Video game adaptations are on a hot streak. Films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 were massive box office hits, while series like The Last Of Us and Halo have made for stellar TV shows.
While there have been some great video game movies, some have failed to capture the true spirit of a game on film. Luckily, more effort and resources are being poured into new adaptations given the success of the projects mentioned above — we’re starting to see more and more video game films in the works and the overall quality appears to have hit a massive spike in recent years. With so many great video game franchises, every gamer believes their favorite game should be the next one to get a film.
It can be hard to pay attention to all the rumors, announcements, and developments (these films take years to make sometimes!), so we’ve gathered all the info you need to keep up with all upcoming video game movies below.
Video game movie adaptions with release dates
Borderlands (August 9, 2024)
Gearbox Software’s Borderlands film will star Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black (as Claptrap, of course). The movie won’t follow the events of the game exactly — Lilith, the powerful Siren (played by Blanchett), is returning to Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas, referred to as”the universe’s most powerful SOB.” Obviously, she”ll need old friends and new allies while exploring the dangerous deserts on Pandora and that’s where the rest of the ragtag group comes in.
Directed and co-written by Eli Roth (of Cabin Fever and Hostel fame), we’re hoping this project leans in the same direction that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves managed to find last year — a clever, otherworldly adventure that really captures the spirit of the source material.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (December 20, 2024)
While we felt like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 didn’t really live up to the first film in the series, it was still wildly popular and became the highest-grossing video game-based film of all time with ease, and we’re not surprised that another one is on the way. We still don’t know a lot about the plot of the third installment yet (filming just wrapped up in March 2024), but we know it will feature Shadow who serves as Sonic’s archrival.
The main cast — Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, and Idris Elba — will be returning for the third film, and newcomers include Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Alyla Browne and James Wolk, among others.
Minecraft: The Movie (April 4, 2025)
Yes, there’s going to be a Minecraft movie. While the project has been on the table for years and has switched hands a few times, it looks like it is finally set to release in early 2025. There hasn’t been a trailer released yet, but we have this basic plot description from Warner Bros.: “The malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, prompting a young girl and her group of unlikely adventurers to set out to save the Overworld.”
The cast includes Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, and Kate McKinnon and it’ll be directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre).
This one is going to be quite an event, and it will undoubtedly be a box-office hit because, if you weren’t aware, Minecraft is one of the bestselling games of all time. The children yearn for the mines, as they say.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel (April 3, 2026)
While The Super Mario Bros. Movie may not have had the depth that older gamers wanted it to have, it was a massive success, and we’re only at the beginning of Universal Pictures’ inevitable string of Mario movies.
The cast of The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 is expected to remain the same, with potential additions of new characters like Wario, Waluigi, and Rosalina.
Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri has confirmed that the film will be released in early 2026. We don’t know anything else about the film right now.
Video game movies in development
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