Video Game Movies And Shows You Didn't Know Were Being Made

Remember the little arcades in the lobby of the local cinema? There were crane games ready to steal naive kids' cash, half-busted Pac-Man cabinets, and invariably a well-worn Dance Dance Revolution machine. Dance Dance Revolution is fairly straightforward: you step on arrows that correspond to the beat of the song on screen and flail your way to some semblance of a stomping, jumping dance. Nothing too complicated, unless one gets good enough for the too-fast-to-follow competitive scene. There's no plot, no characters; just music and movement.

Film studio Stampede has decided  there is enough drama and action within the game's directional arrows to move Dance Dance Revolution from the arcade into the theater. Former President of Warner Bros. Pictures Greg Silverman and the game's own intellectual property owner Konami have thrown their weight behind the movie version of the 21-year-old arcade classic. Little is known so far about just what production entails, but the film apparently takes place in a world nearing cataclysmic destruction.

The Dance Dance Revolution movie will be less "dance for fun and fitness" and more "dance, dance for your life!" The only hope for survival in this bleak setting is to find meaning and understanding through foot-motion.

Some players have said Firewatch was more of a movie than a game to begin with, but now the hit 2016 title is officially getting a movie. The narrative-driven mystery-adventure game has been praised for its masterful storytelling and striking visuals of Wyoming wilderness, setting a high bar for film studio Good Universe, who teamed up with independent developer and publisher Campo Santo for the project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two studios shared creative visions for the future of games and film, and thus may produce further projects together in either medium. Whatever comes of the partnership, fans hope that a Firewatch film sticks to what made the game so good: isolation, minimalism, and a woodsy, indie aesthetic.

Firewatch is unique in that the player becomes intimately familiar with just one character, Henry, while never really seeing him in the first-person gameplay. In the silence of the watchtower, all the player has to go off of are Henry's own thoughts and sparse communication with the sardonic but faceless Delilah, far off and untouchable in another lookout. The two were voiced by Mad Men's Rich Sommer and The Walking Dead's Cissy Jones, respectively. It wouldn't be too much to ask for a reprisal of their roles, this time in front of a camera rather than behind a mic.

Every other studio in Hollywood seems interested in making the next big video game movie but can't seem to get the ball rolling on actually filming it. They buy up the rights and then sit on them for years without hiring so much as a production assistant. Uncharted and now Tom Clancy's The Division are the exceptions to this rule. They have taken their time to get there, but known names cast in starring roles bring a bit of confidence to fans.

The Division now has A-list talent Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain attached to the project. What might be even more promising is the director, David Leitch, and the hardcore action experience he comes with. Having first worked as a stunt coordinator, Leitch has directed fast-firing, sometimes gritty hits like Deadpool 2 and John Wick.

Leitch has also stated he doesn't want to sacrifice story and character in favor of focusing in on the action of the first-person shooter. In an interview with Collider, Leitch said he believes he can deliver a good movie within the playground The Division fans love. Ubisoft has since revealed that Netflix picked up the rights to the film, which will release exclusively on the streaming platform.

Before the release of Gears of War 4, Microsoft announced that a Gears of War movie was in the works in partnership with Universal Pictures. There has not been much news of the adaptation in the years since, but excitement has yet to die, especially if you're Dave Bautista.

Bautista made the transition from the world of wrestling into mainstream acting, best-known for the memorable role of Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy series. Now he says that he is ready to take on an even bigger name and a starring role: he wants to play Marcus Fenix in the Gears of War movie. It's hard to argue that he wouldn't be a perfect fit. Marcus Fenix is a big man, square-jawed and serious, who may as well be Bautista's video game twin. Bautista has said that he has been pursuing the role for years, but again, there's no news yet as to what's happening with production.

Rod Fergusson, former studio head of developer The Coalition, has said the film wouldn't follow the plot of any one Gears game, but instead take place in the same universe. In an interview with Variety, he stated the movies and games are two different mediums, and that video game movies of the past have failed because they've tried to make a movie specifically for gamers while ignoring other audience members. It seems the Gears movie, if it ever releases, seeks to avoid a similar fate.

Everyone's favorite party game of betrayal and bluffing was reincarnated in VR by Ubisoft in Werewolves Within. The game, sometimes called Mafia or Werewolf, is usually played sitting around couches at an IRL get-together, each player pleading their innocence while trying to discover the killer in their midst. Werewolves Within supports all the same social aspects of whispering, yelling, and accusing each other, just with the more fitting ambiance of a village sitting around a magic crystal ball.

Now the game is getting the Hollywood treatment thanks to Ubisoft's Women's Film and Television Fellowship, a paid program aimed at elevating women's voices. Mishna Wolff was one of the first candidates chosen for the fellowship and was given access to Ubisoft's entire library of games. At the end of the program and after much deliberation, she and fellow Tasha Huo pitched their ideas to Ubisoft Motion Pictures. 

Huo is now working on a TV pilot for a live-action Child of Light series. Wolff, complete with her fitting name, is scripting a live-action Werewolves Within. Wolff has described her vision as a political satire, set in a small town where every resident is suddenly judge, jury, and executioner. The horror comedy pitch came as a surprise to Margaret Boykin, Ubisoft's Director of Film Development, but she seems confident the end result will be a "slam dunk."

