HOME TRAILERS RELEASE DATES PODCASTS REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS BOB $TENCIL NEWS FEEDS ABOUT APPS

LATEST NEWS

Rumor: Bethesda's Fallout 3 Headed to the Big Screen?

by Alex Billington
April 20, 2009
Source: Joystiq

I'm sure that in about 50 years, every video game ever made will be made into a movie. Obviously it has to do with the idea of having a pre-established fanbase surrounding the property, however, some of the stories in video games just aren't fit for the big screen. Fallout does not necessarily fall into the category. Considering the success of the latest game in the series, Fallout 3, I would've imagined that it would already been picked up and in development, but as far as I know, this is the first time I've heard anything about it. Joystiq is reporting that publisher Bethesda Softworks has filed a trademark for theatrical rights.

Joystiq's report is very speculative and the fact that Bethesda is filing for a trademark is only an extremely early indication that it may one day be possible that we'll see a Fallout 3 movie. For those unfamiliar with the game, Fallout 3 is set in the year 2277, 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the world in an alternate post-WWII timeline. The game puts the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape and journey into the ruins of Washington DC.

There's nothing wrong with that story, and I'd probably go see it if they made a movie, but I've got a feeling that Fallout 3 is one of those games that just won't make for a good movie (think Resident Evil). As in, it's great to play on the Xbox 360, but it's not great to see adapted, or at least in the way I'm sure Hollywood will adapt it. It's sad that this is the difference between two of the most popular entertainment mediums, but alas, that's just the reality for video game movies until something breaks that mold (and right now I'm hoping that's either Prince of Persia or BioShock or both). Only time will tell what happens to this game.

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions

midnightlight

Why the hell has halo not been made into a god damn movie yet?!
Rabican

Because the story is poor.
Brandon

Just don't let Uwe Boll direct it.
Janny

if fallout 3 was adapted to some sort of horror/adventure then it might work... but the pictures from price of presia don't look too good but Bioshock i think has serious potential to become the first solid video game/movie adaptation i think that the game that would work like a great movie (most likely trilogy) would be an adaptation of the soul reaver 1/2, defiance from the legacy of kain series
Ronald Cabuhat

yeah!....when da hell is Halo coming out??...
http://ohaidere.com danielvutran

Yeah, when da hell is Halo coming out. Lol.
Cody

Well the story isnt poor at all, its just it was an RPG there were alot of different endings to the game and paths. The story was different every time but it could be cool as long as it gets a director loyal to gaming.
DCompose

There are a lot of fucking cool plot elements in Fallout 3, and the whole franchise. All the cool shit happens in the little side quests, though; when you're going into the old abandoned vaults and finding the experiments tha VaultTech did. The main plot is pretty standard.
Hey Ya

^Yeah...Fallout is such a HUGE story but if you keep it simple playing through to just win it is simple. The side story on the game is what people love so yeah, a film adaptation would not even touch the game and suck poorly.
otic

no, this could work. fallout 3 is one of the most cinematic video games out there, complete with demented black humor, over the top gore and totally bitchin post apocalyptic setting... i think the powers that be should woo paul verhoeven back from the netherlands to helm this beast.
Jonny Diamond

Bioshock Halo Max Payne Dead Space Now this. I see dead people. LOL.
Fisherr

Prince Of Persia and Bioshock are humanity's last hope of games anticipated into good movies. O_o
Fisherr

Would like to see how Fallout 3 is made into a movie Post Apocalyptic events: I Like.
geneguru

metal gear solid???
Matt Suhu

Alex, yes the story is simplistic in of itself, but the side quests add depth and more meaning to the story of what's happening in the world. Also, the environment and way of life that Fallout 3 presents as a post-apocalyptic world is very detailed and engrossing. If the film mirrors the game, Fallout would certainly give us the best post-apocalyptic world ever seen in cinematic history...better than Mad Max or Escape From NY.
tyler caravoulias

i think i could direct this movie awesomely although im only 17 i like to keep to the material as close as possible
GM

Resident Evil?? there's no connection to Fallout man... but I also think, It's great to play an xbox but as a Movie...na...they fucked Street Fighter, Max Payne and Mortal Combat so..please no more games into MOVIES!!
movieboy

