List of films based on video games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many video games have been adapted into films. These include local, national, international, direct-to-video and TV releases, and (in certain cases) online releases. They include their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, the region in which they were released, approximate budget, their approximate box office revenue (for theatrical releases), distributor of the film, and the publisher of the original game at the time the film was made (this means that publishers may change between two adaptations of the same game or game series, such as Mortal Kombat). Also included are short films, cutscene films (made up of cutscenes and cinematics from the actual games), documentaries with video games as their subjects and films in which video games play a large part (such as Tron or WarGames).
Theatrical releases
By original language of the release.
English
Live-action
Upcoming
Animated
Upcoming
| Title | Director | Release date | Distributor | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Angry Birds Movie 3[303] | John Rice | December 23, 2026 | Paramount Pictures | Rovio Entertainment Sega |
| Undated | ||||
| Bloodborne[304] | TBA | TBA | Sony Pictures Releasing | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Death Stranding: Mosquito (working title)[305] | Hiroshi Miyamoto | TBA | TBA | |
| Grow a Garden[306] | TBA | TBA | Story Kitchen | Roblox |
| Steal a Brainrot[307] | TBA | TBA | ||
| Stray[308] | TBA | TBA | Annapurna Pictures | Annapurna Interactive |
| To the Moon[309] | TBA | TBA | TBA | Freebird Games |
Japanese
Live-action
| Title | Direction | Release date | Domestic box office | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mirai Ninja | Keita Amemiya | December 2, 1988 | N/A | Namco |
| Tokimeki Memorial | Hiroshi Sugawara | August 9, 1997 | N/A | Konami |
| Forbidden Siren | Yukihiko Tsutsumi | February 11, 2006 | ¥790,000,000[310] | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Like a Dragon | Takashi Miike | March 3, 2007 | ¥32,846,976[311] | Sega |
| OneChanbara | Yōhei Fukuda | April 26, 2008 | N/A | D3 Publisher |
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Ataru Oikawa | May 10, 2008 | ¥200,000,000[312] | 07th Expansion |
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai | April 18, 2009 | N/A | 07th Expansion | |
| Ace Attorney | Takashi Miike | February 11, 2012 | ¥540,000,000[313] | Capcom |
| Ao Oni | Daisuke Nibayashi | July 5, 2014 | ¥200,000,000[314] | noprops |
| Gekijōban Zero (Fatal Frame/Project Zero) | Mari Asato | September 26, 2014 | ¥120,000,000[315] | Koei Tecmo |
| Ao Oni ver2.0 | Hideaki Maekawa | July 4, 2015 | N/A | noprops |
| Corpse Party | Yamada Masafumi | August 1, 2015 | N/A | Kenix Soft |
| Corpse Party Book of Shadows | July 30, 2016 | N/A | ||
| House of Neko Atsume | Masatoshi Kurakata | April 8, 2017 | N/A | Hit-Point Co. |
| Exit 8 | Genki Kawamura | August 29, 2025 | $32,519,966[316] | Kotake Create |
Anime
Mandarin/Cantonese
Live-action
| Title | Direction | Release date | Budget | Domestic box office | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legend of the Ancient Sword | Renny Harlin | October 1, 2018 | HK$300 million | ¥14,119,000[367] (US$2,134,000) | Gamebar[368] |
| Detention | John Hsu | September 20, 2019 | NT$95 million | NT$260 million[369] (US$8,415,000) | Red Candle Games |
| Dynasty Warriors: Destiny of an Emperor | Roy Chow | April 29, 2021 | HK$300 million | HK$6,440,000 (US$830,000)[370] | Koei Tecmo Games |
Animated
| Title | Direction | Release date | Domestic box office | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seer | Liu Hong | June 28, 2011[371] | ¥44,078,000[372] ($6,822,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Roco Kingdom: The Dragon Knight | Sheng-jun Yu | September 29, 2011 | ¥27,292,900[373] ($4,224,000) | Tencent[371] |
