Early on movies based on video games may have seemed like a rock solid idea. Here we have the biggest theater going audience (boys to men 10 - 30) with a video game that has proven to be successful. But the moons never quite lined up, and video game movies are pretty bad.

Some say movies based on books don't work, which may be true (sometimes). They say Broadway doesn't work on the silver screen. They say radio plays aren't destined to be on celluloid, both may be true, but I'm here to say that video games don't work in the theater.

Eventually video game movies may work, now with the technology to present the movie in full motion computer generated graphics, but for now (at least as of this writing) video game movies are the lowest on the totem poll. The lowest? You bet, even lower than the recent Saturday Night Live movies. Even lower than the recent string of New York Police shows. Even lower than the next Hollywood scandal. Video game movies come and go like wind ... or at least like Tom Green's movie career!

But how can that be?

Perhaps there is no definitive answer. But there are definitely some rules that you should follow if you are going to make a video game movie!