While Sega, the video game company that invented Sonic the Hedgehog all the way back in 1991, is no longer the household name it was a few decades ago, it's sure to be rising up in many people's memories this last few weeks.
That's because the new Paramount Pictures (PGRE) film "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" has been in theaters for exactly five days, and somehow its managed to rake in more than $142 million dollars globally in that very small window of time, proving that video game nostalgia is still highly profitable.
That doesn't seem like much compared with the biggest performers of this year so far. "The Batman" brought in more than $358 million for Warner Bros (WBD) after its March 4 release, for instance.
But in the world of video game movies, Sonic's earnings are a big deal. Historically, video game films are known for being notorious underperformers at the box office despite their highly successful source material.
They're also known for being generally terrible. But what's wild is that the third highest earner of 2022 so far is also based on a video game. The adaption of "Uncharted," a successful Sony PlayStation franchise based on the adventures of a treasure hunter, has brought in $142 million as well.
It's good to see that the folks adapting these games to film are figuring out a better way. But naturally, this leads one to meditate on all the horrorshow efforts that came before it.
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The 5 Worst Video Game Movies
Rampage (2018)
Rampage is absolutely not about King Kong. The movie is based on a videogame where a giant gorilla who's also really smart has human-like characteristics and creates all sorts of mayhem. Remember, totally not King Kong for legal purposes. In the 2018 film adaption, the gorilla, George, teams up with The Rock (whose character may have had a name) to defeat two other rogue super monsters attacking Chicago (see it's not Tokyo, so totally not King Kong).
Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Super Mario Bros. arguably created the modern videogame when the Donkey Kong Spin-off launched on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was easy to see why Hollywood wanted to adapt "Super Mario Bros." -- it was a megahit that became a cornerstone of Nintendo's videogame empire -- but the 1983, let's call it "comedic adventure," never found a reason to exist aside from bringing famous characters to the screen. The plot was muddled, the casting curious, and while some of the effects were well done, Hollywood may not have been ready to bring a game this visual to the big screen quite yet.
Double Dragon (1993)
Children of the '80s remember "Double Dragon" as a cool two-player arcade game where you and a friend could team up to beat up the bad guys. It was converted into a Nintendo game that enjoyed moderate success in 1988. None of the good things about it, however, seemed to manifest in the painfully awkward 1993 film adaption that includes dialogue so bad you may lose your ability to breathe. Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 13%, which is probably higher than it deserves.
Alone in the Dark (2005)
Video game fans enjoy sitting around discussing which video game movies were the absolute worst (and this list is only a slice of all they have to choose from). But the 2004 adaption of 1992 horror game "Alone in the Dark" is so abysmally bad it's hard to fathom how anyone could screw up a simple haunted mansion story this badly. It also holds the historic honor of the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score possible: 1%.
House of the Dead (2003)
An arcade classic that challenges you to mow down zombies to survive, "House of the Dead" is certainly not loved for its fine storytelling. But it is a lot of fun to pick up its big silly guns and play with a friend, and the movie should have had its tongue firmly in cheek when it made it. Instead, it was given to Uwe Boll, who made, well, the movie you see before you, which should work as an over-the-top B-movie but somehow doesn't work at all.