| Seer 2 | Wang Zhangjun | June 28, 2012[371][374] | ¥31,219,000[375] ($4,946,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Roco Kingdom: The Desire of Dragon | Sheng-jun Yu | January 31, 2013[371][376] | ¥69,536,800[377] ($11,223,000) | Tencent[371] |
| Seer 3: Heroes Alliance | Wang Zhangjun Yin Yuqi | July 12, 2013[371][378] | ¥76,502,000[379] ($12,347,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Roco Kingdom 3 | Gong Bingsi | July 10, 2014[371][380] | ¥47,883,000[381] ($7,794,000) | Tencent[371] |
| Seer 4 | Wang Zhangjun Yin Yuqi | July 10, 2014[371][382] | ¥62,331,000[383] ($10,146,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn | Song Yuefeng | July 31, 2014[384][385] | ¥57,409,000[386] ($9,345,000) | Nexon |
| Seer 5: Rise of Thunder | Wang Zhangjun | July 23, 2015[371][387] | ¥56,623,000[387] ($9,092,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Roco Kingdom 4 | Hugues Martel Dongbiao Cao | August 13, 2015[371][388] | ¥76,985,000[389] ($12,362,000) | Tencent[371] |
| Dragon Nest 2: Throne of Elves | Song Yuefeng | August 19, 2016 | ¥25,113,000[390] ($3,780,000) | Nexon |
| Seer 6: Invincible Puni | Wang Zhangjun | August 18, 2017 | ¥109,000,000[391] ($16,127,000) | Shanghai Taomee Network |
| Seer 7: Crazy Intelligence | August 2, 2019 | ¥31,508,600[392] ($4,561,000) | ||
| Undated | ||||
| Untitled Nikki Nuannuan film[393] | Dean Wellins[394] | TBA | TBA | PaperGames |
Television films
Released
| Title | Direction | Release date | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf | Hiroshi Fukutomi | December 23, 1992 | SNK |
| Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle | Kazuhiro Furuhashi | July 31, 1993 | |
| Art of Fighting | Hiroshi Fukutomi | December 23, 1993 | |
| Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture | Hiroshi Ishiodori | September 8, 1994 | |
| Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns | Kunihiko Yuyama Masamitsu Hidaka | December 30, 2000 (Japan) December 4, 2001 (North America) | Nintendo The Pokémon Company |
| Pokémon: The Legend of Thunder | Norihiro Matsubara Yūko Inoue | December 30, 2001 (Japan) June 3/10, 2006 (North America) | |
| House of the Dead 2 (live-action) | Michael Hurst | February 11, 2006 | Sega |
| Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon | Kunihiko Yuyama Masamitsu Hidaka | April 29, 2006 (North America) October 13, 2006 (Japan) | Nintendo The Pokémon Company |
| Red Faction: Origins (live-action) | Michael Nankin | June 2011 | THQ |
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku: Outbreak | Toshifumi Kawase | August 15, 2013 | 07th Expansion |
| Rabbids Invasion: Mission to Mars | Franz Kirchner | September 29, 2021 (France) February 18, 2022 (Netflix) |
Ubisoft |
| The Mortuary Assistant | Jeremiah Kipp | February 13, 2026 | DreadXP |
Upcoming
| Title | Direction | Release date | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Undated | |||
| Untitled Beyond Good & Evil film[395] | Rob Letterman | TBA | Ubisoft |
| BioShock[396] | Francis Lawrence | TBA | 2K Games |
| Gears of War[397][398] | David Leitch | TBA | Xbox Game Studios |
| Untitled Carmen Sandiego film[399] | TBA | TBA | Brøderbund |
| Untitled Dragon's Lair film[400] | Don Bluth | TBA | Cinematronics |
| Untitled It Takes Two film[401] | TBA | TBA | Electronic Arts |
| Kingmakers[402][403] | TBA | TBA | tinyBuild |
| Mega Man[404][405] | Henry Joost And Ariel Schulman | TBA | Capcom |
| Sifu[406][407] | TBA | TBA | Slocap |
| The Sims[408] | Kate Herron | TBA | Electronic Arts |
| Split Fiction[409] | Jon M. Chu | TBA | |
| ToeJam & Earl[410] | TBA | TBA | Sega |
| Untitled Tom Clancy's The Division film[411] | Rawson Marshall Thurber | TBA | Ubisoft |
Direct-to-video
Live-action
Animation
Short films
Listed below are original short films produced, commissioned or licensed from a game publisher.
