For the longest time, video game adaptations had a reputation for being cheap cash grabs that were mostly terrible. However, times are changing, and there are quite a few excellent games-to-film projects these days -with box office numbers to prove it.
While it’s no secret that the Super Mario Bros. Movie is already a massive success, you might be surprised by what other films are among the highest-grossing video game movies of all time. Seriously, there’s more than one Resident Evil film that brought in the big bucks – despite those being, frankly, not exactly known for quality cinema.
Enough teasing from us, though – below, you’ll find a list of the 10 most successful video game movies ever, according to Box Office Mojo. There are plenty of zombies, lightning-fast hedgehogs, and even a brief appearance from The Rock – so enjoy!
10
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Release date: January 27, 2017
Worldwide box office: $312,242,626
Somehow, Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter barely eked out a spot in the top 10. While there’s no doubt some charm to these flicks, most fans of the video games were pretty outspoken about Milla Jovovich’s undead adventures having next-to-nothing to do with Capcom’s series – for real, her character of Alice wasn’t even in the games!
9
Sonic The Hedgehog
Release date: February 14, 2020
Worldwide box office: $319,715,683
There’s a pretty strong argument that Sonic The Hedgehog was something of a revelation for Hollywood: it proved that not only can video game adaptations make fans happy, but they can make serious bank. It’s hard to envision a future where HBO’s The Last of Us is a hit without the blue blur leading the charge. That’s right – Joel Miller owes Sonic everything.
8
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Release date: May 28, 2010
Worldwide box office: 336,365,676
If you forgot about the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie – you’re not alone. Even Jake Gyllenhaal probably doesn’t want to remember when Disney pretended he was an authentic representation of a street urchin living in ancient Persia. Despite it all, the movie went on to make quite a bit of cash and was much higher on this list until the last few years.
7
The Angry Birds Movie
Release date: May 20, 2016
Worldwide box office: $352,333,929
Remember when Angry Birds was the biggest thing ever? Your mom certainly does, which is probably why every parent took their kids to The Angry Birds Movie when it came out. Like the franchise itself, though, this movie came and went without much of a cultural imprint.
6
Uncharted
Release date: February 18, 2022
Worldwide box office: $401,748,820
Oh boy, this one. Uncharted is by no means a good movie – it’s pretty mediocre all around. However, it’s almost a miracle that it came out at all, as various film studios were desperately trying to get Nathan Drake’s adventures up on the big screen for over a decade. It took Tom Holland’s star power to make the project make it past the conception stages, incredibly enough.
5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Release date: April 8, 2022
Worldwide box office: $405,421,518
The blue blur strikes back – making nearly 100 million more than he did last time. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is arguably the superior film, so it deserves this. It’s also likely to feature the last big screen appearance from Jim Carrey – quite an interesting end for one of the biggest movie stars ever if that sticks.
4
Rampage
Release date: April 13, 2018
Worldwide box office: $428,028,233
We wouldn’t blame anyone that didn’t know Rampage was a video game movie. It’s mostly one of the (many) movies that’s just a vehicle for The Rock’s career – he seemingly wanted an excuse to fight giant monsters, and this relatively low-key arcade beat’em up franchise did the trick. Snark aside, Rampage made a lot of money, so they did something right.
3
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
Release date: May 10, 2019
Worldwide box office: $449,762,638
Can you believe Pokémon: Detective Pikachu isn’t higher on this list? We certainly can’t, mainly because this movie was everywhere in 2019. Ryan Reynolds marketed this role as “Deadpool, but for kids,” – which was evidently a winning pitch, even if it’s only coming in third. A sequel is apparently still in the works, although we know next to nothing about it.
2
Warcraft
Release date: June 10, 2016
Worldwide box office: $439,048,914
Wow, here’s something time forgot. Up until this week, Warcraft was the biggest video game movie ever – probably because Blizzard’s MMORPG World of Warcraft was the top dog for about a decade. There’s this lingering feeling from a lot of people that this came out a few years too late and probably would’ve brought in even more cash had it released at World of Warcraft‘s peak around 2010. Either way, it still did quite well.
1
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Release date: April 5, 2023
Worldwide box office: $677,959,700
Mamma mia! Nintendo’s most popular franchise outperformed every other video game movie by a considerable margin not ever two weeks after its premiere date. This isn’t much of a shocker, and many people expect The Super Mario Bros. Movie to surpass a billion dollars globally before its theatrical run is over. Who knows if it’ll reach that milestone, but it’s more than halfway there already,
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
