Yup, Fallout is the final push that video game adaptations needed to become Hollywood’s next big thing

With comic book projects self-regulating and becoming just another genre (with some exceptions), monster brawls becoming a thing in the West, and star-studded originals regaining lost ground, the post-pandemic Hollywood landscape, both in theaters and on TV, looks nothing like the pre-2020 tug-of-war. There’s always a big thing, however, and now, after Fallout’s success, it’s all but confirmed that video game adaptations are next in line.

Fallout is just the last big hit in a short but remarkable line of good endings that include Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, HBO’s The Last of Us (now shooting season 2), Peacock’s Twisted Metal (also renewed), and Five Nights at Freddy’s (getting a second movie), among others. Even if critics don’t always agree with audiences and we still have middling stuff like the Halo show, there’s been a previously unseen upwards trajectory as of late, and we can’t deny the signs anymore. This is what Hollywood will be chasing next.

Part of what’s making these adaptations work better now than in the past is a more hands-on approach from games publishers and studios. Long gone are the days of just giving a juicy IP away and letting the highest bidder go wild with it, though stuff like Uncharted made us frankly wonder whether Sony truly understands what made the famous video game franchise so appealing in the first place.

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