Video games have been telling stories since the days of Pong. Sure, a friendly game of table tennis on a Sunday afternoon may not be the next Citizen Kane, but the game still strives to show us an epic competition between two paddles! Other games take us on epic odysseys to a faraway land filled with princesses, dinosaurs, and tiny mushroom people, a la Super Mario Bros., and others, like the stories in Resident Evil, show us our own world, but with more zombies. With the treasure trove of tales to tell, it's not surprising that many games have taken the step into the silver screen. Some entered the movie scene like champs, while others crashed and burned in a glorious blaze of blue Hadouken flames. Since Blizzard has decided to take a stab at it with Warcraft, coming out on June 10th, we got inspired to put together this list of all the internationally released movies based on video games, which shows you which video game movies brought in the most coins and which ones tanked at the box office.
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Video Game Movies: Super Box Office Sales Transcript
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Budget: $154,718,531
Box Office Take: $369,579,976
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Budget: $218,413,618
Box Office Take: $367,334,222
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Budget: $65,524,085
Box Office Take: $323,494,226
Resident Evil: Retribution
Budget: $67,417,179
Box Office Take: $249,090,149
Need for Speed
Budget: $86,507,130
Box Office Take: $204,476,336
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Budget: $122,948,686
Box Office Take: $202,548,592
Mortal Kombat
Budget: $28,125,826
Box Office Take: $190,936,737
Resident Evil: Extinction
Budget: $28,125,826
Box Office Take: $169,653,726
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Budget: $56,728,110
Box Office Take: $163,118,321
Street Fighter
Budget: $56,239,001
Box Office Take: $159,756,558
Resident Evil
Budget: $46,329,182
Box Office Take: $135,600,326
Silent Hill
Budget: $59,060,515
Box Office Take: $115,294,390
Hitman
Budget: $27,563,966
Box Office Take: $114,810,573
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Budget: $184,316,858
Box Office Take: $114,534,536
Max Payne
Budget: $38,711,118
Box Office Take: $94,473,827
Hitman: Agent 47
Budget: $35,164,650
Box Office Take: $82,735,044
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Budget: $44,510,654
Box Office Take: $76,227,256
Doom
Budget: $73,158,832
Box Office Take: $68,266, 117
Silent Hill: Revelation
Budget: $20,743,747
Box Office Take: $54,247,800
Super Mario Bros.
Budget: $79,102,671
Box Office Take: $34,468,107
House of the Dead
Budget: $9,059,369
Box Office Take: $17,883,429
Wing Commander
Budget: $42,880,912
Box Office Take: $16,549,257
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Budget: $66,361,917
Box Office Take: $14,486,712
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Budget: $55,499,051
Box Office Take: $14,168,020
The Bottom Five Video Game Movies
Postal
Budget: $17,227,479
Box Office Take: $168,531
Double Dragon
Budget: $12,533,263
Box Office Take: $3,762,082
Bloodrayne
Budget: $29,530,257
Box Office Take: $4,311,742
DOA: Dead or Alive
Budget: $24,805,416
Box Office Take: $8,878,605
Alone in the Dark
Budget: $24,386,277
Box Office Take: $12,733,060
Sources: Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo, US Inflation Calculator
Numbers presented here are based on available information of worldwide gross box office over the film's lifetime. Most of the films are co-productions. Dollar amounts have been adjusted for inflation.
*All numbers have been adjusted for inflation in 2016, when this infographic was made.
So, are you surprised by the results? Which video game movie do you have a soft spot for? Are there any upcoming video game movies you'd like to watch? What video game do you think is going to produce the next blockbuster? We're calling Tetris right now. (It's going to be legendary.) If you want to be prepared for the upcoming video game movies, you can take a look at our Warcraft costumes here and the rest of our video game costumes.
Design Credit: Travis Green
