Movies based on videogames tend to be action-y gorefests or even action-y actionfests—which is fine if you play games for adrenaline. But many games that I adore, like the Uncharted, LEGO, and Sam & Max series’, as well as my all-time favorite games, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, have also made me laugh. Sadly, very few videogame-based movies have managed to capture the humor that I love. The upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie, however, looks like it could be the videogame-based movie that I’ve always wanted: the action-y laughfest.
The teaser trailer, below, looks as if it has captured the game’s humor, as well as the humor of Pixar Studios. (Compare it to the teaser trailer for Monsters University and Finding Nemo). Obviously animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment and production company Blockade Entertainment have been taking notes in their theater seats.
Of course, we know nothing about the storyline, which is part of what makes a Pixar movie special. TJ Fixman, who wrote the first R&C game, will be creating a unique tale for the upcoming film, to be released some time in 2015. But with former plots involving pirates, stolen experiments, and creature collectors, we can expect….just about anything.
Although we get to meet Ratchet, the young Lombax, and Clank, his handy-dandy robot pal, it’s not clear from the teaser trailer who the villain will be. (Please let it be Doctor Nefarious.) However, we do get an eyeful of Captain Qwark. For those of us who have been wincing at the cancellation of Futurama, trust me: He’s the G-rated version of Zapp Brannigan.
If Ratchet & Clank is a fraction of a fraction as good as a Pixar movie, it should still be a hit. And if the movie has any of the humor of the videogame and of the teaser trailer, viewers could be laughing their way to the box office.
The R&C series has received mostly positive ratings, with average Metacritic scores in the 80s. However, the most recent game, Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault, received only a 63.
According to Variety, no budget has been announced. However, Blockade Entertainment’s previous outing, Escape from Planet Earth, cost $40 million, with a box office take of almost $60 million. The Vancouver-based animators, Rainmaker Entertainment reported losses of $3.6 million in 2012, $0.20 per share.
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