While there have been a ton of video game movies that adapt classic titles, only a select few films have been about gamers and their unique subculture. Since the popularization of video gaming in the early 1980s, Hollywood has tried to ride the wave, but video game movies usually leave gamers out of the equation.
Because an entire wing of popular culture has sprung up around video games, there are a plethora of storytelling opportunities if filmmakers invest time in actually learning about the subject. Gamers are usually portrayed as nerds and social outcasts in popular media, but some movies make them heroes. Often, it’s their gaming skills that help to save the day.
Gamers have also inspired their fair share of documentaries, and some have even become shining examples of the genre. Whether it’s science fiction, comedy, or something else, movies about gamers help bring the subculture to the masses. While they might be cheesy and dated most of the time, some gamer movies are legitimate classics that have aged like fine wine.
10
The Last Starfighter (1984)
A Gamer Fights An Intergalactic War
The Last Starfighter
- Release Date
-
July 13, 1984
- Runtime
-
101 minutes
- Director
-
Nick Castle
- Writers
-
Jonathan R. Betuel
- Producers
-
Edward O. Denault
Only a few years into the gaming craze, The Last Starfighter devised a clever way to work video games into its science fiction concept. An ordinary teen finds himself in the middle of an extraterrestrial war when his favorite video game turns out to be a training program for potential space pilots.
The Last Starfighter understood the importance of escapism, and clearly equates the escapism of movies with that of arcade gaming.
Video games themselves actually play a somewhat minor role in the film, but a gamer is the hero. What’s more, Alex is a compelling character who has interesting motivations, and gaming is an escape from his mundane life. The Last Starfighter understood the importance of escapism, and clearly equates the escapism of movies with that of arcade gaming.
9
Grandma’s Boy (2006)
An Underrated Stoner Comedy From The ’00s
Grandma’s Boy
- Release Date
-
January 6, 2006
- Runtime
-
94 minutes
- Director
-
Nicholaus Goossen
- Writers
-
Allen Covert
- Producers
-
Adam Sandler, Bill Todman Jr., Glenn S. Gainor, Jack Giarraputo, Nick Swardson, Peter Dante, Edward Milstein
-
-
Linda Cardellini
Samantha
-
-
Despite the fact that the comedy has rotten reviews, Grandma’s Boy is actually an underrated gem from the 2000s. The story centers on a slacker video game tester who is forced to live with his grandma after being evicted. The humor is intentionally gross and raunchy, and it doesn’t necessarily show gaming in the most flattering light.
Though Grandma’s Boy is seemingly poking fun at gamers, and equating them to slackers, it actually allows gamers in the audience to laugh along with the characters. It isn’t a mean-spirited movie, and makes the uninspired nerds the heroes in a roundabout way. There are elements that haven’t aged well, but Grandma’s Boy has early aughts nostalgic value.
8
Nerve (2016)
A Thriller With Emma Roberts & Dave Franco
Since the beginning of video game movies, there have been films that warn about the dangers of gaming. Nerve puts a clever spin on the well-worn concept by inventing an online game that essentially dares the players to do more and more outlandish things in the real world.
Even if gaming is somewhat peripheral, the movie explores the effect that online peer pressure can have on young people. The thriller aspects are well-made and downright cringe-inducing at times, and the dares are realistically integrated into the movie’s fictional game. Emma Roberts and Dave Franco’s characters aren’t traditional gamers, which offers a change of pace.
7
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017)
The Board Game Movie Became A Video Game Movie
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
6/10
- Release Date
-
December 5, 2017
- Runtime
-
119 Minutes
- Director
-
Jake Kasdan
- Writers
-
Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner
Two decades after the original film with Robin Williams, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle brought the classic board game story into the 21st century with a video game twist. A group of gamers is drawn into the digital world of Jumanji where they must play as their digital avatars. The movie humorously skewers action movie and video game cliches simultaneously.
Getting pulled into the game is an idea as old as Tron in the early ’80s, but Jumanji has fun with the concept with plenty of laughs and over-the-top action. It understands why players love video games so much, and treats the teenage heroes lovingly. A sequel promptly followed, and it’s turned into a bona fide gamer movie franchise.
|
New Jumanji Movies |
Release Year |
Rotten Tomatoes |
Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle |
2017 |
77% |
$962 million |
|
Jumanji: The Next Level |
2019 |
72% |
$801 million |
6
Ready Player One (2018)
The Steven Spielberg Movie Is Built On Nostalgia
Ready Player One
6/10
- Release Date
-
March 29, 2018
- Runtime
-
2h 20m
- Writers
-
Eric Eason, Zak Penn, Ernest Cline
Putting the weight of Steven Spielberg behind the project, Ready Player One is perhaps the highest-profile gamer movie of all time. Ernest Cline’s bestseller splashes across the big screen as a teen in a dystopian future enters a virtual reality game in order to retrieve secret treasure. The story’s framework exists essentially to capitalize on an overwhelming amount of nostalgia.
