While it may seem like fans are living in a video game adaptation renaissance with the upcoming releases of The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, things haven’t always been so rosy. There have been a number of disappointing TV shows and movies based on video games, which means each new project brings its own set of nervous expectations. Luckily, the team behind HBO’s The Last of Us is pretty confident their show will be authentic to the fans that love Joel and Ellie. Showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin dive into why most video game adaptations end up not living up to the hype.
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The New Yorker spoke to Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin about whether The Last of Us can break the “video game curse.” Druckmann said he was very conscious of the abysmal track record for video game adaptations, and noted how only kids’ movies like Detective Pikachu have mostly found success. However, he does have a theory as to why this is. “The other thing that people get wrong is that they think people want to see the gameplay onscreen,” Druckmann said.
Why Most Video Game Adaptations Fail
An example given is 2005’s Doom starring Black Adam‘s Dwayne Johnson and The Boys‘ Karl Urban. Since the game is a first-person shooter, the Doom movie decided to try and recreate a sequence that put moviegoers in the first-person viewpoint, which resulted in a dizzying moment that underperformed.
Mazin added, “Doom is also a perfect example of something that you don’t actually need to adapt. There’s nothing there that you can’t generate on your own—”
“Other than the name Doom, and marketing,” Druckmann chimed in.
“That’s the thing,” Mazin said. “If what the property is giving you is a name and a built-in thing, you’re basically setting yourself up for disaster, because the fans will be, like, ‘Where’s my fucking thing?’ and everybody else will be, like, ‘What’s Doom?’ And then you’re in trouble.”The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The Last of Us HBO Premiere Will Be Long
Amid a series of rumors, the HBO Latino programming schedule has confirmed the Pedro Pascal-starring series will debut with an 85-minute premiere. Clocking in at an hour and 25 minutes means fans of the video game adaptation will receive a premiere roughly equivalent to a feature film.
In total, the series is set to run for a total of nine episodes over the duration of its first season. The exact scope of the series has yet to be determined, though it’s said to cover the story from the first game while also borrowing pieces from the sequel as well.
The Last of Us premieres January 15, 2023 on HBO.
