Video Game Movies Are Hollywood’s New Obsession

Hollywood has stopped being comic-book obsessed and started being video-game obsessed. Mattson Tomlin, co-writer of The Batman 2, says he is fielding at least five times more offers for video game adaptations than comic book adaptations this year — a shift that signals where blockbuster money is flowing next.

Look, we all knew the superhero well was running dry. But hearing a working screenwriter put a multiplier on it is the kind of specific that makes a trend feel real. Tomlin was asked on social media whether he was still on the Mega Man movie. He isn’t — and the way he explained his exit turned into a neat little thesis on where the industry is headed.

What Mattson Tomlin said about the shift

Tomlin confirmed he has walked away from the Mega Man film and offered a candid read on why Hollywood keeps circling gaming IP. Asked about the project’s status, he didn’t dress it up:

Then came the part that travelled. He framed his departure against a broader industry pivot, saying Hollywood is “sort of making a shift from being comic book obsessed to video game obsessed,” and backed it with the number from his own inbox: “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.” When the person writing one of DC’s biggest upcoming films is being buried in Mega Man-adjacent pitches, that tells you something.

Are superhero movies actually dying

Not dead — but the era of guaranteed success is over. That’s the honest reading, and the source is careful about it too. Marvel and DC still have tentpoles that print money: Deadpool & Wolverine, the Spider-Man films, this month’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and December’s Avengers: Doomsday will all do fine.

The trouble is everything outside the marquee names. Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts and Supergirl have all struggled at the box office. The old logic — that any character in a cape could open a movie — has quietly stopped working. So studios went looking for the next reliable hook, and it turns out gamers already own the merchandise.

Why video game movies are winning

The pitch is simple: family-friendly video game films are among the most reliable earners in cinemas right now, and the box office proves it. The top four highest-grossing video game movies of all time all came out in the last three years. That is not a fluke; that is a category.

Add the Sonic the Hedgehog and Five Nights at Freddy’s franchises, plus the Iron Lung movie — a megahit relative to what it cost to make — and the pattern is hard to ignore. (Quick flag on that Mario sequel: the source calls it The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and we’re reporting it as given.) For more on that record-setting run, see our coverage of the Mario sequel’s opening weekend.

It isn’t all wins, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Mortal Kombat 2 struggled, which surprised a few people. Until Dawn and Return to Silent Hill did nothing theatrically. Slapping a beloved logo on a poster is not a cheat code. But the hit rate at the top end is doing what studios love: de-risking the biggest bets.

Which video game movies are coming next

The pipeline runs from late 2026 through 2029, and it is stacked. Here’s what the source lays out.

• 2026: Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie in September, and the Street Fighter movie in October.
• 2027: The Angry Birds Movie 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, The Legend of Zelda, A Minecraft Movie Squared, and Helldivers.
• 2028: the Elden Ring movie (currently filming), the Call of Duty movie, a rumoured Donkey Kong film, and a possible Battlefield adaptation.
• 2029: Super Mario Movie 3 is expected.

And that’s before the source starts listing the ones further out — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gears of War, Death Stranding, Metal Gear Solid. The list, as they say, goes on. Treat the 2027–2029 dates as expected rather than locked; the Battlefield and Donkey Kong projects are flagged as possible and rumoured respectively.

Why this matters for UAE audiences

For a market as gaming-heavy and young as the UAE, this shift is aimed squarely at you. The IP driving Hollywood’s next few years — Mario, Link, Sonic, the Resident Evil and Street Fighter rosters — is the stuff already running on consoles and phones across the country. That’s a huge built-in audience walking into VOX and Reel Cinemas already fluent in the source material.

The one thing the source doesn’t give us is UAE specifics: no confirmed local release dates, no regional box office figures, no word from local distributors. So while the global calendar is clear, exactly when each of these lands here is still to be confirmed. What’s not in doubt is the direction of travel. As Tomlin puts it, Spider-Man, the Avengers, Batman and Superman will always get new movies — but the real growth now belongs to Mario, Link, Sonic, and Steve.