00:00You can't just run away from your problems, Indiana.
00:10Watch me.
00:11Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at dead movie franchises whose iconicity lives on in the world of
00:18video games.
00:19It's worth noting that some of these franchises aren't planned to stay dead,
00:23but so long as it's been a while since we last saw them on the big screen and the games
00:28became better at keeping their spirit alive, it was considered for the list.
00:33What are your prime directives?
00:35Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.
00:41But before we dive in, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the
00:47bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:50A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
00:57We haven't seen Freddy Krueger on the big screen since an ill-received 2010 reboot,
01:03but the slasher icon has, thankfully, been able to bring a little carnage to players since then.
01:09The year after, Freddy appeared as a DLC character for Mortal Kombat,
01:14though was sadly relegated to only appearing in the mobile version of the sequel.
01:18Keeping in touch with the franchise's roots, Freddy was an early addition to the Dead by Daylight roster in 2017.
01:25While these are definitely slim pickings, it's better to have this than nothing, which is what movie fans have had
01:32to deal with.
01:33Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
01:43Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean didn't exactly go out on a high note with 2017's Dead Men Tell No Tales.
01:50And while there have been rumblings of a reboot or sequel over the years, the franchise has remained dormant.
01:57Fans have had to look elsewhere, with video games being a pretty good source.
02:02Sea of Thieves got a free Pirates-themed expansion in 2021,
02:06which was a charming combination of two IPs that capture fun, high-seas adventure.
02:12Elsewhere, the Pirates of the Caribbean MMORPG, now named The Legend of Pirates Online,
02:18and maintained and updated by fans, is still thriving.
02:21Although it's disconnected from Disney now, the player base shows people still have a lot of love for the franchise.
02:35Blade Franchise
02:36I'm a vampire, remember?
02:39This one may seem a little strange to include, since Blade has kept existing in the comics,
02:44but Marvel's public inability to get an MCU Blade movie off the ground has left the original trilogy as the
02:51character's only movie franchise.
02:53At least it gets a bit more love in video games.
02:56For tactics fans, you've got Marvel's Midnight Suns.
02:59If quick-paced hero shooters are your thing, you can find Blade in Marvel Rivals.
03:04And if you'd prefer your vampire hunting in a single-player action-adventure package,
03:09you're probably already excited for Arkane Studios' upcoming take on the character.
03:13We may never get the MCU movie, but at least we have video games.
03:28Star Wars Franchise
03:31You would be wise to surrender.
03:37Yeah.
03:39Probably.
03:41Here's a clear case of a movie franchise we know isn't going to stay dead.
03:46But while the movies have taken time off following a, let's say, uneven ending to the Skywalker saga in 2019,
03:54the world of Star Wars has been supported and further built out in other formats, including video games.
04:01Jedi Fallen Order and its 2023 sequel, Survivor, are the best examples of this,
04:06coming with satisfying combat and engaging narratives that find natural ways of connecting to the larger mythos.
04:13There's also Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, as well as several exciting games in development,
04:19including an upcoming entry in the Old Republic series.
04:23Although we know Star Wars will be back on the big screen before long,
04:27the games have us a bit more excited than what Disney's doing.
04:40James Bond Franchise
04:51Like Star Wars, there are plans being made for the Bond franchise to receive its semi-regularly mandated reboot in
04:59the near future.
04:59But since it's been a few years since Daniel Craig bid farewell to the character,
05:04we feel compelled to include a fairly new take on Bond,
05:08with IO Interactive's upcoming origin, 007 First Light.
05:12This will be an interesting case, since there hasn't been a Bond game since 2012,
05:18and it will be more or less the first time a game has been released unencumbered by expectations from a
05:24constant movie release schedule.
05:26Without a big screen version or likeness to tie it to,
05:30but with IO's expertise in stealth action games like Hitman,
05:34this could be a next life for the Bond brand.
05:38Terminator Franchise
05:46Until James Cameron chooses to revive it again,
05:50the Terminator series suffered a long, painful decline in quality and box office returns,
05:56culminating with 2019's Dark Fate.
