The year 2023 has already started quite promising for the gamer public. After decades of suffering from terrible films, games seem to have finally entered a kind of golden age with adaptations that promise to live up to the success of each of these franchises — and The Last of Us arrives to crown the good moment.
The HBO series premieres this Sunday (15) and draws attention both for its faithfulness to the original material and for its ability to bring the story to a much broader audience than gamers. That’s a combination that seems to be the keynote of other game-inspired movies and TV shows we should be seeing throughout the rest of the year.
That’s because the studios also seem to be excited about the good moment and will bet heavily on releases from the gamer world. From classic animations to somewhat unusual attacks, fans will have nothing to complain about.
In 2023, at least five premieres are already confirmed for the next few months, but there are a multitude of other productions in progress and that may appear as surprises throughout the year. So, to help you prepare for this “Golden Age” of game adaptations, here are some names to keep an eye out for in addition to The Last of Us.
Nier: Automata Ver1.1a
We start our list with an adaptation that is already in progress. Nier: Automata Ver1.1a is an anime that adapts the game of the same name released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch and that shows a future where androids and machines went to war. However, more than the conflict itself, the plot is centered precisely on the search for humanity by the robots, who come to understand that they are much more than just weapons.
The game was a huge success precisely because of this almost existentialist approach — an approach that the anime replicates well.
Nier: Automata Ver1.1a premiered on January 7th and It’s available on Crunchyroll.
Super Mario Bros. – The film
One of the most anticipated animations of 2023, Super Mario Bros. – The film it’s Nintendo redemption in theaters. The new film promises to bring the great video game icon to the screen, respecting everything fans know — and completely erasing the infamous 1993 feature.
For that, we have all the classic visuals and a story that goes back to what games have always been, as well as a very familiar soundtrack.
Super Mario Bros. – The film opens in theaters on March 30.
Gran Turismo
The biggest surprise isn’t the fact that the movie Gran Turismo it’s coming out in 2023, but that someone is actually making a feature film about a game that has no story. The franchise is known for being just a racing simulator, focusing all its experience on driving and without bringing any narrative behind it.
Thus, the script will tell a story that goes beyond the video game itself. The plot is centered on one of the Nissan GT Academy drivers, an initiative that turned players into real professional drivers. With Arcihie Madekwe (Midsommar: Evil Doesn’t Wait for the Night) in the lead role and names like Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings) and David Harbor (Stranger Things) in the cast, is a rather curious move.
Gran Turismo hits theaters on August 11.
The Witcher
OK, The Witcher it’s not exactly an adaptation of the games. The Netflix series is much more inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski’s books than CD Projekt Red’s games, but our cheating is valid for the simple fact that many more people know Geralt and Ciri through the games than through the source material.
And the third season of the series has already been promised for 2023, although streaming has not given an exact date when this will happen. According to Netflix, the forecast is that the episodes will arrive in the middle of the second half.
The great curiosity is in the exchange of protagonists. With the departure of Henry Cavill from the role of Geralt, the wizard will be played by Liam Hemsworth.
What else is to come
In addition to these premieres already confirmed, fans should keep an eye out for some surprises that may paint over the next few months. And I’m not just talking about sonic 3: the movie, which has already been confirmed for December 2024 to piggyback on the blue hedgehog’s good time. Before Sega’s mascot makes a reappearance, we should have some other news coming our way.
Netflix, for example, had suggested that the animation spin-off of castlevania could arrive this year. The new anime will continue the story of the Belmont family, this time following the new protagonist Richter Belmont, a descendant of the protagonist of the original series.
Who can also win more news and even a premiere date is the unlikely series of Twisted Metal. The series will have Anthony Mackie (Falcon and the Winter Soldier) in the lead role and brings racing madness to the screen with monster cars and flaming clowns. So far, we’ve seen absolutely nothing about the adaptation, although filming has already wrapped.
Prime Video recently released a first image of its upcoming series based on the franchise. fallout. According to streaming, the idea is to tell an unprecedented story and not follow the plot of a specific game. Thus, we can expect a script that explores this rich universe very well and that is developed with a lot of freedom. And while there’s no release date yet, the fact that we already have an image is a good sign.
There is still the expectation of new seasons of arcane and Halotwo very recent productions that managed to bring all the mythology of league of legends and Microsoft’s FPS franchise. Both were well received by critics and audiences, which justifies the arrival of new episodes as soon as possible.
At the same time, there are a plethora of other announcements that were made that ended up not being fleshed out further by the studios. In gears of war and Assassin’s Creedare those promises that may be being produced in silence to surprise us at any moment or that have been shelved and nobody wants to talk about anymore.
Whatever the option, check out which games can still win a movie and series soon – but which remain undated so far.
Game movies still undated
- Minecraft
- Detective Pikachu 2
- Mortal Kombat 2
- Ark: Survival Evolved
- borderlands
- BioShock
- Death Stranding
- Beyond Good & Evil
- metal gear solid
- Just Cause
- Duke Nukem
- Ghost of Tsushima
- It Takes Two
- days gone
- comix zone
- Pac Man
- Streets of Rage
Undated game series
- Tomb Raider animation
- Arcane – Season 2
- Assassin’s Creed animation
- Castlevania Spin Off
- fallout
- Mass Effect
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- gears of war
- Alan Wake
- Twisted Metal
- God of War
- Splinter Cell
