Video game movies used to be considered an instant kiss of death in the entertainment industry. However, more recently it’s been said that we’re living in a “Golden Age of Video Game Adaptations.” Judging from the success of recent projects such as Netflix’s Arcane, HBO’s The Last of Us, and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, one could make a good argument that studios are finally beginning to realize what fans want. Supposedly, we’re a far cry away from infamously terrible projects that feel as if they’re being crafted by screenwriters who don’t have the slightest clue about the source material they are adapting. On the contrary though, I feel as if this is only halfway true.
If the worldwide 1.36 billion dollar box office pull of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is any indication, fans will come in droves to support the big screen debuts of their favorite games, and I believe this has led many film studios and video game companies alike to look at their creations with dollar signs in their eyes. Essentially, they’ll slap a video game title on any script with the slightest similarities to an existing video game property, pour time and marketing money into hyping up these projects as definitive versions of beloved stories, yet the end result is something that pleases neither the original fans nor the average moviegoer. The success of good video game movies becomes a double-edged sword; while fans are happy to receive them, to studios, it’s not a sign that time and money should be used to craft something that respects the source material. Rather, they greenlight more video game adaptations with rushed productions in order to make a quick buck. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to see this a lot more going forward, as exemplified with our most recent project on today’s chopping block: the Until Dawn adaptation set to be released in April of 2025.
Supermassive Games’ 2015 title Until Dawn was a staple of the YouTube Let’s Play style of content throughout the mid-to-late 2010s, with playthroughs by the likes of Markiplier and Jacksepticeye racking up millions of views. Very simply put, the game’s premise involves trying to keep a group of young adults stranded at a snowy woodland cabin alive through the night, utilizing an interactive “butterfly effect” gameplay system that leads to multiple outcomes. Until Dawn’s homage to classic horror tropes and its replayability value allowed it to build up a steady fanbase that is still going strong despite the game approaching its tenth anniversary. Naturally, when it was announced in October of 2024 that a film based on the property was set for release in the following year, fans were buzzing with anticipation.
Then, on January 16, 2025, the first trailer dropped…to less-than-pleased reactions.
I’m not going to sit here and act like I’m some die-hard fan of Until Dawn. I remember watching the YouTubers I liked at the time romp through it, and that was enough for me. However, even I can watch this trailer and go from my first impression that this has close to nothing in common with the original aesthetic and appeal of the game. A horror film about a group of young adults reliving the same night and trying to escape an array of villains seems like a cool concept. The problem is, as commenters have pointed out, that this looks like the Until Dawn title was slapped onto an unrelated horror movie in order to draw in more of an audience. This could also be indicative of Hollywood being afraid of original ideas in favor of milking existing franchises dry.
This doesn’t work in the movie’s favor, already turning one of the film’s core audiences against them and leaving the rest skeptical. A similar issue occurred with the 2022 Uncharted film, based upon Naughty Dog’s treasure-hunting PlayStation classic of the same name.
The film wasn’t received well by fans, and critics deemed it relatively mediocre. I remember watching it and not necessarily hating it, but thinking it didn’t have too much in common with the game I remember watching my Dad play when we first got our Ps4. It could’ve been a perfectly fine action/adventure movie where Tom Holland and Marky Mark travel across the globe to get their hands on a Macguffin treasure. By calling a movie that has little in common with Uncharted, well, Uncharted, this can make a lot of devoted fans feel cheated out of a proper adaptation.
It’s not enough to just throw in a couple of references to the original game and expect fans to be happy (not unlike the upcoming Minecraft movie throwing a blue shirt on Jack Black and calling it a day). Audiences are smarter than that, and they’re going to see right through it. It does a disservice to not only the fans, but all those who worked tirelessly to craft the immersive world of the original game.
With all that being said, I am holding out hope that the Until Dawn movie will surprise me. You can’t always judge based on the first trailer…but that doesn’t mean initial reactions are always wrong. Perhaps it’ll end up being a solid horror movie. But a solid adaptation of Until Dawn? That remains up in the air.