Live-action Rocket League movie trailer heads to Japan
Video game adaptions are the new comic book films, and this time, it's the popular car football game of Rocket League that's receiving its own Japanese film. After its initial announcement back in August 2023, the movie now has a trailer, detailing what story we can expect and how closely it ties to the game itself.
Rocket League film looks to be based on esports
Titled "PLAY! I don't care if I win or lose", the Rocket League film is a Japanese-produced adaption set to debut in the Spring of 2024 - though there's no concrete release date yet, nor news on whether it will receive an overseas rollout.
The movie is based on a supposedly real-life story, and is a coming-of-age narrative that follows high school students, played by Daiken Okudaira and Oji Suzuka. They embark on a journey to become professional esports athletes.
While the exact influence of the film hasn't been revealed yet, many suspect it to be based on Japanese esports team Elevate, who have a similar story and rise to prominence.
This movie also comes recently after the film adaption of Gran Turismo, which followed a similar story based on the life of Jann Mardenborough, who became a professional racer after playing Gran Turismo at a high level.
What other video game adaptions are in the works?
Click to enlargeFilms and television adaptions of popular games are becoming more and more frequent, with this year seeing the smash hit films based on Super Mario Bros., Five Nights at Freddy's, and The Last of Us TV show - all of which performed extremely well.
2024 is also shaping up to be a big year, as the Fallout series is set to debut on Amazon Prime, and the long-awaited Borderlands film from Eli Roth is releasing in August. Properties like Minecraft, Ghost of Tsushima, and Silent Hill also have new films in development that will be released in the near future.
While movie adaptions of games have historically been poor - let us all forget Max Payne or Uwe Boll films - they are starting to be taken more seriously by Hollywood as the game industry grows even bigger. Who knows, maybe we'll get an Oscar-winning film based on one of our favourite video game franchises one day.
