Hollywood has been raiding various pantries for ideas, whether it's remakes of old movies and, of course, comic books, it would seem Tinseltown ran out of original ideas long ago. 

They probably wouldn't have if they would just let go of their rigid ideological nonsense, but I digress. 

The studio A24 is one of the last studios that seems to truly value originality, and while I wouldn't say all of their movies are good, I can at least credit them with trying to step outside the box. However, like every other studio, A24 is having an attendance problem. Fewer people than ever are interested in showing up to the theater, and moreover, it has an even bigger problem. 

As I reported last week, AI is getting strikingly good at creating video content, and now Google's state-of-the-art Veo3 has truly shown that Hollywood's days are numbered with its quality and sound design. With a more intuitive UI and a few more improvements to its AV capabilities, I don't see how Hollywood has a path forward. 

Read: Google Releases Mind-Blowing AI Video Technology That Will Both Amaze and Worry You

Until A24 found a life raft. 

According to Variety, A24 secured the rights to two major video game titles, Elden Ring and Death Stranding, signaling the studio's strategy to stay alive in an uncertain age. 

It makes sense, as comic book movies have lost a great deal of their luster thanks to their abuse and mishandling by Disney, so going to that poisoned well isn't going to attract many customers. However, video games are still a relatively untapped source, with a few studios really getting in on the trend. 

A24 likely watched Universal Pictures make $1.3 billion on The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog make Paramount $1.2 billion, and the success of the first season of The Last of Us whose finale had 8.2 million viewers, and with options for survival running low, decided to try to get in on that pie themselves. 

From Software's Elden Ring is arguably the most popular video game of the last five years, and while Death Stranding isn't nearly as popular, Hideo Kojima's bizarre tale of a courier connecting America is perfect for a screen adaptation. A24 securing them both is a huge deal, but it comes with major risks. 

It's historically difficult to adapt video games to the screen, and the magic of From Software's storytelling is that it's never straightforward. You have to piece it together by paying attention to the details in the environment and reading small clues attached to items. Elden Ring's method of storytelling was done in this way and still managed to be a grand epic, and how A24 plans on keeping with that level of "show, don't tell" is going to be extremely difficult. 

Alex Garland (Annihilation, Ex Machina) is set to direct, and between him and A24, I have at least a little faith in the project, but it could fail so easily. If it does fail, A24 could find itself in a very troublesome spot. The studio is known for its low-budget, high-quality indie films, and Elden Ring would represent a significant departure from its usual style. This could already alienate A24's fans, but if it fails to please Elden Ring fans, it will have effectively sunk two of its life rafts simultaneously. Investors may be less likely to help fund it in the future, and gaming studios won't be as ready to hand their IPs over either.

I do want to reiterate that if anyone can pull this off, it's A24, which seems more respectful to the art of storytelling and filmmaking than most studios today. If it does succeed, then it will likely give moviegoers and video game fans something to get excited about at the theater again, and A24 will become a leader in cinema, breaking free of its indie beginnings and launching itself as a major player. 

Moreover, if video game developers are willingly handing over their IPs to A24, it has a weapon to keep itself alive as AI begins to become its own major player in the industry. 

A24 isn't the only studio looking into video game IPs, and I imagine we're going to see a myriad of games-turned-movies and television shows come out. Most of them will be bad because most studios don't know how to make something with complex storytelling that many video games engage in, but A24's success could set a trend on par with the comic book movie eruption if it succeeds. 

No matter how you slice it, these studios should really focus on making the best product they can. Time is running out for Hollywood, and I don't see many studios surviving the age of AI. Their only hope is quality, respectful, and entertaining productions. 

That said, I'm not exactly betting on Hollywood. If video creators on YouTube have proved anything, it's that real creativity can come from anywhere, and with AI video-making capabilities becoming more advanced and common, the place that's run out of ideas is in big trouble. 

The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie.  

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