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Ever since the dawn of video games there have been tie-ins with movies. Take, for example, the cult classic Robocop, released in 1987. It was set in the (then) near future in Detroit, Michigan which has become a dystopia on the edge of collapse due to high crime and financial ruin with big companies like Omni Consumer Products (OCP) using the chaos to its advantage. The plot revolves around an honest cop, Alex Murphy, played by Peter Weller, who is killed and mutilated in the line of duty. The remains of Murphy are fused with robotic components and his mind is wiped and reprogrammed as part of an experimental program by OCP to replace the Detroit Police Department with robots in order to restore order to the city. The movie follows Murphy/Robocop through his initial deployment and his search for his killers driven by flashbacks of his death that could not be erased.
The popularity of the film in question led to the release of a Robocop game the following year. Initially released as a hybrid of beat ‘em up and run and gun it was quickly ported to game consoles of the era where it became very popular and is of itself considered a classic game. Robocop was reimagined in 2014 and was eagerly awaited. However, it did not enjoy the same success and many still prefer the 1987 original.
On the other hand, some games become so successful that they inspire a movie and one of the most successful game franchises to do was Tomb Raider. First released in 1996, this action adventure game follows English archaeologist Lara Croft as she sets out on a quest to recover a lost artefact from a tomb in the mountains of Peru. Gameplay is set in a three-dimensional world and played from a third-person perspective from behind or over the shoulder of Lara. Players must guide Lara as she faces dangerous enemies and solves puzzles all the while gathering treasure and artefacts.
The Tomb Raider games were so popular that several sequels have been made and eventually Lara Croft was brought to life on the big screen played by a stunning Angelina Jolie in 2001. The franchise continued to grow with more games even expanding into the iGaming industry. For example, you can find a Lara Croft game at the MrGreen website. With more games in the pipeline and a Tomb Raider reboot movie planned for 2018, Tomb Raider is a franchise that is going from strength to strength.
Image Source: finalfantasy.wikia.com
It’s not only live action movies that have been adapted from games. The ever popular Final Fantasy series has spawned several animated movies as well. The first of which, 2001’s Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was ground-breaking in that it brought an unprecedented level of detail to the computer generated human characters to the point where the watcher thinks they are actually watching human actors. Although the movie received mixed reviews it as widely praised for its realistic and incredibly detailed animation which could be said to have paved the way for more recent movies such as 2009’s Avatar.
It’s safe to say that as long as there are movies and video games there will always be crossovers and tie-ins between the two.