Despite the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, movies based on video games remain a hit or miss. Regardless of the success level, most fans of video games will always cite the source material as a main consideration.
This sentiment was echoed by none other than Craig Mazin, co-creator of The Last of Us series. In a report, Mazin revealed that for an adaptation of video game work to succeed, the people behind it should be huge fans of the source material. He went on to say that this is because fans can actually sense if a video game adaptation was made by those who didn't understand the game.
Knowing the Source Material
To be clear, there's a difference between being familiar with the source material and not following the source material. The Super Mario Bros. released in 1993, for example, was so far away from the source material that it didn't resonate with fans. Another example was the Need for Speed movie.
On the other hand, the Mortal Kombat movie released in 2021 may have introduced a new character but kept some of the features that made the game interesting like fatalities and abilities of characters. Sonic the Hedgehog is also another example of success that even its sequel ending the box office run at a high note.
The Best Adaptation
Mazin served as the co-creator of The Last of Us TV series along with Neil Druckman. The show is based on the video game of the same name released in 2013 by Naughty Dog. It's set in a world under a pandemic due to a mass fungal infection, which isn't ordinary since the hosts transform into zombie-like creatures. The story follows the smuggler Joel who's been tasked with escorting the teenager Ellie, who is immune to the infection, across a post-apocalyptic US.
In the show, Joel is played by Pedro Pascal while Bella Ramsey portrays Ellie. The first season received critical acclaim with many critics calling it as possibly the best adaptation of a video game. The show has been renewed for a second season.
