2023 Movie Ranked the Greatest Video Game Adaptation of All Time

As video games become more popular and mainstream, Hollywood directors are spending more time and money adapting some of the best stories to the big screen. For example, the biggest movie of the spring was The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. With nearly $1 billion in tow, Nintendo's mascot is now a certified movie star!

There are so many other examples of huge video games being made into movies, but which one is the best? IMBb ranked every adaptation on their website, and the movie that came out on top might be a little surprising.

Gran Turismo comes in first with a score of 7.1/10. The 2023 film that adapted the PlayStation racing franchise of the same name stars David Harbour (of Stranger Things fame) and Orlando Bloom (of Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean). The plot of the film is loosely based on a real-life story of a Gran Turismo video game fan who takes up real racing and becomes a race car driver through perseverance and hard work.

The film doubled its production costs, earning $122 million against a $60 million budget. Critic reviews were average, with the movie getting a Metacritic score of 48/100. The fan score being much higher than the critic score suggests there was something in the movie that fans could relate to, perhaps referencing the video games the film is based on.

Alonso Duralde summed up the good and the bad of the film for The Film Verdict back in 2023.

"Gran Turismo is a piece of salesmanship that never stops selling - the movie constantly reminds us how much the real races resemble the accurate simulation of the game, and even the Sony Walkman gets a fair amount of screen time - but the vroom-vroom of it all delivers enough adrenaline and character-building to make this a solidly entertaining piece of late-summer cinema."

The quality of video game movies will only continue to grow with time and bigger franchises being adapted. The next big one on the docket is Mortal Kombat 2, coming out next weekend, May 15. Next year, fans can look forward to The Legend of Zelda coming to theaters on May 7, 2027.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 5:30 AM.