The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Courtesy of Universal Pictures)

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Courtesy of Universal Pictures)

The alliance between two of the youngest art forms is reshaping the global entertainment landscape: film and video games. Film, often referred to as the “seventh art,” and video games, which have increasingly gained recognition as a cultural and artistic medium, have finally found a successful partnership in the 2020s after decades of trial and error. The reason is simple. Films based on game IPs have delivered one box-office success after another, emerging as a new growth engine for the film industry. Hollywood alone is releasing several game-based films in 2026. Return to Silent Hill has opened in the United States, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has been released worldwide, and the rebooted Street Fighter is scheduled to hit theaters later this year. Yet amid this trend, Korea’s film and gaming industries appear to be lagging behind. Why is that? Examining how Hollywood achieved successful game-to-film adaptations may shed light on Korea’s current situation.

From Box-Office Disasters to Cash Cows:
Hollywood's Evolution in Game-to-Film Adaptations As the spearhead of the global film industry, Hollywood began experimenting with game adaptations early on. Today's success stories are, in many ways, the cumulative result of countless attempts and failures. The first film based on a video game was Super Mario Bros. in 1993. Promoted with the tagline “This Ain’t No Game,” the film transformed the Super Mario video game into a dystopian live-action science-fiction movie. It failed both critically and commercially. Comparing that film with The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), the animated adaptation of the same source material, provides a useful way to understand how and why the fortunes of game-based films changed before and after the 2020s. The key difference lies in the active involvement of the original creators.

The 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie was produced after the film rights were simply licensed to a production company. Most game adaptations followed a similar model. While a few films such as Mortal Kombat (1995) and Street Fighter (1994) gained cult followings, they largely failed to satisfy dedicated game fans. The period that followed was especially painful for gaming enthusiasts, coinciding with the rise of director Uwe Boll, who became notorious for directing numerous game-based films. To be fair, adaptations such as the Tomb Raider series (2001–2003), starring Angelina Jolie, and the Resident Evil series (2002–2016), starring Milla Jovovich, helped revive the popularity of the female warrior archetype. However, they could not overcome the negative reputation created by many of Boll's productions, including House of the Dead (2003), BloodRayne (2005), and Alone in the Dark (2005). Produced on limited budgets and often failing to capture even the basic essence of their source material, these films flooded the market and reinforced the stereotype that “movies based on video games are doomed to fail.”

The films that ultimately turned the tide were Detective Pikachu (2019) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). The success of these two works stemmed from identifying what could be effectively adapted for film and precisely targeting what fans wanted to see. Rather than adapting the mainline Pokémon games—whose core gameplay revolves around capturing and battling Pokémon—Detective Pikachu adapted the 2016 spin-off game of the same name. By doing so, it overcame the challenges of translating the main series to film while preserving the franchise’s unique charm. Sonic the Hedgehog, meanwhile, faced widespread criticism over its CGI character design when the first trailer was released. In response, the filmmakers undertook a complete redesign, even delaying the release date to do so. The results spoke for themselves: Detective Pikachu grossed USD 450 million worldwide, while Sonic the Hedgehog surpassed USD 300 million, ushering in a new golden age for game-based films.

Detective Pikachu (top) and Sonic the Hedgehog ushered in a new golden age of game-based films
through their box-office success. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Korea and Lotte Entertainment)

What is particularly noteworthy about these two films is the direct involvement of the original rights holders in the production process. Detective Pikachu was produced with the participation of The Pokémon Company, while Sonic the Hedgehog was developed with the involvement of Sega Sammy Holdings. The companies that recognized this trend most quickly were Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo, each of which operates its own gaming console ecosystem through PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, respectively. Both companies possessed extensive portfolios of games developed by their own studios or secured through exclusive agreements, and they saw an opportunity to expand seriously into the film industry based on these assets. Sony Interactive Entertainment established PlayStation Productions in 2019 and has since produced a variety of adaptations, including Uncharted (2022) and the television series The Last of Us (2023), both based on PlayStation game franchises. Nintendo, on the other hand, did not create a separate production company. Instead, it became directly involved in the filmmaking process and collaborated with Illumination to produce The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The film generated an extraordinary worldwide box-office total of more than USD 1.3 billion, becoming the second-highest-grossing film globally in 2023. Beyond the approach taken by these major studios, which actively participate in production themselves, a wide range of games continued to be adapted for the screen, sustaining the momentum of the game-to-film boom. Warner Bros.' A Minecraft Movie (2025) and Blumhouse's Five Nights at Freddy's franchise (2023– ) both benefited from the participation of their original creators, helping preserve the essence of the source material and translating that authenticity into commercial success.

