Video games are poised to dethrone comic books as the favored franchise well for screen adaptations, according to a recent report from Ampere Analysis.
In a March 2024 study titled From comics to games: The changing face of Hollywood adaptations, the British research firm found 2023 to be a turning point in the battle of the IPs. Video game adaptations saw a strong overall uptick in popularity last year, while content based on comic books dipped.
To track what it calls “popularity score,” Ampere uses a metric that’s based on average global consumer search volumes on the internet for both film and TV projects. The new report assessed the top 10 most popular newly-released projects in 2023 and found that only one comic book adaptation (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) made the list—a significant decline from 2021, when comic book adaptations took up six spots on this ranking, and well below the four spots the category occupied in 2022.
Meanwhile, the 2020s have so far seen the tide shift towards video game IPs expanding into films and series, with films like Detective Pikachu (2019) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) getting the momentum rolling. The report theorizes that audience receptiveness to this genre was buoyed by a surge in gaming activity during the pandemic, which might explain the boost in numbers—from Uncharted (2022) racking up US$407 million to last year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023, pictured) entering the billion-dollar club. The small screen has also seen the emergence of successful kids shows adapted from video games, including Angry Birds: Summer Madness and Sonic Prime (which generated more than 82 million hours of watchtime on Netflix in the first half of 2023).
It appears that 2021 was the last year to record a clear-cut dominance of comic book franchises. That was the last time a superhero flick crossed US$1 billion at the box office (Spider-Man: No Way Home), while Marvel Studios’ TV spinoffs continued to attract high engagement and Disney+ series WandaVision reached a peak popularity score that remains “unmatched.”
Last year was particularly tough for most comic book adaptations, with films like The Marvels, The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom facing slow box office returns.
“Risk-averse studios have [already] begun a smooth transition into the gaming realm,” says commissioning researcher Illia Abusaitov. “These adaptations have already demonstrated their capacity to match or even exceed the success of comic adaptations.”
But he cautions that studios will need to “establish a consistent approach to ensure that [gaming adaptations] become reliable hits”—especially since the “buzz” and performance of game-based projects is much more variable than comic book adaptations.
Despite comic book-related content taking a profitability hit, it will continue being an “important component of studio and network strategies,” according to the report. For instance, Marvel Studios has already re-strategized to navigate the genre’s recent struggles in oversaturation by trimming down its slate, opting to space out future releases and investing in reliable core characters such as X-Men and Deadpool.
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