The upcomingElden Ringmovie could turn around a major, disappointing career trend for fantasy author George R. R. Martin. Martin is best known for being the writer of the book seriesA Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the hit HBO seriesGame of Thrones, which ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019.
Although the flagship series has concluded,the show has spawned the ongoing prequel seriesHouse of the Dragonand theupcoming spinoffA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The popularity of the series and its spinoffs has also spurred adaptations of other works by Martin, including the video gameElden Ring, which the author wrote alongside director Hidetaka Miyazaki.
TheElden Ringmovie, which is currently in pre-production with A24, is set to be helmed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina,Civil War,Annihilation), who most recently contributed the screenplay for 2025’s28 Years Later, the second sequel to28 Years Later(which he also wrote).Martin will be a produceron the adaptation of his game.
Movies Based On George R. R. Martin’s Material Have Never Become Hits
His Success Has Been Limited To The Small Screen
Although Martin has had major successes in the mediums of video games and television, movies based onGeorge R. R. Martin bookshavehistorically underperformed at the box office. So far, only two such adaptations have been mounted.
The first was the 1987 movieNightflyers, which was an adaptation of Martin’s novella of the same name. The movie, whichfollows the crew of a spaceship investigating mysterious signals, was co-written by Martin and Robert Jaffe (Demon Seed) and directed by Robert Collector (Red Heat).
Nightflyers, which starred Catherine Mary Stewart (The Apple), Lisa Blount (An Officer and a Gentleman), and James Avery (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), had a reported budget of $3 million, butit only took in $1.1 million at the box office. This may be one reason that no film adaptations of Martin’s work were attempted for more than three decades.
WhileNightflyersdoes not have enough reviews from critics for it to have an official Rotten Tomatoes score, audiences have given it a perilously low 15% on the platform’s Popcornmeter.
The next film adaptation of George R. R. Martin did not come until afterGame of Throneshad made him a household name. That came in the form of2025’sIn the Lost Lands, which was also adapted from a novella.The movie was helmed by Paul W. S. Anderson(Resident Evil) from a screenplay by Constantin Werner (Dead Leaves).
In the Lost Lands, which followed a witch on a journey to discover the secrets of lycanthropy, featured major stars, namely Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy). However, this did not prevent the movie from becoming a box office bomb,grossing just $6.1 million against its reported $55 million budget.
This is not necessarily surprising, because critics widely lambasted the movie,giving it a dismal score of 24%onRotten Tomatoes. Audiences were not much kinder to it, giving it a Popcornmeter score of 47%.
Elden Ring Could Do For George R. R. Martin In Movies What Game Of Thrones Did In TV
The Movie Has A Better Chance Than The Others
While film adaptations of George R. R. Martin’s work have been both scarce and disappointing,the upcomingElden Ringmovie could finally give him a big screen hitat the level ofGame of Thronesafter nearly four decades. There are multiple reasons for this.
First,Alex Garland is a filmmaker with a much better reputationthan either Paul W. S. Anderson or Robert Collector. Collector is a largely unknown director, having only helmed three features across his career. Meanwhile, Anderson is a filmmaker who has only ever earned splats on Rotten Tomatoes for his directorial work.
On the other hand, all fiveAlex Garland moviesthat the filmmaker directed have Fresh scores on Rotten Tomatoes, andfour of those are officially Certified Fresh. Additionally, his 2024 movieCivil Waris the second highest-grossing A24 movie of all time, behind only the Best Picture winnerEverything Everywhere All At Once.
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Warfare(2025)
TheElden Ringmovie also boasts something thatNightflyersandIn the Lost Landsdid not, which isa connection to a strong IP. While George R. R. Martin is a strong brand name in and of himself, he is so far primarily associated with television projects.
In addition to theGame of Thronesfranchise,Martin’s television work includes the AMC thrillerDark Winds, which was recently renewed for season 4. His strong association with small screen successes may have been another factor that preventedIn the Lost Landsfrom attracting a wide theatrical audience.
However,Elden Ringcould be poised to change that, because the movie is additionally attached to a hugely popular video game franchise. The original game has sold more than 30 million copies since it debuted in 2022, a total that sees ittied as the 39th best-selling game of all time.
Elden Ringis tied withBorderlands 2,Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,Call of Duty: Vanguard,Cyberpunk 2077, andDiablo III.
IfElden Ringcan draw the same level of audience to theaters that it did to the video game marketplace, it could very well become a major blockbuster. In addition to giving George R. R. Martin another post-Game of Throneshit, this could build audience confidence and kick off a run of more successful big screen adaptations of his work.