The Call of Duty franchise seems like the perfect fit for an action-packed Hollywood flick, and Activision was poised to take the reins. In 2015, Activision Blizzard unveiled Activision Blizzard Studios, a division dedicated to producing TV shows and films based on the company's properties. One of those properties was, of course, Call of Duty.

Ambitious from the start, Activision Blizzard Studios revealed its plans to create an entire cinematic universe around the sprawling war games to rival that of Marvel. In 2018, the first of these films signed on Stefano Sollima as director. The film even had a writer for a sequel before the first movie had an inkling of a trailer.

Filming was supposed to begin in 2019, as the movie aimed for a release in 2020 or 2021. But as of February 2020, the film has reportedly been put on hold. In an interview with an Italian news site, Sollima stated that the film was no longer a priority at Activision. At this point, only time will tell if this film ever sees the light of day.

According to Deadline, a sequel to the 2018 reboot adaptation of Tomb Raider was greenlit in 2019. Alicia Vikander is set to reprise the role as renowned treasure hunter Lara Croft. The film was originally slated for release on March 19, 2021, but filming was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was subsequently removed from upcoming WB's release schedule, along with several other films. Production still seems to be chugging along, however. In January 2021, Deadline reported that Lovecraft Country's Misha Green had signed on to direct the film, replacing initial director Ben Wheatley.

This isn't the first time Lara Croft appeared on the big screen, nor is it the first time a Tomb Raider movie got a sequel. In 2001, the game series received a theatrical adaptation with Angelina Jolie taking on the titular role in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. A follow-up to that was released in 2003.

The Mass Effect franchise has seen many ups and downs, the most recent of which being the disastrous launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda. As the series seeks to aim higher in the future, Mass Effect also has its sights set on hitting theatrical releases. The Mass Effect movie was announced in 2010, with the rights being acquired by Legendary Pictures. While Thor film writer Mark Protosevich tackled the first version of the script, he was replaced by Morgan Davis Foehl in 2012.

In recent news, rumors began to spread stating that actor Henry Cavill was cast as protagonist Commander Shepard. A February 2021 post on the actor's Instagram account teased a new project that he was working on, along with a picture of Cavill in makeup. Cavill is best known for his roles as Superman in Man of Steel and Justice League, as well as the Netflix series adaptation of The Witcher.

Not many movies on this list have a tenuous production period of nearly 20 years, but the Deus Ex movie is certainly fast approaching that milestone. Announced back in 2002 by Columbia Pictures, the first production cycle hardly saw any traction. The film was initially slated for release in 2006, but the script was never fully finalized. In 2012, the rights were acquired by CBS Films. 

Scott Derrickson was initially brought on to direct, but left to direct Doctor Strange for Marvel Studios. In 2013, writer C. Robert Cargill discussed the challenges of adapting Deus Ex in an interview with Screen Rant. Cargill was adamant in creating a cyberpunk movie that wanted to become the new Blade Runner in terms of revolutionizing sci-fi cinematic storytelling. He later expressed the desire to make sure the adaptation remained faithful to the source material. Producer Adrian Askarieh teased some sort of announcement back in 2015, but there's been no news on the movie ever since.

It's not very often that a movie with a full teaser trailer is followed by the unceremonious cancellation of said movie, but such was the fate of the Sly Cooper movie adaptation.

Sucker Punch Productions' flagship thieving mascot was set to star in his own animated feature. The Cooper gang appeared fully rendered in a trailer by Rainmaker Entertainment, which teased a 2016 release. Despite the actors of Sly's friends returning to voice the characters, quintessential Sly voice Kevin Miller was not approached to reprise his role. Though the trailer was unveiled, the film hadn't yet entered full production. And soon, it wouldn't make much difference.

Despite a once-active social media presence, the critical and financial failure of another animated film adaptation worked against Sly's big screen debut. Rainmaker Entertainment (now known as Mainframe Studios) also worked on an adaptation for Ratchet and Clank, another popular PlayStation mascot. While Ratchet and Clank did see a theatrical release, reception was less than stellar, and the film's box office numbers plummeted during the second weekend. Rainmaker stated that it was no longer actively producing the movie, though its cancellation was not explicitly confirmed.

As gorgeously cinematic as Ghost of Tsushima is already, the critically acclaimed 2020 PS4-exclusive game is already set to receive a film adaptation, with that news breaking less than a year after the game's July 2020 release. John Wick director Chad Stahelski is confirmed to direct the film, which is being produced by Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions. The team at Sucker Punch Productions has been brought onto the film as executive producers. It is unknown when the film will enter full production, as Stahelski is set to start filming the fourth John Wick film.

Daisuke Tsuji, who portrayed the game's main protagonist in facial capture and voice, expressed interest in reprising his role in the movie. He even joked that he was willing to perform butt nudity for the film, which he also did for the game in scenes where his character enters a hot spring.

Hopefully, this attempt at an adaptation for a Sucker Punch game will be a little more successful than that of Sly Cooper's failed film outing.