| Title | Direction | Release date | Original game publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans | Shigeyasu Yamauchi | August 6, 1993 | Bandai |
| Front Mission | Yoshihiko Dai | December 20, 1994 | Squaresoft |
| Front Mission Series: Gun Hazard | October 21, 1995 | ||
| Abe's Exoddus: The Movie | Lorne Lanning | November 27, 1998 | Oddworld Inhabitants |
| Grand Theft Auto 2: The Movie | Alex De Rakoff Jamie King | September 30, 1999 | Rockstar Games |
| Run the Gauntlet (Driv3r) | Sean Mullens | 2004 | Atari |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Introduction | Unknown | Rockstar Games | |
| Crash Bandicoot: No Use Crying (Crash of the Titans) | Jamie Dixon | 2007 | Vivendi Games |
| Crash Bandicoot Monster Truck (Crash of the Titans) | |||
| Crash Bandicoot – Titan Idol (Crash of the Titans) | |||
| Crash Bandicoot – Have Another (Crash of the Titans) | |||
| Deep Dive (Kingdom Hearts) | Tetsuya Nomura | March 2007 | Square Enix |
| Halo: Landfall | Neill Blomkamp | October 30, 2007 | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Heavenly Sword | Ben Hibon | November 29, 2007 | Sony Computer Entertainment America |
| Sonic: Night of the Werehog | Takashi Nakashima | November 21, 2008 | Sega |
| Kijujud ayo (Resident Evil 5) | Unknown | 2009 | Capcom |
| Assassin's Creed: Lineage | Yves Simoneau | October 26, 2009 | Ubisoft |
| Bright Falls | Phillip Van | April 26, 2010 – May 13, 2010 | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Street Fighter: Legacy | Joey Ansah | May 6, 2010 | Capcom |
| Red Dead Redemption: The Man from Black Water | John Hillcoat | May 29, 2010 | Rockstar Games |
| Mortal Kombat: Rebirth | Kevin Tancharoen | June 8, 2010 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| Zombrex Dead Rising Sun (Dead Rising 2) | Keiji Inafune | August 4, 2010 – August 25, 2010 | Capcom |
| Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans | Yoshihiro Ueda | November 11, 2010 | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish (Call of Duty) | Jeff Chan | September 2, 2011 | Activision |
| Assassin's Creed: Embers | Laurent Bernier Ghislain Ouellet | November 15, 2011 | Ubisoft |
| Dragon Age: Redemption | Felicia Day | October 11, 2011 | BioWare |
| Ghost Recon: Alpha | François Alaux Herve de Crecy | 2012 | Ubisoft |
| Diablo III – Wrath | Peter Chug | May 8, 2012 | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Tekken Tag Tournament 2[415] | Vincent Gatinaud | October 19, 2012 | Bandai Namco Games |
| Modern Warfare: Sunrise (Call of Duty) | Guillermo de Oliveira Javier Esteban Loring | October 27, 2013 | Activision |
| Expiration Date (Team Fortress 2) | John Cook Robin Walker | June 17, 2014 | Valve |
| Shadow of Mordor | Sam Gorski Niko Pueringer | September 15, 2014 | Monolith Productions |
| Payday 2: Hoxton Breakout (Payday 2) | Unknown | October 18, 2014 | Overkill Software |
| The Night Juicer (Pikmin) | Matsaru Matsuse | November 5, 2014 | Nintendo |
| Treasure in a Bottle (Pikmin) | |||
| Occupational Hazards (Pikmin) | |||
| Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins | Kyoji Asano | April 20, 2016 | |
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel | Avi Youabian | February 16, 2017 | Ubisoft |
| The Light Candle[416] | Unknown | December 7, 2017 | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Papers, Please – The Short Film | Nikita Ordynskiy | January 27, 2018 | Lucas Pope |
| The Far Cry Experience[417] | Antoine Blossier | November 1, 2012 | Ubisoft |
| Far Cry 5: Inside Eden's Gate (Far Cry 5) | Barry Battles | March 5, 2018 | |
| Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal | Jos Humphrey | March 10, 2018 | Broderbund |
| Conviction (Anthem) | Neill Blom kampSam McGlynn | February 14, 2019 | BioWare |
| PUBG – The Worst Player in the World (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) | Ricky Mabe | July 24, 2019 | Bluehole |
| The Division 2 – Warlords of New York | Olivier Lescot Boddicker | February 25, 2020 | Ubisoft |
Documentaries on video games
Theatrical releases
| Title | Direction | Release date | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8BIT | Marcin Ramocki Justin Strawhand | 2006 | The intersections of video games, art, and music |
| Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade | Lincoln Ruchti | 2007 | The golden age of video arcade games |
