Hollywood's Video Game Era Is Here. Will It Be Any Good?
This article explores the shift in Hollywood from superhero-dominated content to video game adaptations. It contrasts the critical and commercial failure of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie with the massive success of the 2023 animated version and other recent hits like The Last of Us.
Why it matters
It highlights a major trend in the entertainment industry as studios seek new intellectual property to replace the declining popularity of superhero franchises.
The Last of Us (2023). Credit: HBO. Intro: The Tale of Two Super Mario Movies Adaptations of the beloved Super Mario Bros. franchise have twice served as major test cases for the commercial viability of video game movies. One was terrible; the other, paradigm-shifting.
We’ll start with the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, which was a troubled production from the outset (to say the least). For some reason, filmmakers initially envisioned a darker, dystopian rendition of Nintendo’s signature property. But shortly before production began, studio executives grew concerned that the movie would alienate younger audiences and ordered substantial rewrites. The result was a cinematic Frankenstein: part grimy cyberpunk fantasy, part children’s comedy, punctuated with out-of-place dialogue catering to die-hard fans.
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