to fail, but critics also criticized the terrible dialogue, clichés, and cheesy special effects.
#10 Postal
- Tomatometer: 9%
If you’re going to be a connoisseur of bad video game films, then you’re going to become very familiar with the name Uwe Boll, who has made a name for himself making terrible video game adaptations.
This movie, loosely based on the games, attempted to be a witty and offensive political satire, but ended up just being offensive and crude. It was so bad, in fact, that many reviewers actually ended up enjoying the movie.
Postal ended up grossing under 1% of its entire budget at the box office.
#9 Hitman: Agent 47
- Tomatometer: 8%
If there’s one thing Hollywood can be counted on, it’s unoriginality. Whether a movie is successful or not, it will pump out remakes and sequels because they don’t know how to do anything else. They should have known, however, that after the failure of the first Hitman movie,t this one was also doomed to fail. Though in this case, failure is certainly relative, as it ended up being profitable.
Hitman: Agent 47 is a generic action movie in all the worst ways. There is no character development and as the first film for the director, it shows many rookie mistakes in filmmaking.
Hitman: Agent 47 managed to earn $82.3 million with a budget of $35 million.
#8 Silent Hill: Revelation
- Tomatometer: 8%
This is the second film in the Silent Hill film franchise and was panned for being mediocre in almost every aspect. Moviegoers criticized the weak characters, nonsense plot, few scares and horror elements, and its cheap and cheesy production. Strong criticism was leveled at the bland and terrible character design.
It managed to make more than $56 million on a budget of $20 million. With success like that, it would seem that studios will continue to pump out terrible video game movies with the expectation that fans will pay to see them anyway.
#7 Mortal Kombat Annihilation
- Tomatometer: 4%
This was a sequel to the original Mortal Kombat film and suffered many of the same issues but in a much worse way. It had low-budget special effects, pointless and silly fight scenes and martial arts, and uninteresting characters. It was essentially a full-length compilation of ridiculous fight scenes with a boring story somewhere in the background. Which, to be fair, sounds a lot like the original games, but let’s be honest, nobody plays the games for the story.
It made over $51 million against a budget of $30 million and the series wasn’t visited again until the reboot was released in 2021.
#6 BloodRayne
- Tomatometer: 4%
Uwe Boll returns! Critics disliked its uninteresting cast who seemed not to be excited to be there, plodding pace, and a plot that served to only take the audience from one boring action scene to another. One critic even said that it was “an abomination” and a “horrifying and preposterous movie”. Ouch.
BloodRayne made $3.7 million against a budget of $25 million. Why do studios keep giving him permission to make movies? We may never know.
#5 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
- Tomatometer: 4%
Uwe Boll again, baby! This movie is based on the game series Dungeon Siege and features laughable dialogue, cheesy and cheap production, boring performances, and more. It is the most generic fantasy film you can imagine, utterly forgettable.
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale made $13.1 million against a budget of $60 million.
#4 House of the Dead
- Tomatometer: 3%
Uwe Boll! Uwe Boll! Uwe Boll!
We’re not sure what’s happening here in the 24/7 offices, but the desire to have a Uwe Boll watch party is growing. The man cannot be stopped.
House of the Dead was criticized for being brainless, disjointed, and unintentionally funny, but not in a good way. The story is basic and uninspired and is everything you’d expect from a low-budget B-movie.
This movie actually ended up barely profitable, making $13.8 million against a budget of $12 million.
#3 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
- Tomatometer: 3%
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li was a movie tie-in for Street Fighter IV and ended up being forgettable in almost every way. It suffered from a shallow, almost non-existent plot, terrible choreography, bad fight scenes, and lazy screenplay. Unfortunately, this is also one more movie that was plagued with the trend of the “shaky cam”. Good riddance to that!
#2 Alone in the Dark
- Tomatometer: 1%
He’s back! The patron saint of bad video game movies, Uwe Boll, returns to assume his throne as the king of bad video game movies! Alone in the Dark ruled the list as the worst video game movie ever since its release in 2005 and was just dethroned this year.
Alone in the Dark was universally derided for its bad dialogue, special effects, acting, and terrible story. It won the “Worst Picture”, “Worst Director”, “Lease ‘Special’ Special Effects”, and “Worst Actress” awards at the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 2006.
While a horror film, there is nothing scary in the movie, instead evoking laughter and cringe the whole way through.
Alone in the Dark made only $12.7 million against a budget of $20 million.
#1 Borderlands
- Tomatometer: 0%
The new king of bad video game movies! Borderlands features the talents of Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more. What went wrong?
It has been widely criticized for being a juvenile and cheap adaptation of the games. Some high-profile publications called it a total disaster and janky. With the combination of so much talent and money, this movie should have achieved so much more, but a lack of vision and the desire to appeal to the largest audience possible left us with a soul-less, boring, and bland adaptation instead.
This disaster cost around $120 million to make and is estimated to have made between $8 million and $16 million during its opening week.
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