| The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters | Seth Gordon | August 17, 2007 | The rivalry between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe over the Donkey Kong record high score |
| Frag | Mike Pasley | 2008 | Professional video gaming |
| Second Skin | Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza | March 7, 2008 | Follows seven people through the world of MMORPGs |
| Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters | Adam Cornelius | 2011 | A documentary following world-record holding Tetris players as they prepare for the 2010 Championships[418] |
| Indie Game: The Movie | James Swirsky Lisanne Pajot | 2012 | Documentary about the struggles of independent game developers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes during the development of Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish during the development of Fez, and also Jonathan Blow, who reflects on the success of Braid. |
| Thank You for Playing | David Osit Malika Zouhali-Worrall | 2015 | Follows the creation of the arthouse video game That Dragon, Cancer[419] |
| The Lost Arcade | Kurt Vincent | About the influence of the Chinatown Fair arcade on the fighting game community and New York City as a whole.[420] | |
| Moleman 4 – Longplay | Szilárd Matusik | 2017 | A documentary which recounts the so far little-known story of the beginnings of video game development behind the Iron Curtain. Outfoxed Nintendo, surprised Commodore engineers, The Last Ninja story, a games software outfit that dodged the limelight and led the world. |
| Polybius: The Video Game That Doesn't Exist | Stuart Brown | About the urban legend of Polybius.[421] | |
| League of Legends Origins | Leslie Iwerks | 2019 | Fans, experts and creators of the League of Legends detail the game's rise from free demo to global esports titan.[422] |
| Uncle Art | Lucy Lowe | The story of the man behind some of the most memorable gaming music of the '80s and '90s – Starglider, Carrier Command, Beneath a Steel Sky, After Burner and more: Dave Lowe.[423] | |
| Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest | Mads Hedegaard | 2022 | Following the attempts of Kim "Cannon Arm" Kobke to break the world record of arcade game Gyruss.[424] |
Television
| Title | Direction | Original air date(s) | Network | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thumb Candy | James Bobin | 2000 | Channel 4 | History of video games |
| Games Odyssey | Carsten Walter | 2002 | 3sat | German four-part documentary about the history of video games, simulations, digital adventures and video games as an art form |
| Game Makers | Various directors | 2002–2005 | G4 | Series on video game industry figures |
| Tetris: From Russia With Love | Magnus Temple | 2004 | BBC Four | History of the 1980s Tetris game phenomenon |
| The Video Game Revolution | Greg Palmer | PBS | ||
| History of Video Games | Unknown | No before than February 2005 | Discovery Asia | |
| Game On!: The Unauthorized History of Videogames | Bob Waldman | 2006 | CNBC | The story of the video games industry at the Wii and PlayStation 3 console launches |
| I, VIDEOGAME | Unknown | 2007 | Discovery | |
| Rise of the Video Game | David Kempner | [425] | ||
| Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe | Al Campbell | 2009 | BBC Four | |
| Cyberdreams/Cyberdrømme | Unknown | 2011 | DK4 Denmark | Danish documentary about the national eSports team competing in World Cyber Games |
| How Videogames Changed the World | Graham Proud Marcus Daborn | 2013 | Channel 4 | Charlie Brooker explores the history of interactive entertainment and how it is changing how we work, communicate and play |
| The Gamechangers | Owen Harris | 2015 | BBC Two | The story of the controversy caused by Grand Theft Auto, a video game series by Rockstar Games, as various attempts were made to halt the production of the games. |
Other releases
| Title | Direction | Release date | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Over: Gender, Race & Violence in Video Games | Nina Huntemann | 2000 | An educational documentary that explores the messages video games send about sex, race, gender, and violence.[citation needed] |
| Once Upon Atari | Howard Scott Warshaw | 2003 | Documentary about the rise and fall of Atari, with behind the scenes input from video game designers and programmers who worked there.[citation needed] |
| Video Game Invasion: The History of a Global Obsession | David Carr David Comtois | 2004 | Documentary about the history of video games.[426] |