05:58But on the video game side, things are still kicking.
06:02You've got guest appearances in Mortal Kombat and Fortnite,
06:05a method of keeping a lot of movie characters alive.
06:09But there's also Terminator Resistance,
06:11a fan-favorite shooter set during the grim future of Skynet's world dominance.
06:17The upcoming Terminator Survivors is another attempt to expand on series lore,
06:21as an open-world survival game where players gather supplies, manage a base, and fight for their life.
06:28Instead of yet another reboot, maybe video games are the best path for Terminator.
06:33Spawn Franchise
06:38You seem so familiar, like looking in a mirror.
06:44It might sound weird referring to this as a movie franchise,
06:47considering Spawn is another character who has continued to appear in comics,
06:51and he only got one movie back in 1997.
06:55But since creator Todd McFarlane has been trying to get another movie made since at least 2015,
07:01we're still going to count it as a dead franchise.
07:05The character has at least had slightly better luck in video games.
07:09He was a DLC character in Mortal Kombat 11,
07:12an appropriately violent and dark universe for him to appear in.
07:16He was also part of the Season 6 Battle Pass in Modern Warfare 2.
07:21Expansions and DLC isn't what we'd hope for the character,
07:24but it was at least cool to hear Keith David reprise his role for both of them
07:29after having voiced Spawn in the animated series.
07:32Enjoy Hell's Murder.
07:35Starship Troopers Franchise
07:37We now take you live to Klendathu, where the invasion has begun.
07:42After the 1997 original, Starship Troopers spawned a series of drastically inferior,
07:48straight-to-home release sequels that died with 2017's Traitor of Mars.
07:53And while there is, somehow, a reboot currently in development,
07:57the franchise was long dead, except when it came to video games.
08:02Terran Command, a real-time strategy game, was released in 2022.
08:07But the franchise unsurprisingly went the first-person shooter route with 2024's Extermination.
08:13Ultimate Bug War, another shooter with a more retro style, is currently set to release in 2026.
08:19Look, these games aren't amazing, but they have kept the Starship Troopers' name alive.
08:26RoboCop Franchise
08:31I thought about being police once.
08:35What kept you off the straight and narrow?
08:37After the original RoboCop trilogy ended on a poor note,
08:41a 2014 reboot failed to revive it, causing it to die a second time.
08:46While current rights-holders Amazon plan on how to resuscitate Alex Murphy one more time,
08:52players already got a great revival.
08:55RoboCop was another DLC fighter for Mortal Kombat 11,
08:58but he also starred in his own game, 2023's RoboCop Rogue City,
09:03one that seemed to please most fans of the series.
09:07Visually and tonally, it is a great accompaniment to the original movies,
09:11backed up by simple but effective gunplay and some thrilling set pieces.
09:16Can we just get more of these?
09:19Hey, you can't go in yet!
09:21We need to wait for the reinforcements!
09:23Reinforcements have arrived.
09:25I knew you'd say something like that.
09:27Indiana Jones Franchise
09:29Marcus, what's done is done.
09:32Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the Seaway Expedition,
09:34but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
09:36And when you got back, she wasn't there.
09:39Many might have thought Indy died with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
09:43then Dial of Destiny bombed in 2023,
09:46and that seemed a definite sign of the end.
09:50But then Bethesda and Machine Games released The Great Circle,
09:54which quickly became one of the best movie tie-in games in recent memory.
09:59With fantastic level design, sequences packed with action,
10:03and Troy Baker acting as a phenomenal replacement to Harrison Ford's icon,
10:07it lets us play through a grand Indiana Jones escapade.
10:12It captures the adventure and charm we all enjoy about the movies
10:16and is a great way for the character to live on.
10:19Plus, the strong sales and awards show it was far more successful
10:23at preserving the character's legacy.
10:25I should get out of here.
10:28What Dead franchise would you like to see live on in a video game?
10:32Share your thoughts in the comments, and we'll see you next time.
Comments