We are looking at the 2025 box office to see what the genre’s performance tells us about audiences and the industry. As well as what opportunities are being presented for other films.

The Year Of Change For Superheroes?

The main topic of discussion this year is the lack of high-performing superhero movies. This is the first time since 2017 (excluding 2020) that a superhero movie hasn’t been in the top 5. Additionally, the top performer is not a Marvel film but DC’s new Superman reboot.

Marvel’s usual dominance has been completely shattered. Both their newer titles (Fantastic 4: First Steps and Thunderbolts*) and their returning branding (Captain America: Brave New World) failed to crack the top 10. Something that hasn’t happened (excluding 2020) since 2011. Analysts have mentioned superhero fatigue before, but this is the first year the box office seems to reflect it.

Up and Comers

Outside of the superhero bubble, this is also the first time since 2020 that we have had two top 10 performers not in the English language from more than one country. Ne Zha 2 (China) and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle (Japan).

Video game adaptations continued to do well. A Minecraft Movie is 2025’s third-highest-grosser at the time of writing. Horror also performed well. Of the year’s 20 highest-grossers, 4 were horror films. And while many of the biggest films are still sequels or films using existing IP to bolster their performance, Sinners and Weapons, 2 original films, made it into the top 20.

What This Means

Superheroes are far from being done. Superman’s success proves that, and as Kofi Outlaw points out, Marvel could recover its top position with the next slate of big brand titles, Spiderman: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, this year proves Marvel’s name isn’t a guarantee of dominance anymore. The MCU films mentioned above are part of franchises that are between 8 and 13 years old. Marvel can’t rely on dedicated fans to sustain them forever. Superman’s reboot managed to capture a younger audience and DC’s diverse upcoming release portfolio covers a range of interests and age groups. If Marvel wants to succeed in the future, to justify those huge budgets, it must get younger audiences invested in the next saga project. Not just those familiar with the MCU. But even then, superheroes are seeing competition from other areas.

The top 20’s 4 horror movies each cost around or below $100 million, and took between $268 – 494 million worldwide. A market still clearly exists for mid-budget films. These films also included the year’s two highest-performing original films. Showing that when well-marketed and written, audiences will go to see new ideas.

Similarly, Demon Slayer, on a $20 million budget, claimed over $760 million. Over $520 million came from territories outside of Japan. Also, while Ne Zha 2 primarily made money in China (over $1.8 billion on an $80 million budget), it still made almost $40 million in other territories. According to Think China, it is the 10th highest overseas takings for a Chinese film. It could have made more if it weren’t for distribution challenges. Again proving, given an outlet, international cinema can be popular. 

Lastly, video game movies are having a resurgence. After the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and The Super Mario Bros Movie, A Minecraft Movie captured family audiences and made almost a billion dollars. Thus, studios are preparing a slate of video game adaptations. Including Return To Silent Hill (Cineverse), Mortal Kombat 2 (Warner Bros), Super Mario Bros Galaxy (Illumination) and The Legend of Zelda (Sony).

Conclusion

Competition for the top is definitely getting more diverse. Among the constant non-comic book sequels, Disney animations and remakes, DC’s newfound strength will hopefully encourage Marvel to get less insular to keep audiences interested. Video game movies are also coming out to play; mid-budget horror and international releases have proven capable of reaching great heights, given the chance, and even original IP has a crack at the top. It’s definitely an interesting time to be going to the movies.

The post From Demon Slayer to Minecraft: The 2025 Box Office Shift Beyond Superheroes appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Today we will look at what games have done to enhance the power of their stories. We will then investigate what films can take from video game storytelling to improve in the future.

Game Storytelling

Over the past few decades, gaming has greatly expanded what it is capable of, both technologically and narratively. Take cutscenes for example. Often the default method of gaming story delivery, cutscenes are essentially movie clips rendered in the game’s engine. However, even this crude form of game storytelling has improved thanks to the more serious treatment of plots and characters. Games like the Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us series have placed great importance on creating well-developed primary and secondary characters to involve us in the story. As well as building plots that are emotionally and viscerally engaging.

Beyond writing better narratives and characters, using background environmental details to tell stories has proven hugely successful. Think of the Dark Souls series. Aside from a handful of cutscenes, these games’ stories are primarily told through background details that you can see and interact with. This allows players to investigate the story at their own pace. Making them feel instrumental in the storytelling process. It also gives the impression of a bigger world existing outside of the narrative.

