For almost as long as there have been video games, there have been video game movies. The first, an anime film based on Nintendo's successful Super Mario Bros. franchise, appeared in 1986, but they really gained popularity with the releases of Hollywood hits like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in 1994 and 1995, respectively. The poorly-reviewed box-office bombs Super Mario Bros. (the live-action one) and Double Dragon, which were released earlier, didn't make much of an impact.
Despite this sudden rise in popularity, however, video game movies have a negative trend associated with them. Most receive poor reviews from critics, and many are box-office bombs. However, that's not to say none of them manage to make it to box-office glory; many of them have. Here are the 10 highest-grossing video game movies ever made, based on data collected from Box Office Mojo.
Tomb Raider (2018) - $274 Million
A reboot of the film franchise of the same name, 2018's Tomb Raider stars Alicia Vikander as the titular character, Lara Croft, who discovers a centuries-old mystery when investigating her father's disappearance.
While the film polarized critics (especially on the topic of Croft's character), it was a relative financial success, making $274 million worldwide on a budget of around $100 million.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) - $274 Million
2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider stars Angelina Jolie in the titular role, as she travels across the globe to keep the Illuminati from obtaining an ancient artifact that could bring about the end of the world.
While it received mixed to negative reviews from critics, it was a fairly large box office success, grossing $274 million worldwide and earning a sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life, in 2003.
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) - $300 Million
Despite receiving largely negative reviews from critics, the Resident Evil film franchise - based on the sci-fi horror video game series of the same name - has been hugely successful at the box office. The fourth installment, Resident Evil: Afterlife, was released in 2010 and follows protagonist Alice (played by Milla Jovovich) as she attempts to rescue the survivors of the previous film's T-Virus outbreak.
The film made more than $300 million worldwide, on a budget of just $60 million.
Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) - $306 Million
Based on the popular Sega video game series of the same name, 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog seemed destined to fail from the start. After the first trailer's release, fans called out the many problems with Sonic's creepy character design, leading to the film being postponed in order for the VFX artists to fix the problem.
Surprisingly, this actually worked, and the film went on to make more than $306 million at the worldwide box office.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) - $314 Million
The sixth installment of its eponymous film franchise, 2016's aptly-named Resident Evil: The Last Chapter follows spy gone rogue Alice as she leads the T-Virus survivors to one final stand against Umbrella, the mega-corporation that created the pandemic.
While it received mixed reviews from critics, the film did surprisingly well at the box office, making more than $312 million worldwide and becoming the franchise's highest-grossing installment to date.
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (2010) - $336 Million
The action-adventure video game series Prince of Persia definitely seemed like an unlikely candidate for a feature film adaptation, but one happened anyway - and, surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, at least not for the video-game-adaptations genre.
The film, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, follows Dastan, a prince in ancient Persia who finds a dagger that allows him to travel through time. Despite being made on a whopping budget of $150 million, the film managed to make $336 million at the box office, and it briefly held the title of the highest-grossing video game movie ever made.
The Angry Birds Movie (2016) - $352 Million
A bouncy, kid-oriented film adaptation of the video game about birds who launch themselves at their pig enemies via slingshot, The Angry Birds Movie wasn't a big hit with critics, to say the least.
However, there was enough of an audience to void any damage the poor reviews might have done, and the film made $352 million worldwide - enough to earn a (significantly better-reviewed) sequel in 2019.
Rampage (2018) - $428 Million
Based on the classic arcade game of the same name, 2018's Rampage stars Dwayne Johnson as Davis Okoye, a primatologist who becomes friends with a highly intelligent albino gorilla who is growing larger by the day as the result of a dangerous genetic experiment. After similar monstrous creatures begin appearing all over the world, Okoye and his primate pal will have to stop them in order to prevent mass destruction.
While the film received mixed reviews from critics, The Rock's star power carried it to new heights. It finished its theatrical run with a monumental $428 million worldwide gross.
Detective Pikachu (2019) - $433 Million
The first Pokémon film to combine live-action and animation, 2019's Detective Pikachu stars Ryan Reynolds as the title character, a Pikachu with amnesia who hopes he can recover his lost memories by pursuing his only lead - a man named Tim Goodman, whose father has recently disappeared.
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was hailed as a stark improvement on the drab monotony of video game cinema. It grossed more than $433 million worldwide, and a sequel is currently in development.
Warcraft (2016) - $439 Million
Based on the record-breaking video game franchise of the same name (known for housing the world's most popular MMORPG of all time, World of Warcraft), the 2016 film Warcraft finds the worlds of orcs and humans colliding, creating a conflict of epic proportions.
While it received mostly negative reviews from critics, the film found some solace in its impressive box office performance. With a worldwide gross of $439 million, it surpassed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as the highest-grossing video game movie ever made.