Fans give cautious welcome to plan for live-action film of video game

Fans have reacted with a mixture of excitement and caution to the news that hit game Elden Ring is to be made into a live-action film.

The epic dark fantasy game will be adapted by Alex Garland, who is known for movies like Ex Machina and Warfare, along with US entertainment company A24.

“I am very excited,” said TikToker Blue Thunder, adding that he hopes it will stay faithful to the game. Grant Greenly added on TikTok: “All the lore, all the action, all the Elden lords, all the fights… it’s more than we could ask for. This is going to be awesome.”

However, gaming journalist Christopher Dring, host of the Games Business Show podcast, told the BBC that “translating something like Elden Ring is no small feat”.

“Video games have become the new comic books for Hollywood right now,” he said.

“After the huge success of Minecraft, Mario and Sonic at the box office, plus Fallout and The Last of Us on the smaller screen, movie producers have been scrambling to sign all sorts of games, from the biggest proven brands to entirely unproven properties that haven’t even come out yet.”

Elden Ring is “one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy games out there”, he said, with more than 30 million players and the involvement of Game of Thrones author George RR Martin, who helped create its original story. “So it has a lot going for it.”

But he added: “We have seen plenty of game adaptations fail to succeed on the big screen, including last year’s Borderlands movie, which had a strong cast and was directed by Eli Roth. But it’s very much the trend, and it’s only growing.”

Elden Ring is a role-playing adventure game set in the war-torn, devastated Lands Between, where players must collect runes which represent that world’s order and laws, in order to restore it and become the Elden Lord.

TikToker Everythingethan added a note of caution, saying: “I want to know what part of the timeline we’re adapting… I don’t know if I want to see this live action. I think it would be kind of cursed at times. I think animation is the best way to adapt video games nine times out of 10.”

Other fans speculated about which elements of the game’s story would become the focus of the film, while another simply said: “This will be very bad, or meh.”

Some suggested it would work better as a TV series, while others said they felt “conflicted”, with one saying: “You can’t really justify a gaming experience that takes your average player anywhere from 20-40 hours to beat and cram it all into a 2 hour movie.”

Some gamers also welcomed the involvement of A24, which has previously worked with Garland on films including Annihilation, Men and Civil War.

“I’m scared. I love this game too much to watch it be ‘tarnished’,” said another.

In a statement, the game’s publisher Bandai Namco said: “We’re truly excited to bring the world of Elden Ring to fans in a new form, outside the game.

“Stay tuned. The path ahead is only beginning.”

Gaming is a booming market that comes with a young, built-in fanbase.

The plan to bring Elden Ring to the big screen comes after recent successes for adaptations, following years of mixed results.

The latest wave began in earnest with the blockbuster triumph of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which has now raked in a staggering $1.4bn (£1.1bn) at the global box office.

One of the film’s stars, Jack Black, told BBC News at the time: “We will be seeing more storytelling from the gaming universe.”

He’s been proved right – and was also on board for this year’s A Minecraft Movie, a global hit that has grossed more than $900m (£666m).

Beyond financials, it’s also seen unprecedented audience participation from younger fans at screenings – many of whom are more accustomed to streaming and gaming than the traditional cinema experience.

It’s no surprise that a spate of other game franchise adaptations are already in the works.

Mortal Kombat and Five Nights at Freddy’s film sequels are due later this year, with Super Mario Bros 2 and a new Resident Evil film hitting cinemas in 2026. A Legend of Zelda movie is also slated for release in 2027.

Yet while cinema has banked on gaming’s mass appeal, it is on the small screen where the depth of modern-day gaming storylines has really shone.

The critically-acclaimed The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic survival drama centred around the heartfelt relationship between Joel and Ellie – played by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning live-action version – has proven that affecting, mature storylines can come from games just as readily as child-friendly technicolour.

Amazon’s popular adaptation of politically-tinged nuclear wasteland thriller Fallout is another example.

Elden Ring may look to transfer this grit to the big screen, produced by A24 – a studio known for thought-provoking titles like the Oscar-nominated Aftersun and horror Midsommar.

After all, the franchise is notoriously tough to play and complete, so is definitely not one for younger gamers.

Elden Ring might just be the adult gaming crossover Hollywood is looking for.

Additional reporting by Annabel Rackham and Adam Phillips.