| It's in the Game | Unknown | 2007 | The game industry, technology, and the future of gaming.[citation needed] |
| Beyond the Game | Jos de Putter | 2008 | About the world of professional video gaming. |
| Playing Columbine | Danny Ledonne | Following the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG! in which players experience the Columbine High School massacre through the eyes of the murderers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.[427] | |
| Moral Kombat | Spencer Halpin | 2009 | A study of video game violence.[citation needed] |
| Get Lamp | Jason Scott | 2010 | Documentary by historian Jason Scott about interactive fiction (text adventures) and Infocom.[428] |
| King of Chinatown | Jordan Levinson Calvin Theobald | Following professional esports player Justin Wong as he and his manager TriForce, attempt to make a career in the competitive Street Fighter IV scene.[citation needed] | |
| Level Up - A story about gamers and the games they play | Justin Switzer | 2011 | Exploration of video gaming culture.[429] |
| 100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience | Brad Crawford | 2012 | Historical documentary about the evolution of Japanese arcades and the culture surrounding it.[430] |
| Minecraft: The Story of Mojang | Paul Owens | Documentary about the history of the company Mojang and its creation, Minecraft.[431] | |
| The Smash Brothers | Travis Beauchamp | 2013 | A documentary series that covers the early years of the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive scene, focusing on the lives and subsequent story-lines of seven of the game's most dominant players at the time.[432] |
| The Art of the Game | Matthew Davis Walker | 2014 | Documentary that focuses on Academy of Art University students as they compete for a position in the game industry.[433] |
| Atari: Game Over | Zak Penn | Documentary on the Atari video game burial excavation.[434] | |
| Free to Play | Valve | Documentary by video game developer Valve about the lives of three players competing in a gaming tournament for Dota 2.[435] | |
| From Bedrooms to Billions | Anthony Caulfield Nicola Caulfield | Documentary telling the story of the British video games industry from 1979 to the present day.[436] | |
| Good Game | Mary Ratliff | Nine men pursue careers in competitive video games as members of the Evil Geniuses' StarCraft II division.[citation needed] | |
| Gaming in Color | Philip Jones | Documentary on the LGBTQ community in video games.[437] | |
| The King of Arcades | Sean Tiedeman | Following classic arcade collector Richie Knucklez as he opens an arcade business in Flemington, New Jersey.[citation needed] | |
| Video Games: The Movie | Jeremy Snead | Documentary about the history of video games.[438] | |
| GameLoading – Rise of the Indies | Anna Brady Lester Francois | 2015 | Follows several independent game developers, including Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable), Rami Ismail (Luftrausers) and Zoë Quinn (Depression Quest).[439] |
| GTFO | Shannon Sun-Higginson | Documentary about sexism and women in the world of video games.[440] | |
| Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler | Andrew Seklir Tim Kinzy | Following players as they try to accumulate a billion points on the 1982 arcade game Nibbler.[441] | |
| Nintendo Quest | Rob McCallum | Documentary road film about Jay Bartlett and his quest to acquire all 678 licensed Nintendo Entertainment System games within the span of 30 days, without purchasing any games online.[442] | |
| Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound | Karen Collins | 2016 | Examining the history of game sound design from penny arcades, pinball and video games up to 2015.[443] |
| FGC: Rise of the Fighting Game Community | Esteban Martinez | Documentary about the fighting game community.[444] | |
| From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years! | Anthony Caulfield Nicola Caulfield | Documentary on the Amiga and how it influenced a generation of game developers.[436] | |
| Console Wars | Jonah Tulis Blake J. Harris | 2020 | Documentary about the 1990s console wars between Nintendo and Sega in the 16-bit era and the rise and fall of Sega in the home console market.[445] |
| From Bedrooms to Billions: The PlayStation Revolution | Anthony Caulfield Nicola Caulfield | Documentary on the creation of the Sony PlayStation and its successor consoles.[436] | |
