Sit around young'uns, and let me tell you of a time when if we wanted to watch a movie based on our favorite video games, we had to watch Super Mario Bros. with Bob Hoskins and like it. Not anymore. These days movie studios know the power of the gamer coin, and are snapping up the rights to adapt blockbuster games faster than you can say "large popcorn and a coke."
There are so many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep up with what has a release date and a cast list, and what's still just a script bouncing between studios like Mario on MDMA. Luckily for you, we've tuned our spidey senses to pick up all the important news, and you can find a comprehensive list if all the upcoming video game movies below.
Need something to watch now? Check out our list of the best video game movies that are already out.
Detective Pikachu
Release date: May 10, 2019
We've finally got a trailer for the live action Detective Pikachu and - against all the odds - it looks sort of brilliant. In a masterstroke of casting Ryan Reynolds - AKA Deadpool - will play the fuzzy electric mouse, and seems to be bringing the same wise-cracking skills to the role. Bill Nighy, Rita Ora, Suki Waterhouse, and Ken Watanabe are also in the cast, and Goosebumps and Shark Tale director Rob Letterman is in charge. The story will focus on Tim, who needs Pikachu's help to track down his missing detective father, and take place in Ryme City - think Blade Runner but cuter - where Pokemon and people live side by side.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Release date: November 8, 2019
How do you feel about swole Sonic? Because that's very much what we seem to be getting with the new live action adaptation of the Sega classic. The new poster features a hedgehog silhouette with thighs that would look out of place on a rugby players, and was alarming enough to spark a wave of memes. We'll have to wait to see Mr Needlemouse in action before we make any real judgement, but the cast features Jim Carrey as villain Dr. Ivo Robotnik, James Marsden, and Parks and Rec star Ben Schwartz in the title role. Can Jean-Ralphio make this work? We'll find out next November.
Call of Duty
Release date: 2018/2019
Activision has made no secret of its desire to squeeze every last penny out of its blockbuster titles, and Call of Duty is no exception. It's very early days in development, but the early signs are promising. Stefano Sollima has signed on as director, and if that name is familiar its because he's just finished Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Kieran Fitzgerald is on board as the writer -he's also currently at work on Sherlock Holmes 3 - and in the past has penned Oliver Stone's Snowden and a few episodes of gripping Netflix documentary series Wormwood.
"Not a war movie, but a soldier movie," Solima said of the project in an interview with Polygon. "I think that this is what I will do. I think it’s a missing part. [There have recently been] some movies [about] soldiers, but only some of them are masterpieces. I think I miss modern [soldier movies]. As an audience.”
Minecraft: The Movie
Release date: TBC
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney left he project this year, pushing back the 2019 release date . As a result, Warner Bros. has signed up the writer/director duo of Aaron and Adam Nee (who are also working on the Masters of the Universe reboot) to take his place. The current official synopsis is "Steve is the only person in the village that doesn't fit in, but one day while mining for stone he meets Klunk, the iron golem and together they have wacky adventures." Steve Carrel is rumored to be on the books to play Steve.
The game's original creator Markus "Notch" Persson is also on the creative team,.
Uncharted
Release date: TBA
Rumors and drama have surrounded the Uncharted movie since around 2010, when Mark Wahlberg confirmed he was playing Nathan Drake and that Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci would be his co-stars. Directed by American Hustle's David O Russell, fans we're confused about the rumored plot lines, and things soon fell quiet.
Now, thankfully, it looks as though the project is back, with Stranger Things and Date Night director Shawn Levy in charge, Smokin' Aces and Death Wish reboot writer Joe Carnahan holding the pen and Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, starring. Holland will play a young Drake, and has his eye on his Avengers Infinity War buddy Chris Pratt as Sully. "I think he would be a great Sully, I think it could be cool," he said in an interview. "Because if it was an older movie, I would say that Chris should play Nathan, but I think he would be a cool Sully, and I love working with Chris, so if I could work with Chris some more that would be great."
Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is also rumored to be on the cast. Now he would make a great Sully.
The Last of Us
Release date: TBA
Brace yourselves, because the most recent news on a The Last of Us adaptation isn't good. The game's writer, Neil Druckmann, worked on the script for the movie version a couple of years ago, but recently said on stage the DICE Summit 2018 that "having some separation from it, I look back and I'm like, 'I don't want that movie to be made."
Lucky for him, the project seems to have run out of gas. It was announced in 2014, with Spider-Man and Evil Dead veteran Sam Raimi producing and Resident Evil studio Screen Gems on board. By 2016 Raimi revealed in an interview that things had stalled because Druckmann and Sony couldn't agree on a direction for the movie. " I'm attached to it. I'm not too sure what that means," he told IGN. "Right now it's just sitting there. They don't want to move forward, and it's not my place to say why, and Neil, I think, is in a slight disagreement with them about how things should go so there's a standstill. And I don't have the power to move it."
At least there's The Last of Us 2 to look forward to.
Watch Dogs
Release date: TBA
Announced in 2013, the last we heard about the hacker movie adaptation was in 2016, when Ubisoft said it was working with Sony to make it happen. Since then, Watch Dogs 2 has been released to a solid critical reception but soft launch sales, the Assassin's Creed movie failed to slay its intended audience, and all has gone quiet.
Excitingly, or not, on IMDb it's also listed as the "Untitled Mark Wahlberg/Hacker Project" so let your mind run wild with that for a while.
Monster Hunter
Release date: TBA
If Monster Hunter World lit a fire in your belly for wildlife murder, then you'll be pleased to know a movie is currently in the early stages. You might not be so pleased to hear that Resident Evil: The Final Chapter writer-director Paul W.S Anderson is leading the charge. According to a 2016 interview with Deadline, he scored the rights from Capcom, and has big plans. "We’ve found a way of connecting the Dune-like sand covered world of Monster Hunter with our world," says his producing partner Jeremy Bolt. "So we’re bringing this massive Japanese game into the world of America." Apparently Anderson's vision includes a "normal American" getting pulled into a parallel world and already expands to two movies.
"It’s definitely intended to be a franchise because the movie starts in our world and then it goes to the Monster Hunter world and then the final act comes back to our world," adds Anderson. "It’s basically this epic battle in and around LAX."
The movie will be released on September 4, 2020.