@17 Mortal Kombat 1 is actually a good video game movie part two is rubbish
LeftHanded

there has yet to be a good movie from a video game. doesn't exist. it's just about money with those people.
harrison

well if they do make the movie theyll probably make their main character a good guy, i went the bad guy route, made for a much more interesting game
dave13

awesome as hell game, great visuals. be interesting to see a movie version, but I somehow doubt it will hold, as there are so many plot problems in the game that just wouldn't hold for a movie.
Ajax

I don't think this can work. The game itself is both cinematic and has RPG elements to it. It will be extremely dificult to make a cohesive, interesting story off of something so hard to adapt.
DoomCanoe

video games to movies bad... excuse me? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avXsM2n2oqg&feature=related hahaah that never gets old.... no but on a serious note Silent Hill was fucking amazing and the first Mortal Kombat was OK.
Mister_Bubbles

Fallout 3 had the crappest. ending. ever.
Hey Ya

Best movie from a video game, Final Fantasy of course and I don't mean that American crap that had nothing to do with Final Fantasy. Although it was a very good movie, if they called it something else might not be disliked so much. Advent Children was the hotness but then again I don't think it counts because it was made in Japan! lol
Jason H

They need to make a Modern Warfare movie. It would be like The 24
jman571

I don't know, I've played Fallout 3 and I have more hope for a successful Halo movie than for this videogame. Besides the fact that the game is essentially an RPG, where YOU (the player) inhabits the main character and makes good or evil decisions for him. So that would be kind of weird if suddenly the main character in a fallout movie has these different motivations and personality that your yourself. Secondly, I'd even say it's TOO DEPRESSING to make a good action/adventure flick, which it would undoubtedly turn into. A few of the things in Fallout 3 strongly emphasize how bleak and hopeless things are. To mention one particularly awesome thing the designers included was a power station you can go to in Fallout 3, where you turn on, and hear a transmission from a father asking for medicine and help as his child is sick. If you follow the source of the transmission, you come upon the place they lived, only to find 2 skeletons, and a few random items laying around. From the looks of it, they must've died a long time ago. This is just one of the depressing elements. If they could make this movie into a thoughtful commentary on the horror of nuclear warfare...well maybe. But there's no real good precedent for videogame movies, and sadly I don't think a Fallout movie would start a good precedent.
Cody

Fallout 3 and MGS were "theatrical experiences" themselves. It's like reading the Davinci Code or Angels and Demons, and expecting the movie to be as good as the books. Also, #24, theres new downloadable content coming out in May called "Broken Steel", which is a continuation of the main story line. I wonder if Liam Neeson would agree to play in the movie as "Dad" after the tragic passing of his wife...
Hannah

I think that while it might be interesting to see what Hollywood might do with Fallout, the game itself is probably too complex to actually fit into an hour and a half time slot, especially considering how you can have a good, evil, neutral, whatever character. There's too much content in the games to translate into a movie that would'nt be either confusing as hell (see Pirates of the Carribean 3) or just plain boring.
keegan barrie

it would be awesome for a movie to come out it would be alittle like ' i am legend' sad and heart warming it would be a pretty good movie, depends on what quests you use not lame ones like the good ones
Tempral

I don't see Fallout 3 being able to be a direct transpostion to the big screen. But the universe of Fallout could make a very good movie setting, following the exploits of Vault Dweller X from Vault number Y. I could see Fallout working better as a TV series, excepting for budget concerns
Tempral

Or even better yet, Follow the exploits of Darring Dashwood and his loyal ghoul servent Argyle.
Michael Jackson

why dont you watch some videos
Ste the pirate

Fallout would make a pretty good basis for a plot to a movie, but it would require some1 with a great enthusiasm for the game, a massive input from bethesda, more money than the Vatican has and for Micheal Bay to be executed so he can't get anywhere near it! Either way you look at it you are gonna get a shit sandwich of a movie because of the way the world works. If its a low budget film they may get a pretty good enthusiast to direct it, but they will have shit actors and the CGI and special FX will let it down. If you have a big budget film you are gonna have awesome FX that every1 will praise for years, but you're gonna have peter Jackson or Micheal Bay walk along and ruin the freaking plot! I hope they prove me wrong. Post apocalyptic films are pretty good 12 Monkeys, I am legend, 28weeks later, water world... Okay mayB not water world, but the rest were awesome! Mayb another will join the ranks. Here's hoping!
Troy Johnson

They should make a movie about the BoS's sweep of the pit, and then make a sequel of the rise in Super Mutant population while part of the brotherhood starts breaking up into the outcasts.
Alex Griffin