Of course one of the best ways video games handle story is by linking it to the game’s mechanics. Think of Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line‘s stories. Which use game objectives and the gamification of war to make searing statements about the gaming industry and medium. Making the medium crucial rather than incidental to the narrative experience.

Films Meet Games

So, is there anything films can learn from video game storytelling? Some short films have already taken inspiration from gaming, using the Unreal Engine (Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line) to generate their visuals. Additionally, while some debate surrounds it, the use of VR to enhance an artistic experience is something both mediums are exploring. But what can a non-interactive medium take from interactive storytelling beyond CG and viewing peripherals?

Firstly, games prove that films shouldn’t fear using major and minor background elements to tell stories. Usually, films heavily emphasise background story elements to indicate their significance. But video games have shown people are willing to pore over every detail of a story’s world to be immersed. They just need the opportunity to do so. Something that’s very hard with constant cutting, dialogue and directorial decisions that foreground only “crucial” things at the expense of everything else.

Also, there is often debate surrounding movie length, however, games show if you are invested in the world because of good characters and worldbuilding, length won’t matter. David Lean’s epics are great filmic proof of this point.

Finally, films must centre the medium’s possibilities again. Games and TV shows are currently experiencing a golden age because high-profile creations are using each medium’s uniqueness to their advantage. Games have been experimenting with how to engage audiences in interactive stories. TV shows have pushed the possibilities of pictorial long-form bitesize storytelling. Meanwhile, with higher profile movies, examples that focus on the medium’s creative presentation of images and which are unique, complete experiences are shrinking. Many popular recent films are franchise properties that adhere to strict presentation parameters. Experimentation and completeness should be encouraged in all aspects of the film industry.

Conclusion 

We have seen a huge rise in the immersive storytelling possibilities of video games over the last few decades. As technology improves we will likely see more films utilising technology associated with games to create and deliver their stories. However, the biggest thing the film industry should learn from gaming’s story-driven success is that there is no substitute for engaging character-driven stories, detailed worlds that enliven the story and its universe and creative decisions that remind audiences of the medium’s importance.

Also Read: Five Video Games That Need To Be Made Into Films

Also Read: Adam Sipione Unravels the Inspiring Story of Shenmue In His New Documentary

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Whilst the game is very popular the success of the TV show means that it has reached beyond just existing fans. The world of the Fallout games is a desolate wasteland, a civilisation destroyed by nuclear war, some carried on in massive underground vaults whilst those on the surface either died or endured the harsh, radioactive conditions. There are mutants, ghouls, killer robots and helpful robots, and all manner of post-apocalyptic problems. Many of the games revolve around vault-dwellers having to go to the surface and this is the same in the TV show, in this instance, Lucy heading out to rescue her father, taken by surface-dwelling raiders. These themes of post-apocalyptic survival are hardly unique to Fallout and are a familiar premise to anyone who has watched TV and movies.

There are comparisons to be made with The Last Of Us – another post-apocalyptic video game turned into a critically acclaimed and successful TV series. But where The Last Of Us takes a decidedly serious and dour tone, Fallout is more whimsical and weird with its apocalyptic horror. Fallout has an extremely strong aesthetic that has been built up over years – the 1950s futurism/atompunk of the vaultdwellers, their cheery polite optimism, the ever-present mascot of Vault Boy, fictional brands like nuka-cola and even the blue and yellow jumpsuits they wear. Outside of the vaults, there are the Mister Handy robots, the grim and oddly dressed wastelanders, and the power-armour-wearing knights. This gave the showmakers a lot to work with and they made great use of it. Fallout is also a lot of fun. It is over-the-top post-apocalyptic madness with no attempt to provide any veneer of what might actually happen.

Lucy (Ella Purnell) is a great character and watching her deal with the constant battle of her lifelong belief in goodness and the golden rule and presented with a world where assuming the absolute worst in people is probably the wisest course of action. Her values and beliefs do take some knocks but her goodness does remain intact.

Maximus (Aaron Moten) sets off on a different story, not a vaultdweller but a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, a society working toward the protection of humanity and stopping another apocalypse. This is mainly achieved through their “knights” and the power armour they wear and fighting people. The Brotherhood of Steel are a fanatical, quasi-religious order of extremists who seem to have a vague belief in doing the right thing.

