Series hit “Fallout”: Interview with film critic David Hain

Mr. Hain, is “Fallout” really good or were others Video game film adaptations just bad so far?
Both. Fallout is really good. Not just as a series itself, but also as a video game film. But yes: We gamers have really had to endure a lot over the last 30 years. There were positive outliers every now and then. But if you ask a game fan about the five best film adaptations, second place would probably be the end.

And is that different now?
In any case.

Why?
Mainly thanks to streaming providers. Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Co. have been busy buying rights.

So, as always, it’s all about the money?
Not only. The games themselves have also become significantly better.

What does “better” mean?
You have a real story.

Despite the success of “Fallout”: “Hollywood is not primarily about a good story”

As simple as that?
It’s much easier to make a good film if the source material has something to offer. This is proven by series hits like “The Witcher”, “The Last of Us” – or “Fallout”.

So the script writes itself?
At least the authors have a lot of material. The “Fallout” game series, for example, now consists of five parts and four spin-offs. The series creators were not only able to rely on the exciting setting of a post-apocalyptic world, but also had a huge contingent of finished stories and many characters to choose from, some of which were worked out down to the last detail.

Okay, but the plot of the “Super Mario” games practically fits on a beer mat. Nevertheless, the film adaptation was a huge success last year.
I think that shouldn’t be misunderstood. Quality is not a guarantee of success. Hollywood is not about a good story in the first place. But about the brand.

Now that sounds very unromantic.
Well, it’s also called a filmIndustry. Last year’s “Super Mario Bros” film was a turning point – the first video game adaptation to break the billion dollar mark. The game developers also benefit from it. Old “Mario” games entered the global charts after their theatrical release, and developer Nintendo’s sales increased by 18 percent in 2023.

Really sounds like a dreamfactory at. Aren’t games now recognized for what they are? Namely art?
Yes, for quite a while now – after “GTA 5” at the latest. But the industry is concerned with something much more mundane: it has to fill a gap – ideally with a new franchise.

Now that you say it. It feels like there are only new editions or sequels…
In 2023, Oppenheimer was the only standalone film to make it into the top ten.

So do we as viewers only get what we deserve?
At least we accept franchises. If we like something, we want more, more, more.

Until we have enough?
Yes. Unfortunately, the studios tend to completely oversaturate the market. First it was westerns, then science fiction, then fantasy. Now Marvel superheroes have also run into a wall. Now Hollywood is desperately looking for the next franchise.

And these are video games?
In any case. They already have a huge fan base.

But they’re not exactly easy to please.
Fans are often toxic, that’s true. But it’s not just video game adaptations that have this problem – think of the new “Star Wars” films.

Rather not.
It was just an example.

Film critic David Hain: “It’s a fight for people’s time”

But let’s be honest: gamers are a bit peculiar, aren’t they? Have “Fortnite“Players don’t have different demands than “Lord of the Rings” fans?
Clear. A gamer who spends hours gaming with his friends and then spends a few hours on Twitch watching other people play is no longer going to the cinema. But he could. And how do you get it? With the same stuff he consumes all day anyway.

So unromantic again.
It is. It’s a battle for people’s time. The film studios know this. Bob Iger announced two months ago that Disney alone wanted to invest $1.5 billion in the game developer Epic Games in order to invest in “Fortnite”, among other things.

Sounds like a lot.
But in relation it isn’t at all. The video game market is expected to generate around $260 billion this year – and the trend is rising. The film industry is worth just $80 billion.

Is there some kind of “fallout” formula? A recipe for getting hardcore gamers and newcomers together?
In the end it’s always a balancing act. Can you deviate from the template? Maybe you even have to? These are things that play a role today so that people don’t freak out on Twitter. And then there is the topic of wokeness…

There was something there… The question of who plays who can break the neck of an adaptation.
And how. Like in the debate about the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid,” when the anti-woke clique freaked out because a black actress played the mermaid. One Mermaid! A completely crazy discussion – the film was just crap!

Or when “fans” in the “Lord of the Rings” series “The Rings of Power” complained that an elf was black?
Who cares?! If that bothers you, you’re just a racist!

But now we have opened a barrel.
This just pisses me off. Even in my “Fallout” review, people weren’t above complaining about the fact that the protagonist is a woman. You could even choose this yourself in the game!

There was also discussion in the gaming scene about whether female protagonists were intentionally becoming less attractive.
Yes bad. Even before the start of the “Fallout” series, an AI-modified poster appeared on the Internet in which the main character had a larger butt. That’s really violent – and above all, just misogynistic.

Admittedly, the protagonists in the games and film adaptations used to look different. Cue Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider.”
That’s the argument of the anti-woken. They claim that the developers want to make up for these “sins” of the past by programming extra “ugly” women into their games.

Is there something to that?
That is nonsense. People are just finally being normalized. A heroine no longer has to look like a Brazilian supermodel climbing over the Alps.

In Germany “people don’t dare make genre films”

Speaking of the Alps. For German filmmakers, video game adaptations are still exotic. Local developers have released hits like “Crysis” and “Gothic”. Why not make a film of it too?
Because Germany hardly tries anything that goes beyond the next Matthias Schweighöfer comedy.

Ouch.
But it’s true. You don’t dare watch genre films here. Mainly because the funding agencies don’t give a cent for it. And game adaptations in particular cost a lot of money. An alien invasion in the jungle like in “Crysis” is more expensive than a relationship drama in Berlin-Mitte.

So no chance of a German “Gothic” film?
No. Not unless something fundamentally changes in the German film landscape.