Those things are already like movies

Jack Black has become something of a video game movie veteran lately. From voicing Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie to bringing Claptrap to life in (the disastrous) Borderlands, and now gearing up for his role in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Minecraft (why?), the actor seems determined to leave his mark on every major gaming adaptation in Hollywood.

But during a recent interview, Black expressed genuine surprise about one particular gaming franchise that hasn’t made the leap to the silver screen yet. The reason behind this particular franchise’s absence from Hollywood, as it turns out, is both fascinating and somewhat ironic.

And it all comes down to a decision made years ago by one of the gaming industry’s most influential figures.

Jack Black’s Take on Gaming’s Biggest Missing Movie

When Total Film asked him about which games he’d love to see get the Hollywood treatment, Black didn’t hesitate to point out what he saw as a glaring omission in the current wave of video game adaptations:

I can’t believe they haven’t already started making a movie of any of the Rockstar Games – Grand Theft Auto, but especially Red Dead Redemption.

But he didn’t stop there.

The actor and comedian went on to explain his reasoning, highlighting what many gamers have long recognized:

Those things are already like movies, you know? I guess that’s the thing. Some video games are already halfway there to telling those kind of stories, and there are some movies that are like video games.

Black’s observation isn’t wrong. Red Dead Redemption, in particular, has been praised for its cinematic storytelling, rich character development, and atmospheric world-building that rivals many Hollywood westerns. The game’s sprawling narrative and memorable performances would seem to make it a perfect candidate for a big-screen adaptation.

The Surprising Reason Behind the Missing Adaptation

However, there’s a compelling reason why we haven’t seen Arthur Morgan or John Marston riding across movie theater screens. Dan Houser, the revered longtime writer and producer behind both Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, had consistently turned down opportunities to adapt these games for film or television.

Speaking to The Ankler, Houser recently revealed that Rockstar had received numerous pitches over the years, but they always saw these potential adaptations as too risky. The studio was protective of their multi-billion-dollar franchises, and given the historically poor track record of video game movies, they feared that bad adaptations could do more harm than good.

“They thought we’d be blinded by the lights and that just wasn’t the case,” Houser explained, highlighting how the economics and risks never made sense to them, especially during an era when video game adaptations were largely considered box office poison.

We had what we considered to be multi-billion-dollar IP, and the economics never made sense. The risk never made sense. In those days, the perception was that games made poor-quality movies.

— Dan Houser, co-founder, Rockstar Games.

Of course, times have changed. With successful adaptations like The Witcher, The Last of Us, and, most recently, Fallout proving that gaming properties can be translated effectively into compelling TV series, and films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise dominating the box office, perhaps we’ll see Rockstar’s stance soften in the future. 

But for now, these games WILL continue to tell their cinematic stories exclusively through the medium they were designed for.

What do you think? Should Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto make the leap to the big screen, or are these games better left as interactive experiences? Share your thoughts in the comments below!