| Insert Coin | Joshua Y. Tsui | Documentary on the history of Midway Games.[446] | |
| Metagame | Travis Beauchamp | A follow-up to 2013's The Smash Brothers, this documentary series focuses on the events that led up to the rise of the Five Gods of Melee, and their subsequent downfall and defeat at the hands of William "Leffen" Hjelte.[447] | |
| Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era | Edward Payson | 2021 | Documentary on video game collecting.[citation needed] |
| Power On: The Story of Xbox | Andrew Stephan | Documentary of the story of the creation, evolution, challenges and legacy of Microsoft Xbox consoles after 20 years of its original launch, divided on 6 chapters.[448] | |
| Stamps Back | Szilárd Matusik | 2022 | The story of how teenagers in Hungary ignited a computing revolution in the 1980s with illegally copied video games from the West, and began the Hungarian demoscene.[449] |
| We Met in Virtual Reality | Joe Hunting | Documentary that takes place entirely within the video game VRChat, exploring the social relations developed by users and how their lives were changed by their time on the platform.[450] | |
| Running With Speed | Patrick Lope Nicholas Mross | 2023 | Documentary about the speedrunning community narrated by speedrunning historian Summoning Salt.[451] |
| FPS: First Person Shooter | David L. Craddock Christopher Stratton | Bringing together the largest ensemble of gaming icons ever assembled on screen, FPS: First Person Shooter takes fans on a nostalgic journey through classics from Doom and Duke Nukem 3D to GoldenEye 007, Halo, and beyond. | |
| Grand Theft Hamlet | Sam Crane Pinny Grylls | 2024 | Documentary about a production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet delivered entirely in Grand Theft Auto Online during the COVID-19 lockdown in England in 2020.[452] |
| George A. Romero's Resident Evil | Brandon Salisbury | 2025 | About the unrealized film adaptation of the horror video game series Resident Evil, for which filmmaker George A. Romero was considered as a director.[453] |
Films with plots centered on video games
- Tron (1982) – Directed by Steven Lisberger. Kevin Flynn, an arcade game designer, gets digitized into the video game world he created and has to fight his way back to the real world. The movie coincided with the release of the successful Tron video game.
- Nightmares (1983) – Directed by Joseph Sargent. The segment "Bishop of Battle" stars Emilio Estevez as a video game wizard who breaks into the arcade at night to get to the 13th level, in doing so he becomes part of the game.
- WarGames (1983) – Directed by John Badham. Computer hacker breaks into military intelligence computer to play games, which almost starts a thermonuclear war.
- Joysticks (1983) – Directed by Greydon Clark. When a top local businessman and his two bumbling nephews try to shut down the town's only video arcade, arcade employees and patrons fight back.
- Cloak & Dagger (1984) – Directed by Richard Franklin. A young boy has secret plans given to him in the form of a video game cartridge, which he must protect from spies.
- The Last Starfighter (1984) – Directed by Nick Castle. A boy, who is very good at a video game in his trailer park, finds himself recruited to be a pilot for an alien defense force just like the game he plays.
- The Dungeonmaster (1985) – Directed by Charles Band and Ted Nicolaou. A computer whiz is drawn into a series of realistic simulations by a demonic wizard who considers him a worthy adversary. Armed with his wrist-mounted X-CaliBR8 computer, he must solve the puzzles and rescue his girlfriend.
- Hollywood Zap! (1986) – Directed by David Cohen. A bored clerk decides to quit his job and travel to Hollywood, California to fulfill his dreams and to find his missing father. He chooses a hustler as his traveling companion, but both of them experience disillusionment during their quest.
- Kung Fu Master (1988) – Directed by Agnès Varda. A love story between a 40-year-old woman (Jane Birkin) and a 15-year-old boy addicted to the arcade game Kung-Fu Master.[454]
- The Wizard (1989) – Directed by Todd Holland. A boy with mental problems decides to run away to compete in a video game contest and his brother helps him hitchhike to the tournament. Features numerous NES video games, primarily Super Mario Bros. 3 before its American release.
