Nolan discussed his thoughts on video game movies during a recent interview with The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley. The filmmaker noted that despite the challenges of video game development, he’d be interested in exploring the medium if the right opportunity presented itself. “Making films is complicated and takes a long time. Making video games is even more complicated and takes even longer,” Nolan said. “The way the video game industry works […] it’s really tough. You don’t want to just be doing a licensed game; tying it into something and using the brand established by the film. […] You don’t want it to just draft off the brand. You want it to be something great in its own right. […] It’s not something you’d ever take on lightly but it’s definitely something I’m interested in.”
While there’s a decades-long history of video games based on films, most of those game adaptations have suffered poor critical and commercial receptions. (“Star Wars” video games are a notable exception.) Nolan added that he once “went fairly far down the road” toward adapting his 2010 “Inception” film into a video game before axing the project. Although none of Nolan’s films have been adapted into video games, Nolan is hardly a stranger to the medium; the filmmaker premiered the trailer for “Tenet” on Epic Games’ wildly popular “Fortnite” earlier in the year, which marked the first time a high-profile film trailer had debuted on a video game. Nolan’s “Inception” even streamed on the video game during a Nolan-themed movie night in June 2020. Though Nolan’s trilogy of Batman films was never adapted into a video game, his critically acclaimed “The Dark Knight” film premiered one year before game developer Rocksteady Studios’ “Batman: Arkham Asylum” released. The success of the “Batman: Arkham Asylum” led to a variety of sequels; “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” the next installment in the game franchise, is slated to release in 2022. Nolan’s thoughts on adapting his films into video games can be heard below:
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 21, 2020 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
