Edit - This topic could fit in either the Sony board as it discusses Sony's game intellectual properties or in the movie board. If a mod deems it is better suited to the movie board then I wouldn't mind seeing you do what you think will benefit the discussion and ability for the topic to provoke interest!

So we all know that most movies based on games are sub par. However a ton of them that aren't from Uwe Boll are actually alright if not good enough to be considered good movies. It would appear that more and more game companies are seeing the value in video game based films. UbiSoft has created its own film company to bring its game franchises to the big screen. Zynga is trying to get its brand's recognized with a film studio already trying to produce two films one based on Mafia Wars and the other supposedly on Farm Ville. Other companies like Square have been making game based movies for a while with Final Fantasy and licensing a sequel to Hitman and a reboot of Tomb Raider.

Other companies like Nintendo have invested in bringing series to television like Kirby and Pokemon. Pokemon movies amass. Halo the movie has been off and on for a long time. Sony themselves publish and produce the Resident Evil series of films for Capcom. It seems that a lot of the major game franchises receive movie adaptations these movies if done right can be very good.

So this brings me to Sony, I know many game based movies suck but if any company has the capability of bringing a good game based movie to the big screen it is Sony. SCE and Sony Pictures could work hand in hand bringing so many great IP to the big screen or television almost every property in the Sony IP library could be brought to film or TV.

Imagine animated TV/movie series based on

Sly Cooper

Ratchet and Clank

Little Big Planet

Series that could go either live action movie or animated

Jak and Daxter

Series that would fit live action film or TV series

WarHawk/StarHawk (Hawk series)

Resistence

Killzone

Twisted Metal

Shadow of the collosus

WipeOut

Syphon Filter

Heavenly Sword

etc.......etc......

I know that Uncharted is supposed to receive a film adaptation, but why should Sony only take advantage of a single franchise? They have a gold mine of un-tapped film potential at a time when new films are becoming harder and harder to make, using the huge IP library Sony has its disposal would be huge.

I mean Sony just acquired the rights to Risk saying the board games IP has great value if they are so desperate that they would make a film based on a board game why not utilize the dozens of major franchises they already own and have spent time and money developing?

Because Sony doesn't understand how to make all it's corporate hands work together as opposed to of their own volition. This sucks because they could have movies and cartoons and what not which would only increase awareness of their products and help spread advertising costs to heir movie studios which would be very beneficial as the Playstation division obviously can't do it all.

I'm glad sony doesn't, games are games and movies are movies, in most cases, it should stay like that.
But I actually think some games would work better as movies/TV shows (e.g. resistance) and vice versa.

I've always imagined Sly Cooper and Oceans series as being quite similar xD Just one is incredibly kiddy.

And some of these games would need HUGE budgets as movies, imagine how much a Killzone series and Shadow of the collosus movie would cost to keep it on par with the games.

Uncharted 2 as a movie would probably cost Hundreds of millions. That's a massive investment and a pretty big risk.

are you kidding me JoeCool?? Most movies based on games suck, hard. I think this is damn smart of SOny not to even think about this. you could argue that it would raise awareness, but if the movie sucks then who would want to play the game?? Mario sales didnt increase after that terrible movie, nor did Wing Commander, Double Dragon, Max Payne, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, hell PoP had a massive marketing campaign, the movie did ok, but the game totally flopped.

The company's seperate devisions have never been that unified.

Agreed most game based movies do suck, just like most movie based games. But there have been a few great movies based on games and multiple decent ones. I don't think the film would increase software sales rather vice versa and then they together could sell merchandise like books, toys etc....etc...

Also the reason so many movie games suck is because they don't have talent behind them. Especially the crap from Uwe Boll I mean the game is commonly referred to as the worst director in the film industry I don't know why any publishers sold him licenses in the first place. But look at director Paul William Anderson (Mortal Combat/Resident Evil) or Simon West (Tomb Raider) Mike Newel (Prince Of Persia) it seems every time a decent director and writing staff are put behind a film its either really good or good.

Then look at the bad game movies John Moore (Max Payne) Uwe Boll (Almost every bad game movie to date)Andrej Bartkowiak (Doom/Street Fighter) at the time of making Doom he had only directed three movies which none were seen as amazing. Christophe Gans (Silent Hill).

Fact is the directors who directed the films that did poorly weren't big shots most didn't have a single decent movie to their names when they made the video game movies. Others were new to directing and such. Why is it that Michael Bay is doing a movie based on a board game they hire directors who have made big successful titles to direct movies based on all kinds of things. But when a video game movie is being made they hire dicks.

