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Best Based on video game Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of based on video game cinema — measured across 1,796 indexed frames from 22 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Based on video game films over-index on leather armor, armor and tactical vest — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    Monster Hunter (2020)

    Paul W. S. AndersonDP Glen MacPhersonIMDb 5.2TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    While on a peril-laden mission to track a missing team of soldiers, hard-as-nails U.S. Army Ranger Captain Natalie Artemis and her elite brothers-in-arms find themselves transported to an alternate universe. There, trapped in a barren desert-world rife with formidable adversaries and subterranean sand-dwelling beasts, for the first time, Captain Artemis and her squad are shocked to discover that their otherwise destructive military weapons are now entirely inadequate to take down the enemy. But, unexpectedly, in their desperate battle for survival, the team stumbles upon a mysterious local huntsman whose superior combat skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the mighty creatures. Is there an escape from the prison realm? Above all, what does it take to become a fearless monster hunter?

  2. 2

    Warcraft (2016)

    Duncan JonesDP Simon DugganIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    When the world of the Orcs of Draenor is being destroyed by the evil fel magic that uses life-force, the powerful warlock Gul'dan creates a portal to the world of Azeroth and forms the Horde with members of the Orc clans. He also captures many prisoners to keep the portal open. The king of Azeroth, Llane Wrynn and his brother-in-law, Anduin Lothar are informed by the apprentice of magician Khadgar that he has found fel magic in dead bodies and the king decides to summon the Guardian of Tirisfal, Medivh, to protect his kingdom. Lothar and Khadgar head to Kharazhan to meet Medivh and an ominous shadow points a book out to Khadgar, who takes it and hides. Anduin, Khadgar and Medivh and a group of soldiers are attacked by Orcs and they capture the slave Garona, who is released by King Llane, and she shows them the location of the portal. Garona is contacted by the Orc chief of a clan Durotan that wants to meet King Llane to stop the fel magic. Meanwhile Khadgar learns that the gate was opened with the help of someone in Azeroth. Shall King Llane trust Garona and Durotan, who might be the traitor?

  3. 3

    Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

    Paul W. S. AndersonDP Glen MacPhersonIMDb 5.5TMDB 6.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began - The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.

  4. 4

    Assassin’s Creed (2016)

    Justin KurzelDP Adam ArkapawIMDb 5.6TMDB 5.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar de Nerha, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

  5. 5

    Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

    John R. LeonettiDP Matthew F. LeonettiIMDb 3.6TMDB 4.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Mortal Kombat is an ancient tournament where the Earth Realm warriors battle against the forces of Outworld. Liu Kang and a few chosen fighters fought and defeated the powerful sorcerer Shang Tsung, their victory would preserve the peace on Earth for one more generation. Taking place now where the first movie left off, the Earth realm warriors live a short period of peace when evil forces from another dimension come to invade and wreak havoc on Earth. They are guided by the forces of Outworld leader, Shao Kahn and his generals such as: Motaro, Rain, Ermac, Sheeva and Sindel. Now Liu Kang, Raiden, Jax, Sonya and Kitana must defeat Shao Kahn in six days before the Earth realm merges with the Outworld.

  6. 6

    Rampage (2018)

    Brad PeytonDP Jaron PresantIMDb 6.1TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Athena-1, a space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. Dr. Kerry Atkins, the lone surviving crew member, is ordered by CEO Claire Wyden to retrieve research canisters containing a pathogen. Atkins is able to flee in the escape pod when the station implodes, but due to damage from the rat it disintegrates upon re-entry, killing her. The falling pieces leave a trail of debris across the United States, including the Everglades in Florida, where a canister is consumed by an American crocodile, and a forest in Wyoming, where a gray wolf is exposed to the pathogen. Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. He has befriended a rare albino western lowland gorilla named George, having saved him from poachers, and communicates with George using sign language and hand gestures. At night, one of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat, and George is exposed to the pathogen..

  7. 7

    The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

    Aaron Horvath, Michael JelenicIMDb 7.0TMDB 7.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers—and brothers—Mario and Luigi are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi.

  8. 8

    Tomb Raider (2018)

    Roar UthaugDP George RichmondIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is the fiercely independent daughter of eccentric adventurer Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of twenty-one without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father's global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he's truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can't understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death. Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad's last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn't be higher for Lara, who, against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith, and inherently stubborn spirit, must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name "tomb raider".

  9. 9

    Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (2012)

    MJ BassettDP Maxime AlexandreIMDb 4.9TMDB 5.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Sharon Da Silva believes that she is on the run with her adoptive father because he killed a man in self-defense when she was young. Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, living under the alias of Heather Mason, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Sharon discovers he has been protecting her from a religious cult called the Order of Valtiel. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever in a place known as Silent Hill.

  10. 10

    TRON: Legacy (2010)

    Joseph KosinskiDP Claudio MirandaIMDb 6.8TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn, looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 20 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant Quorra, father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous. Meanwhile, the malevolent program CLU, who dominates the digital world, plans to invade the real world and will stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

What based on video game films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a based on video game frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — leather armor is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • leather armor31.6×
  • armor5.0×
  • tactical vest5.0×
  • debris4.2×
  • dust3.8×
  • tunic3.7×
  • fog3.5×
  • fire3.3×

How based on video game films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate based on video game from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 12%low anglevs 5% baseline

What breaks the pattern

The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,796 frames from 22 films carrying the based on video game label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/based-on-video-game

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used