A Box Office Bomb of a Video Game Adaptation is Leaving HBO Max (And Soon)

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When a popular book or video game gets made into a movie, it’s often the start of a planned series or franchise. While some of these adaptations succeed – like the first six Resident Evil films – many, especially those based on video games, don’t live up to expectations. Soon, fans will no longer be able to stream one particularly unsuccessful video game movie adaptation, as it’s being removed from HBO Max at the end of the month.

The 2016 film Assassin’s Creed was intended to launch a movie franchise based on the popular Ubisoft video game series. The movie boasted a strong cast, including Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons, and didn’t simply retell a game story, instead crafting a new one within the same world. Plans were already underway for two sequels, with one even in early development while the first film was being made. However, the movie was poorly received by both critics and audiences – it currently has a 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – and didn’t perform well financially, effectively ending any possibility of further films.

Assassin’s Creed Failed Because It Was Too Different From the Iconic Game

Although the Assassin’s Creed movie had a good cast and a potentially interesting story, it didn’t succeed because it strayed too far from the beloved game. A major problem was its focus on a modern-day storyline instead of the historical settings fans enjoyed in the game. By shifting the story away from the exciting Spanish Inquisition era and placing it in a modern prison, the film lost much of the action and appeal that made the game so popular.

The movie’s story is unnecessarily complicated. Cal, convicted of murder, is taken by the Abstergo Foundation because he’s related to an ancient Assassin. Abstergo, a modern version of a centuries-old group called the Templars, wants to find a powerful artifact called the Apple of Eden, and they’re using Cal to help them. The movie doesn’t clearly explain why Abstergo or the Templars want the Apple, or even what the Apple is. Because these elements are so important to the plot, the lack of explanation makes the story confusing, even for fans of the original game. This resulted in a dull and frustrating movie experience. Now, after ten years, you can decide if the film holds up or if the initial negative reactions were justified, but you’ll need to watch it soon as it’s leaving streaming services.

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2026-02-21 19:13