Uncharted (top) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were both produced with the direct involvement of
their respective platform holders. (Courtesy of Sony Pictures and Universal Pictures)

Why Have K-Games Struggled to Make the Leap to Film? Against this backdrop, Korea's film and gaming industries remain somewhat disconnected from one another. Efforts to adapt games into films have been delayed for years. The most notable example to emerge, The Labyrinth (2021), based on the game White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, became a fundamentally different work from its source material. While the original game was renowned for its inescapable atmosphere of supernatural horror, the film reimagined it as an exorcism-themed movie. The result was disastrous critical reception, which, rather than opening the door to further adaptations, effectively halted momentum for game-based films in Korea. That does not mean there is little demand for collaborations between games and film. The success of Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy (2025), adapted from the web novel of the same name, and Solo Leveling (2024– ), which was adapted into an animated series from a web novel, demonstrates that Korean audiences clearly possess both an understanding of and an interest in game-related content.

Beyond audience interest—a somewhat abstract measure—the industry's scale also supports this conclusion. According to the 2025 Korea Game White Paper published by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), Korea's game industry was worth KRW 23 trillion in 2024. The country's share of the global gaming market reached 7.2%, ranking fourth worldwide. Given these figures, it is difficult to argue that Korean audiences lack interest in games or in films based on game properties.

According to the 2025 Korea Game White Paper, Korea’s game industry grew by 3.9% in 2024,
accounting for 7.2% of the global game market. (Courtesy of KOCCA)

So why is it so difficult for game-based films to emerge in Korea? Compared directly with Hollywood, the most striking difference is that no Korean game developer has seriously entered the film production business. Major game developers that possess valuable IPs and significant potential for franchise expansion generally responded that they have “no plans” for film adaptations. This does not mean they have abandoned media expansion altogether. On the contrary, many game franchises are actively pursuing various forms of media mix strategies. The question, then, is why film adaptations remain largely absent from the discussion.

A film industry professional with experience in IP sourcing and investment explained, “Movies are either planned, developed, and financed internally, or acquired from production companies that have developed or discovered promising projects. However, films based on game IPs are uncommon in either case.” The source added that there are currently no game-based film projects actively in development in Korea.

Another frequently cited challenge is determining how much of a game's world should be depicted on screen. In a two-hour film format, deciding “how much of the game's universe needs to be explained” is a separate issue from adaptation itself. Too little explanation creates a high barrier to entry for general audiences, while too much explanation raises another question: among the many potential audience groups, who should the film primarily target? The industry source pointed to the recently aired TVING original series The Legend of Kitchen Soldier as an example. The drama follows an army cook who rises to become a legendary military chef through quests, level-ups, and other game-like mechanics. “Since the series borrows game systems, female viewers in particular tended to respond that they found some of the terminology and gaming concepts relatively difficult to understand,” the source explained. “However, since the story is set in the real world and focuses heavily on family relationships, it was easier to make the material accessible and overcome that limitation.” A film directly adapted from a game, however, would have far fewer of these grounding elements to help audience immersion, making it significantly more difficult to overcome such challenges.

