Crash Bandicootwas one of the big gaming mascots of the 1990s, when every studio wanted a character representing the brand. This was also around the time that Hollywood started dipping its toe into the gaming scene, giving us a few film adaptations that were, at best, so bad that they’re good.
Crash was never one of them, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Speaking withThe Game Business, veteran gaming industry executive Shuji Utsumi says that he pushed fora Crash movieback in the 1990s, but the studios he approached were dismissive of the idea.
Hollywood Shot Down A Crash Bandicoot Movie In The 1990s
“When I started to get involved in the video game business, I picked up Crash Bandicoot and started asking some of the movie studios if they were interested in turning that property into a movie,” says Utsumi. “But I was treated like… ‘hey, video games is like a toy business’. They didn’t really take it seriously.”
Utsumi is now the president ofSegaand has overseen a huge shift in how Hollywood treats the gaming industry. Sega has found great success with theSonic the Hedgehogmovies, with the release of the third filmmaking it a billion-dollar series in its own right.
That’s not to say that Crash would have been a box office hit if only a studio had given the film a shot in the 1990s. Not even Mario could make it work, withan ill-fated live-action adaptationonly retaining a cult following because of how bad it is. Even the more successful attempts were hardly critical darlings, but are fondly remembered for how gloriously camp they are. Looking at you,Street Fighter.
The firstMortal Kombatmovie isactuallygood, though, and you should all watch it.
While this hypothetical Crash movie would have likely hit cinemas while the series was at its peak in the originalPlayStationera, it’s hard to imagine that it would have fared much better than other video game adaptations. Live action would have been pretty horrifying, and I don’t even want to imagine what the 3D animation attempt would have looked like.
Perhaps, one day, this will become a reality. After a few acquisitions, Crash (and Spyro) are now owned by Xbox, so any film adaptation would need that stamp of approval. In the meantime, we’re still waiting on news games, as we haven’t had a mainline entry since 2020.
