Batman 2 co-writer: Hollywood is shifting from comic books to video game adaptations

Full text

The co-writer of The Batman 2 has said Hollywood is shifting from a comic book obsession to a video game obsession.

Mattson Tomlin, who co-wrote The Batman 2 alongside developer Matt Reeves, was asked on social media whether he was still working on the Mega Man movie. It turns out that he isn’t, but he wouldn’t be surprised to see Mega Man hit the big screen, because video games are where Hollywood is looking to for inspiration at the moment.

“Don’t know if it has been canceled or not but it’s definitely not on my dance card anymore,” he said . “I wrote a fun set of drafts and then I believe another writer came on some years later. Hope it gets made, there was a really emotional and surprising way in."

He added : “Hollywood is sort of making a shift from being comic book obsessed to video game obsessed so I wouldn’t be surprised if it sees the light of day in some form, but after so much time gone by, it’s unlikely I’ll have anything to do with it.”

The power of the superhero movie has been in decline for some time now. While there are occasional blockbuster hits that break through the billion dollar barrier at the box office (Deadpool & Wolverine, Spider-Man movies etc), the age of guaranteed success from even obscure superhero characters and teams is clearly over. Marvel and DC have had high-profile struggles here in recent years, with the likes of Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Supergirl all struggling at the box office. This month’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and December’s Avengers: Doomsday will do well, of course, but outside the tentpole releases, superhero movies are having a tough time.

Enter the video game movie, especially those aimed at a family audience. The top four highest-grossing video game movies of all time were all released in the last three years. The Super Mario Bros. Movie made $1.3 billion at the box office. This year’s sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, made just over $1 billion. A Minecraft Movie, meanwhile, made just shy of $1 billion. Then there are the hugely successful Sonic the Hedgehog and Five Nights at Freddy's movies. Even the Iron Lung movie was a megahit, relative to how much it cost to make.

Sure, there are video game movies that disappoint. Mortal Kombat 2, somewhat surprisingly, struggled at the box office. Until Dawn and Return to Silent Hill basically did nothing theatrically. But the trend is clear: Hollywood is all in on video game movies, and more are coming down the line.

“My point of view is also born out of the fact that I am getting at least 5x more offers for video game adaptations than comic book adaptations this year,” Tomlin added .

So, what are the upcoming video game movies? Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie is due out this September. The Street Fighter movie arrives in October. 2027 is then packed with video game movies: The Angry Birds Movie 3; Sonic the Hedgehog 4; The Legend of Zelda; A Minecraft Movie Squared; and Helldivers are all due out next year.

Moving into 2028 we have the Elden Ring movie, which is currently filming, the Call of Duty movie, and maybe the Battlefield movie, along with a rumored Donkey Kong movie. Super Mario Movie 3 is expected in 2029 . Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gears of War, Death Stranding, Metal Gear Solid… the list goes on.

So, while Spider-Man, the Avengers, Batman, and Superman will always have new movies coming out, perhaps from now on the real Hollywood growth will come from the likes of Mario, Link, Sonic, and Steve.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.