Although the curse of the video game movie still seems to strike more frequently than not, that doesn't stop video game fans from getting excited when big blockbuster adaptations are announced for their favorite IPs. Recent years have offered some better critical and audience receptions for a few video game movie adaptations, but in general there's still a lot of room for improvement.
The lack of success in recent years certainly hasn't slowed the studios down and 2020 has a lengthy list of movies that relate to video game properties. The coming year includes sequels to video game movies, reboots of franchises that have already been on the big screen, and a few highly-anticipated brand new attempts at film adaptations. With the success of The Witcher on Netflix paving the way, many fans are starting to believe that it is possible for high quality adaptations to deliver in the coming year.
Although information is pretty thin for some of these projects that are slated for late 2020, there are still some early release windows and attached talent to consider for each project. Keep in mind that all of these projects are still in development and information about release dates, casting choices, and other details can always change in the coming months...
Sonic The Hedgehog
Release date: February 14, 2020
Get ready to spend Valentine's day with SEGA's iconic speedster. The Sonic adaptation has already been through quite a rollercoaster and it's still a few months away from release. The fan reactions to the original teaser trailer were so bad that the team behind the movie actually went back and totally changed the character model for the film's lead character. It will be very interesting to see if the hard work pays off when the movie launches in a few months. Although expectations aren't necessarily very high throughout the film and video game communities, there's no denying that this movie has generated a ton of buzz on social media and that tons of interested parties will be watching to see how the speedster and the star-studded supporting cast land come February 14.
Uncharted
Release window: December 2020
Uncharted is another project that has already been through some development drama long before release. The movie bounced around directors after losing 10 Cloverfield Lane's Dan Trachtenberg before settling on Bumblee's Travis Knight, but the project does have the benefit of having the MCU's Spider-Man, Tom Holland, attached to star as a young Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg is likely along for the ride to play Sully. If both of those choices seem a little on the young side for the characters, that's because this movie is turning back time a bit and focusing on the early years of Drake and his merry band of thieves. Sony is definitely hoping to build another film franchise here, so a lot will be riding on this adaptation of the treasure finding action-adventure series. With two superstars attached and a proven action director who has handled a popular IP in the past, fans are optimistically looking forward to this project.
Resident Evil
Release window: 2020 (maybe...)
This is a tricky one... A few years ago, after the release of the last Resident Evil film, it sounded like a franchise reboot was on the way for 2020. That plan may have since been abandoned or altered to be a TV series instead of a movie. Details on the project are few and far between, but Resident Evil fans will want to keep an eye out for some kind of project later in 2020. The new take on Resident Evil is supposed to be 'super scary' and is likely more inspired by Resident Evil 7 than by games like Resident Evil 2 or 4. Since the usual Resident Evil franchise star and director are tied up with another video game adaptation for 2020, it seems unlikely that the new project will connect to the existing universe of movies if it ends up coming together.
Monster Hunter
Release date: September 4, 2020
Paul W.S. Anderson of the Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil film franchises is taking another stab at a video game adaptation with 2020's Monster Hunter film. That's right, he's taking charge on another Capcom franchise. The movie is loosely based on the video game series and brings back Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich. Although the Resident Evil movies have not been critically successful, they clearly made enough bank to justify multiple sequels and a lengthy franchise that has a dedicated following of fans. Capcom is likely looking to build on that success with the world of Monster Hunter and create another hit that can bring in cash with sequels in the near future.
2021 and Beyond
Those are the biggest video game adaptations coming in 2020, but the next few years are stacked with plenty of other in-development projects. Franchises like Doom, The Division, Call of Duty, and The Last of Us all have films in the works that will hopefully be arriving between 2021 and 2023 depending on how development progresses over the coming months. There has also been talk about a follow up to the most recent Tomb Raider film that will continue the new take on Lara Croft's adventures.
With the recent success of both Castelvania and The Witcher on Netflix, it will be interesting to see if any of these other upcoming projects decide to pivot into a serialized approach instead of movies over the next few years. Netflix (and other places like HBO and Hulu) clearly have dedicated viewers, so it wouldn't be surprising to see at least a few upcoming video game adaptations attempt to replicate the success that Netflix has had. The in-development HBO Halo series that is scheduled to launch in 2021 could be the next major success story to lead video games in the path of serialized story-telling rather than movie adaptations.
Be sure to check back in as the year progresses for updates on these projects and future announcements.