by Charles Arencibia
The Last of Us is one of the most widely successful games with over 17 million copies sold since its release in 2013. That’s why there is no surprise that HBO max would be making an adaptation of the popular game series. Fans had high hopes for the TV adaptation, and feedback from the trailer confirms this with overwhelmingly positive reactions.
From the trailer, it looks like the show will follow a similar plot with the same characters and setting. This series brings up a question of whether or not TV adaptations of games are necessary. Take a game like Assassin Creed, which is one of the most popular game series of the 2000s. The release of the film with the same title in 2016 showed how poorly games translate to film, it still sits at a IMDb score of 5.6 and Rotten Tomatoes score of 19%. The same concerns go for the Last of Us, it may just be another cash grab.
The Last of Us has a unique opportunity in regards to a HBO Max series, mainly contributed by the games original story format, otherwise an adaptation could never work in the case if adapted into a movie instead of a show. A television series would give it the same structure that contributed to its success with more drawn out characters shown over a longer period of time. Ellie is a clear example of this periodic character development that could only exist in a series, her character is completely transformed to combat with the reality of apocalypse with the guidance of Joel.
With the Last of Us Part II only selling 10 million copies, a 7 million decline from Last of Us Part I, there may be credibility to the claim of greed as the incentive. This claim does have backing with the Uncharted game series, also owned by Naughty Dog, receiving a movie adaptation that currently sits at a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.3 on IMDb. The Uncharted movie was still financially successful with $401.7 million at the box office from a $120 million budget. At this point fans of the series must ask themselves if they value these adaptations or just see it as an artificial way to profit from mindless consumers.
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman just announced the production of Deadpool III, along with the return of Wolverine. Wolverine has been an ongoing joke in Deadpool I and II. Deadpool III will see much success as the previous two movies that still currently sit at the 2nd and 3rd highest grossing rated R films, and with the addition of Wolverine it should be the most successful film of the series. Not much information has been revealed so far besides small details in between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s charades, but fans can only hope that the Deadpool storyline and characters maintain their unconventional humor and underlying dark tone in Deadpool III.
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