Finally of the main three cast members, we have Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Walter Goggins). The show actually starts with a scene before the nuclear war with Cooper being a cowboy at a kid’s birthday party, quickly revealing he was a famous western actor but bad things happened. Cooper refuses to do his trademark “thumbs-up” at the party, something Fallout fans will immediately recognise as the standard gesture of Vault Boy, with the suggestion being he no longer wants to be associated with it. We see Cooper desperately trying to escape nuclear war with his young daughter. We next see The Ghoul in the present day of the show, a radioactively poisoned undead creature, barely resembling a human, a bounty hunter par excellence and as bitter and cynical as anyone else in the wasteland and we learn that this is the very same Cooper Howard. Remarkably Cooper Howard seemed like a good guy, arguing with his director about whether his cowboy character should actually kill the villain and seemingly very concerned with being honest and doing good things.

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Fallout and became engaged with the characters and the world and with my abiding love of all things post-apocalyptic it was a fantastic surprise.

Also Read: Is Hollywood Starting To Take Video Games Seriously?

The post Whimsical Wasteland: Why Amazon Prime’s Fallout Series Is a Hit appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Why?

Many are often understandably apprehensive about turning games into movies because a game fundamentally puts you in control of the experience. There are often tight parameters regarding choices but your actions dictate the game’s pace – something which no movie can replicate. However, the modern Grand Theft Auto series has excelled at telling stories that feel right at home on the big screen. With its focus on character development, visual spectacle and twisting narrative threads that are just as engaging to watch as they are to play through. 

Additionally, a GTA film’s more limited runtime would allow for a more precise distillation of what makes the series great rather than allowing for all the fun but often pointless overindulgences featured in many of the new games. Simply put, it is possible for GTA to become the basis for a good movie. 

What Makes Grand Theft Auto?

But what elements should a GTA movie include to capture the series’ mood?

1. Original Character-driven Crime Story

A GTA movie should tell an original story to avoid unfavourable game comparisons. It should focus on creating an engaging main character (given the toxic masculine mainstream image of GTA a woman lead would be a good idea) whose life is thoroughly explored through a well-plotted crime narrative.

2. Incisive Commentary

Despite its popular image of indulging in mindless sex and violence GTA also features sharp social commentary. Whether it be GTA IV’s exploration of the alienation forced on people emigrating to America, San Andreas’ examination of racism and police brutality or the series sending up American greed. A GTA movie should focus on delivering real-world critiques to keep its sting.

3. Detailed World

GTA’s game worlds are full of things to experience. Radio stations, in-universe films and TV shows, comedy shows, nightclubs and more. Those making a GTA film will have to put a lot of thought into the world’s details and how they serve the film’s story to make it feel as lived-in as the games.

4. Clever Controversy

Whether it’s the hot coffee mod or the increasing revelry in graphic violence Grand Theft Auto often courts controversy. Though as mentioned, underpinning this material is a commitment to commenting on social issues. Even if the writers fail sometimes, thus a GTA film shouldn’t be afraid to include edgy material. As long as it furthers its themes and its use is carefully considered. It shouldn’t just be needlessly offensive.

5. Humour

Any Grand Theft Auto movie needs a funny streak. The series often uses hyperbolic parody and its characters’ darkly humorous personalities to deliver the series’ dark themes and narratives. Many would argue the sense of humour is what really gets audiences to engage with GTA. 

Getting Away With It 

Lastly, let’s hypothesise about some creatives who could make a good job of a GTA adaptation.

Rose Glass

Her latest film Love Lies Bleeding shows Rose Glass can make a violent character-focused crime film that comments on social issues. If she was given an even bigger canvas to work with she could easily make an interesting GTA adaptation.

Dev Patel

Dev Patel’s Monkey Man is an excellent bone-crunching crime film that deals with interesting political themes about oppression, violence and patriarchy and gives us a very fleshed-out world. With a bigger budget, more humour and a willingness to push everything even further Dev Patel could easily make a GTA film. 

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese’s work has greatly influenced GTA already. With him having produced great character-focused, comically tinged, socially conscious crime films like King of Comedy and Wolf of Wall Street and his great ability to build detailed worlds that become characters in themselves Martin Scorsese would probably be everyone’s dream choice to bring GTA to the big screen.

Personally, I think a GTA film is on the horizon. So long as the makers include the elements crucial to the games’ success a GTA film would be a welcome cinematic sight.

Also Read: Is Hollywood Starting To Take Video Games Seriously?

The post Grand Theft Auto: The Movie – Coming Soon? appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Today I’m going to list five unadapted video games that should receive the film treatment. I will then say why they should be adapted and give suggestions on how the adaptation could be handled.

