11 Other Movies Based on Toys
To celebrate the release of Barbie in what is going to be one of the biggest battles in cinema history. Before diving into the Barbie world, we can enter these worlds to see how the toy to movie films have been operating. However, we haven’t had too many over the years, it tends to be making toys out of movie characters we end up seeing.
To be clear on this list, there are no video games on this list, no straight-to-video animation movies either and it is not a ranking list. Here are,
11 Other Movies Based on Toys
1 – American Girls
What better way to start than with another doll, The American Girls toys and book series were launched in 1986. From 2004 to 2016 we had 9 television movies or direct-to-video movies. However, in 2008 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was released in the cinema. The cast is amazing with Abigail Breslin taking the title role. In the supporting roles, we get Stanley Tucci, Joan Cusack, Julia Ormond, Chris O’Donnell and Wallace Shawn.
2 – Clue
Jonathan Lynn’s Clue was based on the popular board game Cluedo! It took the idea of a host of colourful characters at a dinner party when a murder happens. What follows is a list of potential suspects and weapons as they try to figure out the truth. What made this movie unique was the approach it took, cinema makes different endings meaning nearly every single character could be the killer.
3 – Ouija
Stiles White’s Ouija brings to life the supernatural board game trying to connect to the afterlife. This is one that was a stretch from a game because if you believe, it is the most dangerous of the toys on the list. While the movie isn’t the best horror movie, it does get an excellent prequel that is well worth a watch. The bigger question about this movie is, would you even consider playing it?
4 – Transformers
The Transformers movies might well be the most famous of the movies based on toys. We have had seven big-budget movies with a host of different levels of quality. They generally follow the Autobots fighting the Decepticons as their war comes to Earth. The best movie in the franchise is Bumblebee, which is actually the smallest movie in the franchise, giving us a much more personal story.
5 – Masters of the Universe
Gary Goddard’s Masters of the Universe brought to life the battles between He-Man and Skeletor. This is a mix of toys and comics showing the big over-the-top characters to life. The movie has gone down in cult status with how everything is played out over the top. It is fun but only in the right state of mind.
6 – Mars Attacks!
Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks is based on a series of trading cards from the 1960s. This one was the biggest surprise to me as I was unaware of the connection before diving into the research. The Tim Burton movie is great fun and has plenty of comedy in the wacky sci-fi action side of things. Easily one of Burton’s best movies and with an amazing cast along the way.
7 – G.I. Joe
The G.I. Joe action figures are massive, and it has been a surprise we haven’t seen movies earlier. In 2009 we get the first movie which was panned by critics. The sequels haven’t fared much better, however, it does look like we might be getting another attempt to reboot in the near future.
8 – Bratz
Bratz became one of the biggest competitors for Barbie in the early 2000s. They went one step further by getting their own fashion-inspired dolls movie out first. The movie just about broke even and we haven’t seen another live-action movie. There have been a host of animated movies to go with it, where it fights Barbie for popularity over the years in the animated world.
9 – Battleship
Battleship is one of the most famous strategy board games. The idea was simple to find the opponent’s battleships while hoping to avoid being caught. When the movie hit, it went down as one of the biggest disappointments in cinema. For the ambitious budget and idea to create a massive franchise that never took off.
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Best Games Based on Movies10 – Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is another popular game, one of the most complex of all games to play between friends. In 2000 the first series of films was attempted. However, they were not successful. In 2023 we got Honour Among Thieves which breathed new life into the franchise. The movie was so much fun and could easily give us more movies in the future.
11 – The Lego Movie
The Lego Movie is the only mostly animated movie on the list. I wasn’t sure whether to include this movie, but I decided to because they were full cinema releases. They brought brilliant comedy to the table as we have seen in different movies, including Batman. It would be fair to say they have been the most successful and popular movies in the toy to movie selection.
In conclusion, we haven’t had that many movies based on toys, from what I can see it is more go big or go home. nobody seems to put a tidy budget into the movies that could make a good profit. That was 11 Other Movies Based on Toys.
What is your favorite movies based on toys?