Assassin's Creed released in 2016 to a poor critical reception and very little success at the box office. Such a well-known franchise had the potential to be the next big movie series, but, unfortunately, a number of creative decisions left fans of the franchise feeling flat.
With the world of Assassins Creed constantly expanding, there's certainly some new options as to what a future film on the series could be about. Having said that, do these video games really deserve another go at a movie franchise, or are cinemas better off without Ezio, Desmond, and the whole host of supporting characters?
Doesn't Deserve Another Shot: Box Office Fail
Unfortunately, money sometimes speaks louder and the first Assassins Creed film didn't exactly impress any executives that would be looking to revisit this franchise in the future.
Despite the huge audience that's linked to the franchise, many did not turn out to experience their favorite video game characters on the big screen. This could have been in large part due to the fact that the film acted as a weak imitation of the Xbox and PlayStation adventures.
Does Deserve Another Shot: Still A Demand
There's definitely still some kind of appetite for a movie based on the franchise, though. With the first version leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouths, it would be fitting for the series to have another go.
The games are still incredibly popular to this day, and there continues to be new releases in store for fans of the franchise. It would certainly make sense to try to capitalize on this new demand for content.
Doesn't Deserve Another Shot: A Bad Taste
That bad taste that has been left might be too much to get over for audiences though. With the original iteration performing so poorly, it could affect the franchise into the far future.
Sometimes, if a brand is damaged enough, more time has to pass to allow audiences to start accepting the possibility of a new version once again. Some characters such as Spider-Man can skip this rule, but Assassins Creed may be subject to it.
Does Deserve Another Shot: A Fantastic World
The game designers have truly created a fantastic world of mystery and lore to explore. There's a lot of different genres and locations that a future film could play into, replicating the way the games are going.
Recently, the video game genre has started to lean into their established worlds a little more. For an Assassins Creed movie to really work it would have to heavily rely on what made the games so special: building out that detailed universe.
Doesn't Deserve Another Shot: Complicated Continuation
There's a lot of questions surrounding how the movie franchise would continue. This certainly leads to a lot of complicated answers, which could confuse audiences further.
A full reboot could be on the cards, with the first film disregarded. That might cause a little bit of confusion to those that don't know the ins and outs of the industry. A soft reboot, slightly connected to the original, might cause even more problems though.
Does Deserve Another Shot: New Creative Options
There's plenty of creative options that the franchise could move forward with though. The original film perhaps relied too much on jumping between the world of the assassins and the present day.
This is a mechanic that works within video games, but maybe a movie should focus entirely on the life of an ancestor, perhaps with a twist at the end bringing it to the modern world.
Doesn't Deserve Another Shot: Plenty Of Video Game Movies
The video game genre is currently booming in Hollywood meaning that there's no room for franchises that might not perform so well. An Assassins Creed film would have to stand out.
Currently, fans are getting excited about franchises that have never made it to the big screen before. Since this series has a failed history, it might not be a good time to reboot it during the boom of the industry.
Does Deserve Another Shot: Renaissance
Having said all that, this is the renaissance of the video game movie genre. With so many great characters joining the expanding slate of films, there's potential to add in a few assassins.
The fact is, there's a lot being learned from this current period of development. Fans are giving clear feedback on what is and isn't working, which this franchise could certainly learn from itself.
Doesn't Deserve Another Shot: Expanding Franchise
The franchise is continuing to expand thanks to the video games. From Norse mythology to a swashbuckling adventure, any one of these video games could inspire a new film.
With that being said, with so many options perhaps the video games should really be the driving force of this series. Another unsuccessful flop could in turn affect sales, or at least damage the franchise reputation further.
Does Deserve Another Shot: Cinematic Potential
When reviewing all of these elements, it's difficult to deny that there's some cinematic potential here. The first film wasn't without its strengths, but they was overshadowed by poor storytelling. It would be fascinating to see a genuinely good video game movie come out of this popular franchise, especially with such a compelling world and deep, complex characters to explore further.