Adaptations are hard. Some adaptations stray too far from the source material, while others are weighed down by it. Some have dared to ask whether their take on the material might improve with the original creator’s direct input. Success in one medium has no bearing on any other, but some believe they can do it all. Five Nights at Freddy’s and Wing Commander‘s film adaptations enjoyed the oversight of the video game’s designer, but neither worked out.
Five Nights at Freddy’s creator, Scott Cawthon, is a controversial game designer. His career started with religious games like Pilgrim’s Progress before he tried and failed to sell a children’s game about beavers on Steam Greenlight. Five Nights at Freddy’s became a runaway hit after he realized how creepy his characters looked. Cawthon gained some notoriety but largely disappeared after his political donations leaked online, sparking immense backlash. All seems forgiven in the wake of his involvement in the film.
What Five Nights At Freddy’s and Wing Commander have in common
|
Five Nights at Freddy’s |
Wing Commander |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Director |
Emma Tammi |
Chris Roberts |
|
Writer |
Scott Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback, Emma Tammi |
Kevin Droney, Chris Roberts |
|
Cast |
Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard |
Freddy Prinze Jr., Saffron Burrows, Matthew Lillard |
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Runtime |
109 Minutes |
100 Minutes |
|
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
32% from 212 critics |
10% from 51 critics |
Five Nights at Freddy’s and Wing Commander are unique among video game movies in how they approach the source material. FNaF creator Scott Cawthon and Wing Commander designer Chris Roberts were closely involved in their production. Cawthon co-wrote the film’s final script. He turned in an earlier draft with his previous novel co-writer, Kira Breed-Wrisley, but decided to abandon it despite director Chris Columbus and producer Jason Blum enjoying it. Cawthon was the fanbase’s point of contact for most of the filmmaking process. Fans eagerly awaited details on the project that took nine years. As the film lost directors and production houses, he became the most notable behind-the-scenes name in the credits.
On the other hand, Wing Commander had a bracingly short production schedule. Chris Roberts directed the live-action cutscenes for the third and fourth entries in his beloved space combat simulator. That experience led him to believe he could bring Wing Commander to the screen. He acknowledged the failure of every previous video game movie but assured his fans he’d be the best voice to adapt his story. The contemporary competition included Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat films. His finished product is comparable to those poorly-received outings but far less enjoyable as a cult hit. Wing Commander flopped hard. It stands today as a painful lesson for fans. As most video game movies suffered savage critique for their departures from the source material, Wing Commander demonstrated that even the original creator can’t always save the adaptation.
The problem with too much creator input
These works suffered under the reign of the source material’s creators. Wing Commander‘s wounds were more visible as the film bombed hard at the box office. It earned less than half of the lowest estimate of its production budget. Five Nights at Freddy’s cleaned up, leveraging its years of successful merch into ticket sales. It quickly became the most financially successful film ever released simultaneously to theaters and streaming. Critics despised it, and the lion’s share of positive audience reviews came from self-proclaimed fans. Cawthon’s original script earned the praise of Jason Blum and beloved director Chris Columbus. Imagine what FNaF could have been with the writer of Gremlins and the director of Home Alone at the helm. Beyond that, Cawthon delayed the film for years. He may be the rightful target of blame. In an interview with Collider, Jason Blum delivered this bracing quote:
I don’t want to do something that Scott doesn’t like. Let me say that a different way. I don’t have the right to do anything Scott doesn’t like. Basically, Scott has kind of like the equivalent of ‘final cut’ and it’s taken longer than I hoped to get the right story.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a better film than Wing Commander, but it reached the dizzying heights of sub-par children’s horror despite Scott Cawthon. Video game designers have a skillset, and their work should always be respected, but their unique abilities give them no particular advantage when working on a major motion picture. Before even addressing the problems with unwavering fealty to the source material, outsiders often create the best parts of a franchise. When the next video game movie brags about its connection to the original game’s creator, remember Wing Commander and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Matthew Lillard can’t possibly take too many more of these.
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