Once upon a time, not too long ago, movies might have seemed like the undisputed champions of the entertainment industry. While music has always been up there too, their core difference in mediums meant that they worked in tandem more often than they conflicted. TV was arguably seen as a lesser version of cinema, and gaming more as a toy.

Times have changed, however, and streaming has shown the appeal and versatility of TV, while gaming has continued to evolve and grow in many different directions. The relationship between movies and gaming has changed multiple times during this time as well, however.

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The days of licensed games

While licensed games are still something that you see today, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was released in 2023, after all, it’s not quite the same. In the early 2000s, games would be released as supplemental materials, and you would have games that would share the title with the film being released, with the game essentially functioning as marketing material for the movie. This spoke to the different values that were assigned to these products. It wasn’t that games weren’t popular then, but they lacked the kind of all-consuming market power that they’ve been shown to have in the days since the release of Grand Theft Auto 5.

That release has often been heralded as one of the most successful entertainment products of all time due to the money that it made, and moving closer to today, you have games like Fortnite, which generate more revenue annually than some entire countries do.

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Shared content

Walking away from an action movie set in a casino and feeling compelled to get involved in something similar might have you looking over the various experiences available at the best Australian online casinos. It’s a straightforward solution that can provide you with exactly what you’re looking for. However, this potential crossover can be seen on a wider scale, and sometimes, interest in a movie might lead to interest in a game that shares aspects of the setting (or vice versa).

Sometimes this can happen because one game or movie releases, say Overwatch for example, and the success of the aesthetic leads to other properties trying to capitalise on this initial success, with Overwatch itself being a hero-based shooter in the wake of Marvel’s own success with superhero franchises.

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Games in movies

For those who are interested in gaming, it’s interesting to see how the medium is often depicted on screen. Much of the time it comes down to a generic-looking title in the background, with royalty-free sound-effects playing over them.

Looking back, though, you can see how the perception of gaming can be associated with various attitudes at the time. While not specifically a video game, the movie Mazes and Monsters (Steven Hilliard Stern, 1982; pictured at the top of this article) starring Tom Hanks is very clearly based on Dungeons and Dragons. That in itself makes sense with the game being popular at the time, but the way it’s depicted showcases specifically negative attitudes, which can be an insightful look at attitudes of the time.