Summary

• Until Dawn movie adaptation avoids the common criticism of video game adaptations by focusing on the story and characters, rather than gameplay.
• The minimal gameplay in Until Dawn allows for a smooth transition to film, without losing the elements that fans love about the game.
• The biggest hurdle for the adaptation is overcoming the absence of the game's butterfly effect system, but the movie could explore new endings or multiple outcomes to compensate.

A new video game movie adaptation has been announced, and the film is set to fix the biggest criticism of gaming adaptations. While video game adaptations have had a bad reputation for a while, tons of recent movies and TV shows have managed to turn things around, with projects like Sonic the Hedgehog, The Last of Us, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie successfully bringing video game franchises to life. However, even these projects have been criticized in a variety of ways, but this video game movie adaptation can finally avoid this commonly recurring issue.

Tons of video game movie and TV adaptations are currently in the works, with plenty being released each year. Movies based on Borderlands, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, and more are all in various stages of development, while continuations of popular adaptations are also being made, such as Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Mortal Kombat 2, and The Last of Us season 2. The number of movies and TV shows adapted from video games is rapidly increasing, and so is their quality. However, this newly-announced video game movie can finally fully bridge the gap between video game and film.

An Until Dawn Movie Is In The Works

A movie based on Until Dawn has just been announced, with fans of the game being incredibly excited to see the project make the leap to the big screen (via THR). The adaptation of the PlayStation game will be developed by Sony, with it following in the footsteps of projects like Uncharted and The Last of Us. The film is written by The Invitation screenwriter Blair Butler and It screenwriter Gary Dauberman, while Shazam! and Lights Out director David F. Samberg is producing the Until Dawn movie.

The popular PlayStation game was released in 2015, with it being developed by Supermassive Games and being originally released for the PlayStation 4. The game follows a group of young adults who go on a vacation in a secluded cabin, with horrifying supernatural events beginning to unfold upon their arrival. Throughout the game, the player makes choices that affect the dialogue characters speak and the actions characters take. Choices can have major effects on the rest of the game's story, with the butterfly effects of each choice causing characters to live or die.

Until Dawn's Story Focus Means That The Movie Doesn't Have To Worry About Gameplay

The Until Dawn video game is heavily focused on its narrative, with this story structure meaning that the movie doesn't have to worry about gameplay. One of the most common criticisms of video game movies is that, due to the medium, the adaptations lose the thing that is most important to the games: the gameplay. Some adaptations have made up for this by including scenes that directly mimic the feel of the gameplay from the source material. However, it is impossible to fully recreate the feeling of gameplay due to the audience not being able to interact with the film.

Luckily, Until Dawn's gameplay is minimal, meaning that the movie adaptation won't have to worry about losing this core aspect. While the player does interact with Until Dawn, it is to a much lesser extent than other games that have recently been adapted, with the story and characters being the main attraction of the game. Because of this, Until Dawn is perfect for the medium of film, as the story and characters can be translated without losing the main aspects that people love about the source material.

Until Dawn Still Has 1 Major Adaptation Hurdle To Overcome

Although Until Dawn is avoiding this criticism that most other video game movies have to worry about, the film does have one major adaptation hurdle to overcome. Much of the appeal of Until Dawn is its butterfly effect game system, with the player's choices affecting the outcome of the game's story. Since the Until Dawn movie won't have this feature, there will be only one outcome for the film, losing this major part of the original video game.

However, there are some clever ways that Until Dawn could get around this. The film could feature an entirely new ending that isn't present in the game, with it seeming more like a companion piece to the original Until Dawn rather than a replacement. The Until Dawn movie could also follow in the footsteps of Clue, with it having multiple endings that play depending on each viewing. There are some opportunities for the team behind Until Dawn to fix this problem, but it will be difficult to pull off.