Ever since the dawn of cinema, filmmakers have been reaching into other mediums for inspiration.
From old classics like Great Expectations, to more recent gems like No Country for Old Men, the 20th and 21st centuries have yielded plenty of incredible literary and stage adaptations. However, when film studios decide to bring acclaimed video games to life on the big screen, the results are usually far less successful.
While there have been only a few video game adaptations that are regarded as successes – for perspective, 2019’s Detective Pikachusits at the very top end of the critical spectrum so far – there are countless examples of game adaptations gone wrong, from child-focused fare like Sonic the Hedgehog, to gritty, violent schlock such as the Resident Evil franchise.
Even though many of them feature high budgets and A-list casts, there’s something about video games that fails to translate to the movies, time and time again.
Here are 10 of the worst video game film adaptations of all time, ranked from bad to very, very bad.
