Oct 9, 2026 · 1h 29m
Hollywood turns game adaptations into its next content arms race
Hollywood's Gaming Adaptation Feeding Frenzy, With Chris Ryan | Button Mash
The episode examines whether entertainment companies can convert gaming’s scale and interactive appeal into durable film and television franchises.
- 1Taylor Sheridan’s sprawling television empire offers a revealing test case for turning prestige dramas into playable worlds.
- 2Game adaptations risk repeating superhero fatigue if studios prioritize volume over mechanics, emotional experience, and finished quality.
- 3Grand Theft Auto resists conventional adaptation because its online world and cultural footprint may already exceed what movies can contain.
Don't miss
The hosts explain why Grand Theft Auto may resist film adaptation precisely because its online ecosystem already operates as a complete entertainment world.
The brief
Ben Lindbergh brings Chris Ryan, a lapsed gamer with memories of Halo, Max Payne, and Crazy Taxi, into a discussion of Hollywood’s growing gaming appetite.
The Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros. combination becomes a springboard for imagining Taylor Sheridan properties as games, from Yellowstone and Lioness to a prison-riot game based on Mayor of Kingstown.
Their pitches expose the central adaptation problem: Sheridan’s monologues, politics, soap-opera rhythms, and distinctive voice may not translate cleanly into interactive systems.
The conversation widens to Resident Evil, Golden Axe, Call of Duty, and a coming wave of projects that could either mature the form or produce adaptation fatigue.
Grand Theft Auto offers the sharpest counterexample: its online role-playing ecosystem already functions as an entertainment world, making a conventional film seem oddly small.
The episode closes on GTA VI’s scale and the cultural force of Rockstar’s licensed soundtracks, where a music reveal can become an event independent of the game.
Books & mentions
The Watch
Chris Ryan’s related Ringer show extends the episode’s conversation about film, television, and adaptation.