- No Life King (1989) – Directed by Jun Ichikawa. A group of kids become transfixed from a recently released video game Legend Of Life King IV, a parody of Dragon Quest III.
- The Lawnmower Man (1992) – Directed by Brett Leonard. A mentally handicapped man is turned into a genius through the application of computer science and virtual reality.
- Arcade (1993) – Directed by Albert Pyun. A teenager has to battle inside of a deadly virtual reality video game, to save her friends.
- Brainscan (1994) – Directed by John Flynn. A teenager is sent a mysterious computer game that uses hypnosis to make the game the most horrifying experience imaginable. He stops playing, only to find evidence that the murders depicted in the game actually happened.
- Nirvana (1997) – Directed by Gabriele Salvatores. A computer game designer finds that his latest video game has a virus which has given consciousness to the main character of the game, Solo.
- eXistenZ (1999) – Directed by David Cronenberg. A game designer finds herself targeted by assassins while playing a virtual reality game of her own creation.[455]
- How to Make a Monster (2001) – Directed by George Huang. An evil video game comes to life and hunts the group of developers.
- Avalon (2001) – Directed by Mamoru Oshii. Science fiction film centered on a war-themed, virtual reality MMO under the same title.
- Game Over (2003) – Directed by Jason Bourque. Uses footage from five different Digital Pictures games.
- Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) – Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Carmen Cortez is caught in a virtual reality game designed by their new nemesis, the Toymaker. Juni, her little brother, goes into the game to save her as well as beta players and the world.
- GameBox 1.0 (2004) – Directed by David Hillenbrand and Scott Hillenbrand. A video game tester must fight to escape from a video game that has become all too real.
- Satan's Little Helper (2004) – Directed by Jeff Lieberman. A nine-year old gamer mistakes a costumed killer for a video game version of the Devil.
- Devour (2005) – Directed by David Winkler. A college student is under the demonic influence of an online game.
- Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005) – Directed by Rick Bota. Features a MMORPG based on the Hellraiser mythology.
- Grandma's Boy (2006) – Directed by Nicholaus Goossen. A 35-year-old game tester develops a game in secret only to have someone at work try to steal it.
- Stay Alive (2006) – Directed by William Brent Bell. Friends start dying just like they did in a video game they all played.
- Ben X (2007) – Directed by Nic Balthazar. The main character Ben is an autistic boy obsessed with an MMORPG called ArchLord. He plays the game to escape being bullied and has one online friend named Scarlite. He considers suicide until he meets Scarlite in person.
- Press Start (2007) – Directed by Ed Glaser. Average suburban youth Zack Nimbus is recruited by an ill-tempered ninja and a tough-as-nails space soldier to save the world from a tyrannical, but comically insecure, sorcerer. References to many classic video games.
- WarGames: The Dead Code (2008) – Directed by Stuart Gillard. Is a sequel to WarGames.
- Gamer (2009) – Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. A man has to save humanity from being enslaved by an MMO.
- Assault Girls (2009) – Directed by Mamoru Oshii. Three girls in an MMO team up to win a boss battle.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) – Directed by Edgar Wright. Is an action comedy film rife with video game references and plot conceit similar to fighting games.
- Tron: Legacy (2010) – Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Kevin Flynn's son Sam finds his missing father in a new version of the virtual game world and has a similar journey as his father did fighting to get back to reality.
- Black Heaven (2010) – Directed by Gilles Marchand. An innocent young man becomes enamored with a mysterious girl. He is lured into "Black Hole" – a dark, obscure video game world of avatars with deadly serious intentions in the real world.
- RPG Metanoia (2010) – Directed by Luis C. Suárez. Is a Philippine animated adventure film in which a MMORPG called Metanoia gets infected by a virus which affects the online world, and a young player goes on a journey to save the online world and prevent it from taking over the offline world.[citation needed]
- Best Player (2011) – Directed by Richard Amberg. Is a comedy film about two gamers.
- Ra.One (2011) – Directed by Anubhav Amant. Is an Indian Bollywood superhero film, where a video game developer creates an unstoppable villain for his son which becomes all too real.