Metroid

Why?: Metroid is one of gaming’s most beloved franchises and features Samus Aran, one of its most iconic women leads. To not adapt it would be heresy.

How?: The first Metroid film should remain small-scale. The basic plot would follow the first game, where Samus is sent to stop Space Pirates using Metroids to create new weapons. It could easily be set in a huge laboratory. We would steadily see more of Samus’ abilities throughout her journey. But Samus’ personality should be foregrounded to make big action moments more impactful. Future Metroid films could then increase the action’s scope as the first film will have invested us in Samus’ character.

Grand Theft Auto

Why?: GTA is incredibly popular/controversial but it also tells diverse cinematic stories. Which skewer the American dream and showcases the violence at its heart. Meaning GTA could easily be cinematically adapted and it could hit hard in the current climate.

How? A GTA film should tell an original narrative, to avoid direct game comparisons. Perhaps focusing on a woman character to deconstruct the toxic masculine image associated with the games. The other key elements are creating engaging characters, an emotionally involving, comedic story, and building a detailed world that satirizes American capitalism in pointed controversial ways. This way fans will have more to chew on beyond simple shock value.

Prototype

Why?: A Prototype film would be a genre lover’s dream. The premise of a virus transforming people into monsters and its focus on bloody carnage would satisfy horror gore hounds. But its superpowered main character and fast-paced action could also give it a unique space in the superhero market.

How?: The games provide several interesting story directions. Seeking vengeance for a murdered loved one or recovering one’s memory both have great dramatic possibilities. However, a Prototype film should prioritize having energetic direction. Also, crucially, it should include practical gore effects. Think Evil Dead meets Spider-Man.

Journey

Why?: Journey’s wordless story of a robed figure journeying towards a mountain and slowly discovering what happened to a prior civilization could really demonstrate the visual storytelling side of video game adaptations.

How?: To make a Journey film there needs to be grand visuals, an expressive main character, and a beautiful score. It could easily be told as a beautifully animated tale, like The Red Turtle. However, with ambitious creatives, it could be an awe-inspiring live-action epic. Imagine Dune (2022)’s creative team handling this adaptation. 

Ikenfell

Why?: The story of a non-magical girl searching for her sister in a magical school where she discovers her previously unknown powers has all the hallmarks of a new successful fantasy franchise. Plus the game’s focus on characters of colour and LGBTQ identities provides a wonderful opportunity for needed visibility in a big-screen franchise.

How?: An Ikenfell film should be live-action to showcase real-world representation. And would be best served by focusing on the mystery story and characters rather than style. Although if the Wachowski sisters wanted to direct another family film their creative flare would be welcome.

Those are just some games that deserve their own film. Which games would you like to see become films and why?

Also Read: Adam Sipione Unravels the Inspiring Story of Shenmue In His New Documentary

The post Five Video Games That Need To Be Made Into Films appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Ready Player One

Free Guy follows Guy (Ryan Reynolds), an NPC (Non-Playable Character) in the Grand Theft Auto-esque Free City. His daily life includes getting robbed at the banks he works at several times a day and hanging out with his friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). Convinced that there is more to life, Guy steals a pair of sunglasses, allowing him to see the game like he is a player. If any of that has confused you because you aren’t into video games, fear not, it is all explained, and much easier to pick up in concept.

The opening scenes of Guy’s routine set the stage well, with him being unconcerned about the explosions, and murder happening all around him. Pedestrians getting straight back to their jobs after robberies and friends are murdered in front of them sets the tone perfectly. The weirdness is something that only really happens in video games, and players will enjoy spotting the easter eggs. While some of the designs are clearly from iconic games, there are fewer of the background distractions than in Ready Player One or Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Guy’s new life leads him to cross paths with Millie (Jodie Comer), a player who has her own personal mission inside the game. Guy is instantly smitten and learns to play the game to impress her. Reynolds is effortlessly charming as always, playing the kind of character you would expect from him (although more family-friendly). Comer is excellent, as she is in everything, playing an almost dual role, with her character in the game and in the real world.

While the premise hints at They Live and The Truman Show, the film never really capitalises on these influences. After an altercation with some developers (Joe Keery and Utkarsh Ambudkar) who think Guy is cheating, the film’s POV switches to focus on Millie. Millie is looking for something hidden in the game (to say more would be more spoilers). This plotline takes up most of the film. Guy learns to play the game surprisingly quickly, as “the good guy”, helping NPC’s and being nice. Even the fact he is not a real person is processed fairly easily. With the film instead of focusing on Millie’s attempts to bring down the developer of Free City, Antwan (Taikia Waititi).

