Biggest video game movie flops and hits

Filmmakers have been creating films based on video game franchises for over three decades.

These films aim to tap into the franchise’s existing fanbase, and although there have been a few notable successes, most movies based on games have either failed outright or barely broken even.

Determining whether a film is successful is more complicated than looking at its box office numbers.

Instead, ticket sales must be weighed against the film’s budget, marketing costs, and the theatre’s cut.

Generally, theatres take around half the total box office, which means most films must make at least twice their original budget at the box office to break even.

Even then, undisclosed marketing costs are often significant, and even making twice the initial budget at the box office is not always enough.

With that in mind, below are five notable video game adaptations that were massive flops on the big screen and five that proved to be great successes.

Flop — Assassin’s Creed (2016)

The Assassin’s Creed movie, released in 2016, featured a star-studded cast with notable actors such as Michael Fassbender, Brendon Gleeson, and Jeremy Irons.

Its budget was an impressive $125 million, giving this film every possibility of being a blockbuster success.

However, despite its cast and budget, the Assassin’s Creed film failed to measure up to expectations, earning only $240 million at the box office and receiving middling reviews.

In comparison, one of the more recent Assassin’s Creed video games — Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — generated over a billion dollars in revenue for Ubisoft.

The film scored 5.6/10 on IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a very low 18% and 42% from critics and audiences, respectively.

Rotten Tomatoes does not take an average but instead shows the proportion of critics and users that scored a film “B” or higher.

Hit — Mortal Kombat (1995)

Mortal Kombat is one of the most iconic fighting game series in gaming history, and its first foray into live-action reflected its popularity.

Released in 1995 and on a budget of only $20 million, Mortal Kombat managed to gross an impressive $122 million.

Its reception was mixed, however, with Rotten Tomatoes tracking its critics rating at 47% while general audiences were more forgiving, scoring it 57% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.8/10 on IMDb.

It was also successful enough to spawn a sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which bombed at the box office with a take of $51 million against a budget of $30 million.

Flop — Super Mario Bros (1993)

Given the unprecedented success of the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie, it wouldn’t be right for this list to exclude its live-action predecessor from 1993.

One of the earliest video game film adaptation flops, Super Mario Bros (1993), was produced on a $42–48 million budget but only grossed $38.9 million.

Its reviews were also dismal, scoring a 4.1/10 on IMDb and audiences and critics giving it a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hit — Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

Sonic the Hedgehog is another one of the most iconic Japanese gaming franchises. What Mario was to Nintendo, Sonic was to Sega.

Its first live-action adaptation had a rocky start with an infamously bad trailer.

This trailer featured a truly ghastly design for the titular Sonic that earned it the ridicule of many longtime fans.

However, the producers took the criticisms to heart and updated the design to align with the games.

Thanks to this, Sonic the Hedgehog earned a fair amount of goodwill and managed to make $302 million at the box office with a budget of $90 million.

Despite being released during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sonic was a big success. Distributor Paramount fast-tracked the movie’s digital, DVD, and Blu-Ray releases, and it topped the American home video charts.

Its reviews were solid, with a 63% critics score and 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.5/10 IMDb score.

Thanks to this, it got a sequel in 2022 that was also a success with a $405 million box office take on a budget of $90–110 million.

Flop — Monster Hunter (2020)

The Monster Hunter series may not be as well known in the mainstream as the Mario Bros, but its games still sell tens of millions of units.

Its only live-action film adaptation was in 2020 and starred Milla Jovovich.

It also released during the Covid-19 pandemic and was a huge flop, earning only $47 million at the box office against a budget of $60 million.

Regarding reviews, it earned a 5.2/10 on IMDb and 44% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.

Curiously, its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a fresh 70% — highlighting how critic reviews aren’t always indicative of a movie’s success or failure.

Hit — Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

Resident Evil is one of the few gaming franchises that has spawned multiple live-action and animated adaptions — with The Final Chapter in 2016 being the most successful.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter made an extremely impressive $314 million on a budget of only $40 million.

Despite being a box office hit, critics and audiences were less than thrilled with the film, scoring it 38% and 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively and a middling 5.5/10 on IMDb.

Flop — Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Final Fantasy is one of Japan’s most iconic gaming franchises, boasting 16 mainline entries and a range of spin-off titles.

It was the inspiration behind Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, an ill-fated animated film released in 2001 that utterly failed to make back its money — with a box office take of $85 million against a budget of $137 million.

Its reviews were middling, scoring a decent 6.4/10 on IMDb, but with critics and audiences giving it 44% and 48% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Common criticisms of the adaption were that despite being titled Final Fantasy, it had little to do with the actual lore of the game series.

Hit — Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a cult classic horror game series, and its first live-action adaption has rapidly grown to be one of the most profitable gaming films to date.

With only a $20 million budget, the film grossed $294 million at the box office.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is also a clear example of critics and audiences disagreeing, with a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 32% and an audience score of 87%.

However, its IMDb score is quite balanced at 5.5/10.

Flop — Battleship (2012)

While not based directly on a video game, the final flop on this list is deserving of the position simply due to how much money it lost.

Based on the iconic board game and distributed by Universal Pictures, Battleship featured a $209–$220 million budget.

We also know the film’s marketing budget was $100 million, so we can easily calculate that it would have needed to make around $520–$540 million at the box office to break even.

Unfortunately, it only grossed $313 million, meaning it lost more than $200 million.

Battleship’s reviews were also middling, with a 5.8/10 on IMDb and 54% on Rotten Tomatoes from audiences.

Critics were more severe, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 34%.

Hit — The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

The most successful gaming film to date and one of 2023’s highest-grossing movies overall, The Super Mario Bros. Movie managed to generate over $1.3 billion on a budget of only $100 million.

This colossal success can also be seen in its Rotten Tomatoes audience score, which sits at a remarkable 95%.

Its IMDB score is also quite good at 7/10 and further illustrates how this film managed to take the theatre by storm.

Critics were less impressed, however, with a much lower 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Given its sweeping success, there will almost certainly be more animated Mario movies in the future.