If Hollywood can create great comic book movies then they are more then capable of creating good video game based films. The low quality of the films is do to the publisher just not putting in the effort, when effort is put in the films turn out decent if not great. Which is why I suggested Sony specifically.

Sony's studios are some of the best in the world they have access to some of the best directors and writers. Put a budget similar to a comic based film and you'll see a great video game movie.

The estimated budgets for the Resident Evil start at 33-million for the first film and 60-million for the latest. Where as say Spider man got a budget of 100-million for the first film (Those will argue because it is a more successful franchise, at the time of the first films making nobody could have known how big it would be). Then look at the budget for Hulk (2008) they knew the first Hulk film had bombed so they wouldn't invest as much in the reboot right? Well it got a 150-million dollar budget.

Now lets compare box office take ins. Hulk (2008) 263,427,551 in total  while Resident Evil's first film grossed 102.4 million. But look at the latest Resident Evil film it got a budget of only 60-million dollars but grossed 296,200,000.

If Resident Evil is a more profitable film franchise then Hulk how profitable do you think Sony could be with an actual big property. Resident Evil is big but almost all of Sony's properties have the potential to perform just as good.

Sony could bring in tons of users drawing attention to their brands, they could also bring in millions upon millions in film revenue then add in merchandise and your set. Movies by Sony have the potential to be amazing and television shows could only add to that.

The thing is, Sony is capable of creating the best movies based on games anyone can. Its sure a smarter move for Sony then investing in third party licenses.

Some of you guys here needs to be more open-minded. I think a game-based movie won't hurt Sony. I think it would end up beneficial to both divisions(Sony/Columbia and Playstation), it could increase awareness of the game and if the movie profits then great. If it bombed, there's still DVD sales.

I like some of the examples that Joelcool7 made. LBP has an appeal that could work in a very wide demographic ala Toy Story or if it doesn't go with that route, then kids won't fail you most often. Just look at Smurfs 3D. Terrible but still grossed more than $500M worldwide. Not a bad idea to me. And I think an imaginary LBP film>>>>> Smurfs in the future unless they mess up so bad...Lol

im sorry but none of those movies are really good, decent at best IMHO. Hulk and RE comparison sucks, because there have been two Hulk movies and like 5 RE ones. Comparing comic books is crap too, that is a completly different type of entertainment. Most comics have compelling characters and stories in the first place thats why people buy them and thats why half the battle in turning them into films is already done. Video games is interactive media most of them dont have great stories to begin with. Also i dont think video games get the same respect as comic books otherwise they wouldnt be throwing lame directors at them. 

You say that Sony could draw in more users. How?? Even those movies you called "good" didnt increase the sales of their respective video games, not one. Fans are not stupid they know crap when they see it. I would argue that the people who watch these films are already aware and play the games already. everybody else probably doesnt even know its based on a game

RE films are one of those series where it's actually growing in terms of its box office gross. i think the movies helped spread awareness of the game and that made RE5 the most successful RE game ever. And after RE5's success, Resident Evil Afterlife became the most successful film of the series. It's like a perfect example of symbiosis. I think it helps more than you think you're giving it credit for.

I think for whoever made the RE films, they know the ins and outs of the business. You see, in making movies especially based on something(a book, comic series, or games) you don't think of catering to the fans, movies won't profit from fans. It's like those guys complaiingng on why the movies doesn't feel as complete as the adapted book without even thinking why it didn't make the cut like the film is over 3 hours runtime. And you know what? That makes the people who didn't read the book become curious about the cut scenes. And that's how they end up buying the source material because they want to know more.It's just genius marketing.

Whoever made RE film pictured the best case scenario on how to make the film "commercial", know  of its strengths and weakness, RE films catered to action and zombie flick lovers , that's a fact. No one does it better than the Resident Evil films so they got their crowd and made MONEY, I know it was terrible for you but it don't have to be a critical success. It just have to print money.

With what you're saying, Sony should closed off opportunities and that's keeping some Sony franchises from becoming bigger than their real potential. It's a shame but I guess Sony does hate money sometimes... Oh well.

PS. Did you just compare game-based film to movie-based games? LOL It's a similar concept just the opposite but the process is completely different.Also, bad films can still be watchable despite it's obvious flaws and still gain a cult following...Bad games with terrible gameplay or story is just hard to sit through because it's an interactive experience with a need of a player(ofcourse) while watching films is just us, the audience observing without inputting any commands at all... Am I right?