- .hack//The Movie (2012) – Directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama. Is a Japanese anime film based on .hack, a franchise of anime, video games, novels and manga that debuted in 2002, about a virtual reality MMORPG.
- Wreck-It Ralph (2012) – Directed by Rich Moore. An arcade game villain who dreams of being a hero decides to leave his game to become one. Features cameos by multiple licensed video game characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Ryu, Bowser, and many more.
- Noobz (2012) – Directed by Blake Freeman. A motley crew of gamers participate in a video game competition.
- Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014) – Directed by James Rolfe and Kevin Finn. This film is based on the web series of the same name, it tells us about the Nerd's long journey to discover the secrets of the cartridges of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game for the Atari 2600, considered the worst videogame of all time, buried in the desert of New Mexico.
- Pixels (2015) – Directed by Chris Columbus. When aliens misinterpret video-feeds of Arcade video games and console games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the games as models for their various assaults to fight aliens such as Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Pac-Man.
- Beta Test (2016) – Directed by Nicholas Gyeney. A gamer discovers that events in a new video game are being mirrored in the real world, and joins forces with the game's protagonist to unravel the conspiracy.[456]
- The Warriors Gate (2016) – Directed by Matthias Hoene. An avid game is transported to a parallel dimension.
- Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale (2017) – Directed by Tomohiko Itō. Is a Japanese anime film based on Sword Art Online, a novel, manga and anime franchise that debuted in 2002, about a virtual reality MMO, with Ordinal Scale being about an augmented reality MMO.
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) – Directed by Jake Kasdan. Teenagers find a vintage video game version of Jumanji and get sucked into its jungle setting.[457]
- eHero (2018) – Directed by Joseph Procopio. An up-and-coming video gamer and his team must overcome a fiery gaming superstar, as well as their own battling egos, to win the ultimate video game championship.[citation needed]
- Good Game: The Beginning (2018) – Directed by Umut Aral. An underdog Esports team that competes in a League of Legends tournament
- Ready Player One (2018) – Directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on the 2011 novel of the same name, it is set in a dystopian future and is about the search for an easter egg in a virtual reality game called Oasis.
- Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) – Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston. Sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, and part of the Wreck-It Ralph franchise.
- Serenity (2019) – Directed by Steven Knight. Midway through the film, it is revealed that the story is occurring inside a virtual world.[458]
- The King's Avatar: For the Glory (2019) – Directed by Zhiwei Deng and Juansheng Shi. Animated film based on the Chinese web novel of the same name.
- Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) – Directed by Jake Kasdan. Sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
- Fearless (2020) – Directed by Cory Edwards. Two high school seniors try to return three babies to the video game they came from after they mysteriously arrive on Earth.[459]
- Boss Level (2021) – Directed by Joe Carnahan. A retired soldier is trapped in a never-ending time loop that repeatedly results in his death. It adapts video game tropes in film format.[460]
- Free Guy (2021) – Directed by Shawn Levy. Guy, a non-player character, becomes aware of his world being a video game called Free City.
- 8-Bit Christmas (2021) – Directed by Michael Dowse. A father recounts his quest to get a Nintendo Entertainment System in the 1980s.
- Choose or Die (2022) – Directed by Toby Meakins. As people play the text-based video game CURS>R, the game begins to interact with the real world.
- 1Up (2022) – Directed by Kyle Newman. An all-girl team competes in a gaming competition.
- Fantasy Football (2022) – Directed by Anton Cropper. A girl plays Madden NFL 23 to control her Dad in actual NFL playoffs.
- Tetris (2023) – Directed by Jon S. Baird. Biopic movie about the battle led by Henk Rogers and Nintendo for the Tetris rights for its version of Famicom / NES and the upcoming Game Boy during the tensions of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.
- Gran Turismo (2023) – Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Biopic movie about a Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan-sponsored video game competitions to become an actual professional race car driver.[461]
- Tron: Ares (2025) – Directed by Joachim Rønning. Standalone sequel to Tron: Legacy.
See also
- Film and television adaptations of video games
- List of television series based on video games
- List of animated series based on video games
- List of anime based on video games
- List of highest-grossing films based on video games
- List of video games based on films
- List of video games based on comics
- Machinima
