There are dozens of video game adaptations in development, but how many will ever see the light of day? Click through for a breakdown of every video game movie currently in the works.
Monster Hunter
Paul W. S. Anderson (the Resident Evil movie series) is directing the Monster Hunter movie for Screen Gems. It will star Milla Jovovich, Ron Perlman and Tony Jaa as members of a UN military team sucked into an alternate dimension full of deadly beasts.
Release Date: September 4, 2020
Without Remorse/Rainbow Six
Michael B. Jordan will star as John Clark in two of Paramount’s planned Rainbow Six Siege movies, based on the Tom Clancy books Rainbow Six and Without Remorse. Without Remorse is scheduled for release in September 2020, and an ensemble-driven Rainbow Six sequel is currently planned.
Release Date: September 18, 2020
Release Date: January 21, 2021">Mortal Kombat
At one point New Line had a second sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat in the works, but now the studio is rebooting the series with The Conjuring's James Wan as producer and Simon McQuoid directing. The cast includes Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero and Lewis Tan in an undisclosed role. Production wrapped in December 2019, suggesting the reboot should meet its January 2021 release date.
Release Date: January 21, 2021
Uncharted
Sony's Uncharted movie has gained and lost six directors since being announced in 2009. Bumblebee's Travis Knight is the latest director to walk away from the adaptation, citing scheduling conflicts. The good news is that Tom Holland is still slated to star as adventurer Nathan Drake, with Mark Wahlberg playing his mentor Sully. Venom's Ruben Fleischer is the latest director rumored to be up for directing the film, which Holland says will draw inspiration from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
Release Date:March 5, 2021
Tomb Raider 2
Despite mediocre reviews for 2018's Tomb Raider, MGM and Warner Bros. seem happy enough with the film's box office performance to move forward with a sequel. New writer Amy Jump is penning the script, and Alicia Vikander has expressed an interest in reprising the role of Lara Croft.
Release Date: March 19, 2021
Minecraft: The Movie
Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) will direct the Minecraft movie, which will tell the story of a teenage girl trying to save the Overworld from an Ender Dragon.
Release Date: March 4, 2022
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu 2
Legendary Pictures announced a sequel to Detective Pikachu in January 2019, two months before the original hit theaters. While there's been little news since, the strong performance of the first movie gives us no reason to assume the sequel isn't still a top priority. 22 Jump Street's Oren Uziel is penning the screenplay.
Release Date: N/A
Mass Effect
In 2010, it was announced that former Marvel Studios head Avi Arad would be adapting Mass Effect for the big screen for Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures picked up the deal in 2011, but divorced from Warner Bros. in 2013. The last we heard about this was when BioWare head Casey Hudson said it was still in the works in March of that year.
Release Date: N/A
Mega Man
In late 2013, it was announced that Capcom and 20th Century Fox would be making a movie based on the Mega Man franchise. It will be written and directed by Catfish’s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
Release Date: N/A
Release Date: N/A">Gears of War
A Gears of War film under Universal was first announced back in 2016, and new screenwriter F. Scott Frazier (Collide, xXx: Return of Xander Cage) was more recently tapped to write the movie. Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista admitted he considered playing Marcus Fenix in a Gears of War movie a "dream role.
Release Date: N/A
Call of Duty
There isn’t just one Call of Duty movie in development – its sequel is already being planned too. Sicario 2 director Stefano Solima is set to direct the first one.
Release Date: N/A
Borderlands
The Borderlands movie was announced back in 2016, to be produced by Avi and Ari Arad and written by Aaron Berg. While news was slow for several years after, Lionsgate surprised fans in February 2020 by announcing Hostel's Eli Roth will direct the movie, with Chernobyl's Craig Mazin penning a new screenplay draft. No cast members or release date have been revealed, but the movie does seem to be a top priority for the studio.
Release Date: N/A
Half-Life
A movie based on Half Life was meant to be in the works from JJ Abrams, but it seems to be subject to the Half-Life 3 curse.
Release Date: N/A
Silent Hill Sequel
Silent Hill director Christophe Gans is reportedly interested in returning to the franchise, though whether it'll serve as a direct sequel to the previous movies or a standalone project remains to be seen.
Firewatch
In 2016, it was announced that Campo Santo’s Firewatch was going to be adapted into a movie, but we’ve heard nothing since.
Release Date: N/A
Shinobi
Scott Pilgrim producer Marc Platt was poised to adapt Shinobi to the big screen back in 2016. “With Shinobi, we hope to make a film that honors the essence of the games,” Platt said at the time.
Release Date: N/A
Missile Command
The last we heard about a Missile Command movie was 2016, after it was announced Atari was teaming up with Emmett/Furla/Oasis films to spin the 1980 arcade game into a big screen spectacle.
Release Date: N/A
Assassin’s Creed 2
A sequel to the first Assassin’s Creed movie was already in the works during the production of the first, but information about the follow-up is minimal.
