In an interview with Examiner, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said he's open to the idea of a film based on the popular Skylanders series. After the staggering success of The Lego Movie and the recent announcement of a Minecraft flick, Activision looks forward to jumping on the film adaptation bandwagon:
It makes all the sense in the world for the movie business. They are great characters that have a built-in audience with kids, and the kids have built an affinity for, anything like that has appealing properties for the movie business.
The Skylanders phenomenon of figurine-based video games is only getting bigger, with Disney launching their rival series Disney Infinity, and now even Nintendo getting on board with a competitor of their own. But Hirshberg realises film adaptations of video games have an infamous track record:
For video game companies, I think there’s been pretty mixed results when it comes to making video games into movies. It’s obviously something we talk about, and I think Skylanders really could benefit from. You have to do it just right and very carefully so it expands the brand and builds our core business, which is making games. We want to make sure that if we were ever to do that, we would do it in a way that enhances that core experience.
Like a true film auteur in the vein of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, Hirshberg's artistic vision is defined by "expanding the brand" and "building our core business." With Skylanders: Trap Team set to become another blockbuster entry in the franchise this October, what would you like to see in a potential Skylanders movie? Let us know in the comments.
[source examiner.com]
Comments (25)
Please no...
This would be horrible!
We were gonna have a The Legend of Spyro movie, but NOPE!
File under "Most depressing news of the year".
Activision said that this is now a 2 billion dollar franchise so I honestly can't blame them for milking it at this point.
From watching my nephew play the game, I actually think the characters, art, voice actors, storyline and comedy are actually top notch and would translate to a kids film very well.
It's the gameplay that's repetitive and uninspiring.
Bet Sony is already in talks with them about this
It HAS to be better than the new Oz movie
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/legends_of_oz_dorothys_return/
The first game in the series would make a great movie, they can forget everything after that. They also need to do away w/ the entire frozen toy concept and just go about w/ the story. Spyro has been a great character for over 15 years, he was voice acted on the PS1 way back in 1998 (and Nintendo still doesnt have voice acting in the Zelda series - sorry, pet peeve). OK, alot of people hate David Spade, but still.
Anyway, video game movie atrocities aside, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" is going to do well this summer, as will 3 in 2016. A tv show and toy line. A movie called "Skylanders: The Adventure of Spyro the Dragon" based on the first will do well. And Kaos is great. And Flynn and Tessa have a film ready dynamic (everybody loves Patrick Warburton, he's like the anti-David Spade).
Anybody who thinks this will be bad just doesn't understand kids films. No that all kids films are good - The Croods sucked, trying to pass itself off as a comedy while it was actually an after school special - but Skylanders is ready made to be successful. Even w/o Spyro, who barely appears after the first game, but I think he would make a strong marketing point.
Maybe they should just make "Skylanders - Kaos's Mom"
Count us in.
In my mind, Skylanders is probably the easiest to capture a movie while still keeping the same tone as the games.
It may well be horrible. I love the games, but I'm willing to admit they're cheesy. But, I'd certainly see a film.
Box office wise, it would be VERY successful
No.
@rjejr
I don't even call him Patrick Warburton. I just found out his name a couple weeks ago. Before that I just called him Kronk!
Terrible. That would just be terrible.
@FalconPunch - I still call him Puddy.
Oh god no
I hope Nintendo's figures drive Skylanders into the ground. DOWN WITH SKYLANDERS!!!
I just hate how milking a franchise is so common these days it's not only become acceptable, but also expected.
I honestly don't care what they do, as long as I get to hear more Richard Horvitz.
It has always floored me how a game can be great, and a movie about said game can be so bad. In the right hands, any franchise should thrive. I have always thought Skylanders would be more effective on the small screen.
Urgh, nothing more than milking the the cow till it can't be milked anymore...
We've come to a point where even Skylanders can get a movie but there still isn't a Zelda movie that isn't fanmade.
@Randomname19 To be honest an animated Skylanders movie wouldn't likely be too hard to do. It would probably be pretty simple to convert it into a movie actually. Unlike other games. Unfortunately the Zelda franchise is one where it would be...complicated to pull off. Because of how the games are done you would have to approach it differently. You aren't going to want to watch a Link go through "insert number here" of dungeons and it being tedious as all get out throughout the movie. A Zelda movie requires more...finesse really. It could work, but Nintendo, Aonuma specifically, would have to be directly involved and keeping a tight hand on it. That and I feel a Zelda movie would be best done animated. I would suggest Pixar or Studio Ghibli. Both are skilled at making beautiful, as well as amazing, animated movies not to mention movies of the fantastical kind. Which is what Zelda essentially is really.
@KingGanny This movie says otherwise:
Wonder if it will come with a portal that you have to place your skylanders figures on so that they will show up in the movie lol
I guess this pretty much confirms that the real spyro is dead forever. R. I. P.
This film could probably work if it has a decent story though so I won't bash it until I actually see something with my own eyes.
My son would really lijke a Skylander movie. He wants to see very strong Skylanders in exciting movie. In the Kaos should be defeated.
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