There’s Never Been a Better Time to Make a Cinematic ‘Control’ Movie
'Control' was one of the best games of 2019 and is ripe for a Hollywood adaptation. | Source: Remedy Entertainment
- Video Games have rarely been adapted well into other mediums.
- Writer Gary Whitta recently tweeted that he thinks Control would make a great movie and that he would write it.
- Thanks to Netflix’s The Witcher series now is the perfect time to start adapting other video games.
Trying to adapt games into movies has been a tricky business. The first high-profile attempt was Super Mario Bros. If you’ve never seen it then you’re lucky. Since then the quality of video game adaptations has been mixed at best. Now we might be getting a Control movie and things are a bit different.
The Witcher came out late last year and changes the game. While certain ‘critics’ didn’t think too favorably of the series, it was beloved by fans. It could just be the bump in quality that video game adaptations need. Now if we can get a good writer and director for Control we’ll be all set.
A Control Adaptation Would Do Wonders
Control came out last year and was pretty damn popular. It has a lot of cinematic influences throughout, from Kubrick to Lynch. It’s basically the perfect game to be adapted into a movie or series. On top of that, a pretty decent writer has expressed interest in the project.
Gary Whitta is probably best known for writing The Book of Eli and helping to develop Rogue One. Personally I wouldn’t exactly call the writing in either movie bad. Not only that but people over at Remedy who made Control actually responded.
All-in-all an adaptation written by Whitta would probably end up going pretty well. He has a decent understanding of video games after all. He was part of the team that founded PC Gamer back in the early 90s. If any movie writer can do Control justice he can.
Video Game Adaptations Have Struggled
It should be noted that a Control adaptation would be tough to make. Video games have traditionally suffered in their translation to film. Even modern attempts such as the Prince of Persia movie have been panned by critics and audiences alike.
These days it’s not just difficult to make good video game movies, it’s difficult to make them at all. The Uncharted movie might have a lead actor, but it doesn’t seem to be able to keep a director down to save its life. 6 directors jumping ship is probably not a good sign about the film’s quality either .
We really, really need more good video game adaptation. The Witcher has started a trend, but it’s only really a trend if someone else manages to do it too. The Control adaptation might come out and be terrible, but at this point, I’m willing to be optimistic about our chances.
