The recent trend of adapting video games into television shows and movies is a lucrative one. We’ve seen the likes of Minecraft, The Last of Us, Fallout, Super Mario, Sonic, and Borderlands (ahem) all make it in this entirely different medium that has allowed IP owners to diversify their portfolios.
In a recent interview with Shuji Utsumi, CEO of Sega America and Sega Europe, it was revealed that Crash Bandicoot could have been one of the first game franchises to wind up on the silver screen, but Hollywood biffed the chance to make it a reality.
What Might Have Been
Admittedly, when Crash Bandicoot could have surfaced as a movie, it wouldn’t have done anywhere near as well as it would have if it were released today. These adaptations of video games are making billions of dollars, but would that have been the case in the 1990s? Hell no.
In a recent interview with The Game Business, Sega’s Shuji Utsumi revealed that he approached Hollywood bigwigs when he started working in the games industry some thirty years ago. He had a pitch: take Crash Bandicoot and turn it into a family movie.
Here’s how that went:
When I started to get involved in the video game business, I picked up Crash Bandicoot and started asking some of the movie studios if they were interested in turning that property into a movie.
But I was treated like… ‘hey, video games is like a toy business’. They didn’t really take it seriously.
With so many games becoming movies and shows, it seems easy to suggest that a Crash Bandicoot movie writes itself. It’s a series that has been around since 1996, and it’s fronted by a character that’s equal parts instantly recognisable and entertaining.
One day, perhaps.
Would you head to the cinema to check out a Crash Bandicoot movie? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum if that’s your thing.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Undead Nightmare is now in Red Dead Online… Kind of
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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