The Legend of Kitchen Soldier visualizes the protagonist’s level, skills, and character attributes through
a video game-style interface. (Courtesy of The Legend of Kitchen Soldier)

These challenges stem largely from the fact that most Korean game IPs that have achieved franchise-level success originated as online games. Looking at successful game-to-film adaptations in Hollywood and elsewhere, the source material is generally built upon a self-contained narrative. Package games—commonly referred to as “single-player games”—typically bring their stories to a conclusion within each installment, even when they are part of a larger series. Online games, by contrast, continuously expand their narratives through updates in order to attract and retain players. As a result, the Korean game industry has tended to view visual storytelling not as a means of adapting games into films, but rather as a form of media mix designed to expand a game's universe. A prime example is Krafton's PUBG Universe, a franchise built around the world of PUBG: Battlegrounds. As part of its “Truth Duology” short-film project, Krafton produced Ground Zero (2021), starring Ma Dong-seok, and Bystanders (2022), featuring Go Soo and Lee Hee-jun. Rather than depicting the battle royale gameplay of the main title, these productions focused on dramatizing key events that form the foundation of the broader PUBG universe.

Beyond these issues, industry insiders argue that the most important question is whether a game possesses enough originality to justify a film adaptation in the first place. According to one film industry professional, “The key issue is whether the game has a level of originality that makes it suitable for adaptation into a film.” The challenge, however, is that modern games already incorporate highly cinematic storytelling through cutscenes and in-game cinematics. “From the perspective of filmmakers, they need to create something different from the game,” the source explained. “But many games already contain elements that feel very much like movies, which makes that task difficult.”

The source also pointed out that adapting a game IP offers fewer advantages than adapting works from other media such as novels or webtoons. “If an IP is large enough to warrant a film adaptation, the developer is usually a major corporation,” the source said. “The rights are not inexpensive like those for novels or webtoons. In addition, developers tend to have a great deal of pride in their IPs, and aligning the planning and development of a screen adaptation with those expectations is not easy.” The source added that while one of the biggest obstacles—the lack of advanced CGI technology—has largely been overcome over the past five or six years, the cost of producing high-quality visual effects remains a major challenge. “For these reasons, both producers and investors continue to view games as a difficult category to adapt for the screen,” the source concluded.

Ground Zero (top) and Bystanders, part of the PUBG Universe initiative created to expand the world of
the global gaming phenomenon PUBG: Battlegrounds (Courtesy of Krafton)

The Future of Game-Based Films in Korea What kind of framework, then, would allow Korea's film and gaming industries to find common ground in the future? One possible answer may lie in shifting attention toward the package-game and indie-game sectors, both of which have been experiencing renewed growth in recent years. Among large-scale productions, package games such as Lies of P (Round8 Studio, 2023) and Stellar Blade (Shift Up, 2024) appear to offer more accessible opportunities for adaptation. Likewise, indie titles that combine distinctive gameplay with compelling narratives—such as SANABI (Wonder Potion, 2023), Dave the Diver (Mintrocket, 2023), and Staffer Case: A Supernatural Mystery Adventure (Team Tetrapod, 2023)—may present more manageable options both creatively and financially for film development. Of course, these games are not without their own challenges. Many of the developers are currently focused on expanding their franchises through sequels and future projects, while the unique styles and gameplay-driven identities of these titles may still prove difficult to translate effectively into a feature film format. The obstacles, in other words, have not disappeared.

Lies of P (top), a third-person action RPG inspired by the fairy tale Pinocchio, and SANABI,
an action game set in a futuristic reimagining of Korea's Joseon era (Courtesy of Neowiz)

If Korean game developers are not prepared to open the door to film adaptations in the same way Hollywood studios have, then the Korean film industry may be better served by finding a path that aligns with the realities of its own market. In that sense, focusing exclusively on the most recognizable franchises or the highest-grossing IPs is unlikely to be the right answer. Just as Korean cinema has distinguished itself through originality, artistic merit, and unique storytelling rather than sheer production scale, game-to-film adaptations need not follow Hollywood's blueprint. Instead, the industry should keep in mind that games possessing compelling narratives and richly developed worlds can succeed as films even after their interactive elements are removed. Whether through large-scale package games or creatively ambitious indie titles, there remains ample potential for meaningful adaptations. One can only hope that new efforts will emerge to bring Korean cinema and Korean games together in ways that reflect the distinctive strengths of both industries.

#GameIndustry #GameIP #GameAdaptation #GameMovies #SuperMario #TheSuperMarioBrosMovie #SonicTheHedgehog #DetectivePikachu #Uncharted #LiesOfP #SANABI #PUBG #KoreanCinema #KoreanGames