Cline penned a sequel, Ready Player Two, but it has yet to be adapted.
Hundreds of popular culture references bombard the viewer, and it paints its gamer hero as a philosophical and thoughtful rogue who is in love with the past. However, the movie really understands that it’s the simple fun of gaming that is what’s missing in such an awful future.
5
1Up (2022)
1UP
- Release Date
-
July 15, 2022
- Runtime
-
100 minutes
- Director
-
Kyle Newman
- Writers
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Julia Yorks
-
-
-
Taylor Zakhar Perez
Dustin
-
1Up is not a great film by any means, but it scores points for addressing legitimate issues in gaming. After being rebuffed by her college’s e-sports team, a young woman sets out to dominate her male competition at a major tournament. E-sports are not an easy subject to show onscreen, and 1Up makes up for its shortcomings with style.
The movie handles its very complex issues with humor instead of drama, and it softens the blow of legitimate sexism that has tainted discourse around gaming for years. A diverse cast is something unique in movies about gamers, and 1Up offers a wide array of heroes and villains. There are better gamer movies, but few are as charming and fun.
4
Noobz (2012)
Like A Time Capsule To The Year 2012
Taking a page from sports comedies like Dodgeball, Noobz is all about underdogs who also happen to be gamers. A gang of slacker friends head out to Las Vegas in order to compete in a major gaming tournament. The hook of Noobz isn’t its video game action, but the way it brought contemporary gaming culture to life.
The movie is a timewarp to 2012, for better or worse. A lot of modern (for the time) internet slang makes up the dialogue, and slacker veteran Jason Mewes leads the goofball cast. It might be dated and cheesy all these years later, but Noobz was pretty contemporary when it came out, and actually seems to care about gamers.
3
WarGames (1983)
A Gamer Movie With An Oscar Pedigree
Wargames
- Release Date
-
June 3, 1983
- Runtime
-
114 minutes
- Director
-
John Badham
- Writers
-
Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker
- Franchise(s)
-
Wargames
There are few films that have put as definitive a stamp on the gamer movie as WarGames, and it’s still one of the best of the narrow subgenre. A hacker in search of a new game to play accidentally starts a chain of events that might cause WWIII between the US and Soviet Union.
Matthew Broderick gives a career-defining performance, and the screenplay is brilliantly tense as each new twist escalates the international situation. The video game connection is somewhat inaccurate, but it does correctly draw parallels between gamers and hackers. Gamers aren’t portrayed in a negative light, which is what makes the plot all the more interesting.
2
The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)
The Quintessential Gamer Documentary
The best documentaries have compelling characters and a story that unfolds naturally. The King of Kong is a perfect example, and the gamer documentary is all about two very different people battling it out to have the highest score in Donkey Kong. The doc is also about integrity, and it has a very clear hero and villain.
It excels at succinctly introducing a largely ignorant audience into the obscure world of video game high scores, and it spins a twisting tale that rivals even fiction in its intrigue. While the movie might overstep the lines of journalistic ethics at times by insisting on a hero versus villain narrative, there’s no denying that it’s a compelling watch.
1
The Wizard (1989)
A Cheesy Piece Of ’80s Nostalgia
The Wizard
- Release Date
-
December 15, 1989
- Runtime
-
100 minutes
- Director
-
Todd Holland
- Writers
-
David Chisholm
- Producers
-
Ken Topolsky
The Wizard was essentially a big advertisement for Nintendo, but that doesn’t mean it’s a terrible film. A young boy pulls his autistic younger brother out of a mental health facility and heads for a video game competition that he knows his brother can win. Though the plot isn’t well-executed, there is an interesting story at its heart.
It captures the spirit of ’80s gaming, and speculates about the future of E-sports. The product placement is a drawback, but it has helped to add to the nostalgia factor in the years since. The Wizard isn’t the best gamer movie, but it’s one of the most fun and nostalgic films to come out of the video game subculture.