Insert Coin Here

The film does an excellent job of switching between the real world and the game, despite them both being live-action, it’s never confusing which one it’s following. The problem is that the in-game world becomes inconsequential for most of the game’s plot. For a movie about a video game, it’s surprising how little of it takes place in the video game. The chemistry between Millie and Keys (Joe Keery) is excellent and is really the heart of the movie.

Antwan is a surprising role for Waititi, as he employs his usual snark and sarcasm to play the villain this time, in a role that makes you hate him almost more than imaginary Hitler. Unfortunately, the nature of the story means that he doesn’t actually get to share any screen time with Reynolds. It seems like a missed opportunity for these two to meet, as we already know they’re funny together, but also because it makes every other character the straight man. This sometimes makes it feel like Reynolds and Waititi are in a different film to everyone else

This is just a symptom of the problem though. The fact is that Free Guy has all the basic ingredients to be great, but it doesn’t utilise them as much as it could. A lot of interesting ideas and funny jokes are introduced, but little is done with them. What we’re left with is still great, but feels like its playing everything too safely

Rating: (3.5 / 5)

Free Guy is very entertaining. The easter eggs and cameos offer great fan service, but it can’t help feel by the numbers. Rather like Free City, it’s good, but what’s just underneath could have been a whole lot better.

Also Read: Great Video Games That Should Be Adapted Into A Movie

The post Review: Free Guy appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Bioshock

A plane crash survivor stumbles upon the underwater city of Rapture, imagined as a utopia but now descended into anarchy, inhabited by terrifying humans and sinister monsters. From the start, Bioshock looked amazing, released in 2007 game designers were putting as much effort into “set design” as any filmmaker. The first game featured monsters so compelling – the gigantic hulking Big Daddies and the Little Sisters they protected – that in the sequel players took control of a Big Daddy.

Who Should Direct – surely a job for Guillermo Del Toro, creating a bizarre but beautiful world and especially suited if the Big Daddy was to be the monster-hero protagonist.

Grand Theft Auto

There are lots of GTA games, some which are undeniable high points of video games, but I want a specific game – the first Grand Theft Auto. Released in 1997 it’s hard to explain the dizzying level of joy this game delivered there had been nothing like this before. More important than plot, acting or even making sense will be capturing that sense of anarchic fun this original had.

Who Should Direct – It would be very easy to tip over into the grim horror of the at times amoral GTA world, instead bring in the genius comic-action director Edgar Wright.

Red Dead Redemption

Another game franchise that already looks like a movie – YouTube is full of videos of people simply riding around the beautiful scenery. A western set in the dying days of the Wild West with little room for cowboys and outlaws. A morally nebulous world of crime and adventure, working for the authorities as often as fighting them and often little hope of every actually getting to any sort of better life.

Who Should Direct– John Hillcoat – looking at the westerns and not quite westerns that exist in multiple layers of moral ambiguity his back catalogue would make him an excellent choice.

Super Mario Kart

We’ve had a Super Mario film and I think we all agree it was terrible but there has been no Super Mario Kart film, surely one of the best video games of all time. I propose a nightmarish horror-action extravaganza of monsters, dinosaurs and plumbers battling it out on dazzlingly bright M.C Escher inspired racetracks full of insane bursts of speed and turtle shell violence.

Who would direct – With Mad Max: Fury Road George Miller brought us a brilliant film that was one long car chase, I’m sure he could do one long car race on a similar scale.

Shadow of the Colossus

A curious and unusual game, Shadow of the Colossus had players travel the world and kill sixteen (mostly) gigantic creatures – known as Colossi, in doing so the life of another person will be saved. The departure from most games is that there are no towns to explore, no NPCs to interact with, no legions of lesser enemies to wipe out – you simply fight the Colossi. Each enemy is different and designed with a huge amount of detail and depth, each way to kill them is different.

Who Should Direct – there are two options – first a more traditional fantasy take helmed by Peter Jackson who if nothing else can do spectacle. The second would be Paul Thomas Anderson in a There Will Be Blood style – long periods of not much talking, it looks stunning and brief moments of shocking intensity – Daniel Day-Lewis could even play one of the colossi.

Also Read: When Great Video Games Become Lacklustre Movies

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