Hollywood has a complex relationship with video games. Film studios often struggle adapting games to the big screen, to the point that some gamers treat the phrase “video game movie” as a dirty word. However, despite the numerous flops, there are still some popular movies based on gaming properties.
A recent study commissioned by Best Casino Sites compared data on internet searches from 56 countries to determine the most popular video game movie in each nation. And while the researcher couldn’t find useable data for everywhere on earth, the study still yielded some interesting results.
Starting with the global rankings, 2018’s Tomb Raider was the most popular video game movie in 23 countries. They included the UK, Turkey, several EU countries, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Cameroon. Monster Hunter and 1995’s Mortal Combat tied for second place, being the most popular in 18 countries each. The critically panned Hitman: Agent 47 came in third with 15 countries, followed by Warcraft, Need For Speed, Resident Evil: Retribution, Resident Evil, Rampage, Assassin’s Creed, The Angry Birds Movie, and DOA: Dead or Alive.
The first Mortal Combat film was the most popular game movie in North America, South America, and Australia. The 1995 film was the biggest in the US, with Canada and Mexico preferring Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Retribution. However, the fantasy martial arts adventure was the unquestioned winner in Latin America, taking Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Resident Evil: Retribution also won in Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and several Central American countries.
Meanwhile, Tomb Raider was Europe’s most popular video game movie, followed by Mortal Kombat and Warcraft. Rampage was the most popular in Albania and Ireland, with Hitman Agent 47, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Monster Hunter, and The Angry Birds movie dominating Slovakia, Macedonia, Poland, and Belarus.
While Hitman and Need for Speed were the big winners in Asia and Africa, the country-by-country breakdown was far more divided. The popularity of Assassin’s Creed, Hitman: Agent 47, and Rampage was widely and randomly distributed across both continents. However, despite being the continental winner, Need for Speed was only the most popular among countries in the south. Rampage was also the biggest hit in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, and Kenya.
In addition to going country-by-country, the study made some interesting observations about three of the four most popular movies. 1995’s Mortal Kombat and 2018’s Tomb Raider both had mixed reviews and mediocre scores on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. However, they also had relatively positive audience review scores on both sites. Meanwhile, Hitman: Agent 47 was critically panned but saw a more mixed audience reception.
Best Casino Sites editor Aiden Howe hypothesized that some movies may have been “ahead of their time” or benefited from name recognition. Another explanation for the gulf in opinions could be that critics have a different frame of reference from average moviegoers. It’s also possible that gamers have different standards for evaluating video game movies.
Source: Best Casino Sites