Release Date: N/A
Heavy Rain
First announced in 2006, the rights to a Heavy Rain were bought by two former New Line executives. It’s safe to say this one will probably never see the light of day, though it was never announced it was officially canceled.
Release Date: N/A
Rabbids
A movie based on Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchise was first announced in 2015, as a colloboration between Ubisoft and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Robot Chicken’s Matthew Senreich, Tom Sheppard and Zeb Wells were set to write the script.
Release Date: N/A
Monument Valley
Paramount Pictures has a Monument Valley adaptation in the works, and animator Patrick Osborne (Big Hero 6) is due to direct the live-action/CGI hybrid.
Release Date: N/A
Duke Nukem
Gearbox Software has reportedly teamed up with the Assassin’s Creed movie producer Jean-Julien Baronnet to adapt Duke Nukem into a movie. John Cena is rumored to star.
Release Date: N/A
The Division
Deadpool 2 director David Leitch is set to helm this adaptation of the Ubisoft game, which will star Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal in leading roles.
Release Date: N/A
Watch Dogs
A Watch Dogs movie was announced in 2013, but it has since lingered in development hell, despite a brief announcement in 2016 that it was “still happening.”
Release Date: N/A
The Sims
It was back in 2007 that we heard a Sims movie was in the works with 20th Century Fox. We’ve heard nothing since, so it’s possible that the project is long dead.
Release Date: N/A
Contra
Arcade run and gun classic Contra is getting a live-action film in China, produced by Beijing Starlit Movie and TV Culture.
Release Date: N/A
Five Nights at Freddy’s
A Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is currently in the works from Blumhouse, but production recently hit a snag after the greenlit screenplay was rejected by Five Nights creator Scott Cawthon.
Release Date: N/A
Resident Evil
The Resident Evil film franchise is due to be rebooted by director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters down). The Conjuring's James Wan will produce the first of a planned six (!) movie series. That first movie was slated to begin production in 2019, though there's been little news since Roberts signed on.
Release Date: N/A
The Last of Us
The Last of Us movie is in “development hell”, according to the game’s director Neil Druckmann, who wrote the original script for Screen Gems. In 2018 Druckmann said that if it ever went ahead, he hopes that the studio doesn’t use his script.
Release Date: N/A
Fatal Frame
The popular survival horror series built around ghost photography is reportedly being adapted by Silent Hill director Christophe Gans.
Carmen Sandiego
Jane the Virgin-star Gina Rodriguez is set to play Carmen Sandiego in both a live-action film she is also producing, and an animated TV series produced by Netflix.
Release Date: N/A
Tetris
In 2016, Tetris producer Larry Kasanoff confirmed he was planning a sci-fi trilogy around the iconic puzzle game. How that will actually work is still up for debate.
Release Date: N/A
RollerCoaster Tycoon
We haven’t heard anything about the RollerCoaster Tycoon movie since 2010, when it was reported that Harald Zwart (the Karate Kid remake) would be heading up the film for Sony Pictures Animation.
Release Date: N/A
Werewolves Within
Ubisoft’s social VR deception game Werewolves Within is getting a big-screen adaptation, with Mishna Wolff writing the script.
Release Date: N/A
Sleeping Dogs
A Sleeping Dogs adaptation was confirmed to be in development in 2017, with radio silence since, Donnie Yen confirmed it was still happening on his Instagram account in 2018.
Release Date: N/A
Portal
Like Half-Life, a movie based on Portal was meant to be in the works from JJ Abrams. The status of this is anyone’s guess.
Release Date: N/A
Kane & Lynch
This one was first announced in 2007, and was originally set to star Jamie Foxx and Bruce Willis. The last we heard anything around this movie was in 2013 when THR reported Gerard Butler and Vin Diesel were in talks for the two leads.
Release Date: N/A
Just Dance
Just Dance is going to be a video game. In January 2019, it was announced that Screen Gems will develop a film version of Ubisoft’s annual video game, somehow.
Release Date: N/A
Fruit Ninja
In 2016 it was reported that a ‘live-action family comedy’ based around Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja is in the works, but we’ve heard nothing since.
Release Date: N/A
Metro 2033
The movie adaptation of Metro 2033 is currently on hold, after screenwriter F.Scott Frazier butted heads with Metro creator Dmitry Glukhovsky over the film’s setting. Who knows where it will go from here.
Release Date: N/A
Super Mario: The Movie
Nintendo and animation studio Illumination teamed up, with Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri co-producing a CG-animated take on Nintendo's most popular character due out in 2022. Universal Studios, Nintendo's partner for Mushroom Kingdom theme park attractions, will distribute the film.
Release Date: N/A
Metal Gear Solid
Jordan Vogt-Roberts will direct this adaptation of Konami's long-running action game franchise as rooted in Hideo Kojima's lore, but not a straight-up adaptation of the story from the games. A script was already completed, but the movie doesn't yet have a date.
Release Date: N/A
Centipede
MoviePass Films has partnered with Atari to produce films based on both Centipede and Missile Command. MoviePass' shutdown in 2019 casts the future of this project in doubt.