I could see Fallout 3 being made into a series, but not a movie. All of the side quests would interfere with the movie staying on track, but if it were to be made into a series, it would not be an issue.
chris goetzinger

i would love to see fallout 3 into a movie it's my fav rpg ever could be kool if it was made into a series i was shocked when i heard talkin about a fallout 3 movie like my jaw dropped lol
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grailchaser/ Andrew Leitch

A Fallout movie could certainly work if they chose to centre it around the motivations of one character who remains unchanged and resolute throughout the whole of Fallout 3. Your Father. You spend most of the game following in his footsteps and finding out what he did. So the movie could focus on him and perhaps it could have the narrator as a young voice, referring to him as "my father" throughout. A second movie might even concern itself with what "you" actually did to bring his project to a success. (Yes, I know there's a few problems with this, since you actually meet your father again in the game, at least). It would really rock to see Liam Neeson reprising the role in a live action movie. Honestly though, I'd prefer to see it done as a television series - to allow the landscape to breath, as it were. Fallout is as much about the scenary as it is about the story.
eldestrug

I think Fallout would make for an ok movie. I say that because there is the "good Karma" and Bad Karma" thing in the game, which would make for two ok mini movies, instead of one big movie. At the same time you could make one big movie were the character has "nutral Karma" (doing good things and bad things) which I think would make for an interesting movie, mabye doing good things in the begginning and doing bad things in the end, I dunno. I still think that fallout would make a better movie than Halo any day, because in fallout the character can choose to be good or bad, while in halo, Master Chief is this good guy who only does good things, which, after playing the game for a year gets extreamly old. if I was the directer of the movie Fallout I would split it up into two mabye three mini movies, to save on the cost of making one big movie. I also suggest that fallout should start out as a tv show, and if the ratings are high for it then make into a movie.
Jeremy Guy

ok in my point of view i think the game was just one giant piece of success and that if they keep themselves to the same story as the video game then the movie would be a big breakthrough. but my only concern would have to be Karma how would you fit that into the movie, maybe make him the good guy maybe make him the villan i dont know. The second concern i have is that how in the world would they fit all the locations into the actual movie, the map on the game is huge. the only thing i can say is that the game has a giant chance at being a total box office murder or would be another waste of time movie.
http://pie.com fallout 1 to new vegas

fallout was by far the best rpg ive ever played, im looking forward to the upcoming newvegas . If fallout was to be a movie it should start out as a tv show and then hit the big screen in 3d yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fallout has the best storyline ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wat i love fallout !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and new vegas will rock ur world like fallout 3 did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex

There could be a very good fallout movie that isn't based on any of the games. Why not base it on the build up to the nuclear exchange and the commission of the vault program. That way we get to see the life that everyone had before the world got blown to bits
Hailey

I think that Fallout would make a good movie if there was a large focus on the main quest and more development on individual characters. Either that or set a movie in the Fallout universe, but create a new plot for it.
joel

-@Alex- That is a perfectly correct; when movies are created that are based off others ideas (or plots in this case), directors will always change the plot according to what will fit the movie best. Not only to make the plot make sense in the movie but also to engage and relate the plot to all viewers (thats why some movies like I Am Legend were well made). Steven Spielberg is a fine example of that kind of director, since he carefully implements and match the theme of a movie to its viewers. That is why all of his movies are amazing in the way they are presented and in originality. I personally think that is a great idea to have a plot showing what the events where like leading up to the Nuclear War...I think it would be epic (watch the Battle:los angeles trailer)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Marrijn-van-Boekel/100001601117801 Marrijn van Boekel

it will be a best seller, if you know the story 100% you can make 2 or 3 movie's of it
Lorna

i wanted to make a fallout 3 movie, obviously if i ever became a director, fuck doing it the shitty hollywood way, it's just something i've wanted to do since playing the game.
Playstation3

Please please please!!!!!!! Make a fallout 3 movie just do it it! It would be soooooooooo sick!!!!! :L
Krobar

I think we just all want to see power armor in a movie.
Mcscott96

The thing is, most video game movies were shit because they cut like half the story out. Also they put these mediocre actors to play as these amazing characters. Which to us, is like a "haha, fuck you" to our faces. If they just followed a legit storyline. Included all the little things (I don't care if the movies 3hrs long, just make it good) and put some B or A list actors in it. It could be an amazing movie. Just gotta make it right.
guest

how bout a series of episodes, then there could be more detail put into the story line...