Story Kitchen on Why Game-to-Screen Adaptations Still Need Work

Last updated: October 6, 2026

A pair of Hollywood producers who helped turn Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, and Life is Strange into screen hits say the market for video game adaptations has matured, but selling studios on new projects still demands patience. Speaking to techradar.com, Story Kitchen co-founders Dmitri Johnson and Mike Goldberg described how the perception of game IP inside major studios has shifted since the first Sonic film grossed roughly $320 million on a reported $90 million budget in early 2020.

Their company grew out of dj2 Entertainment, the outfit Johnson started with Dan Jevons back in 2011. Today the firm sits at roughly 30 active projects, with first-look deals in place at Amazon (signed February 2022) and DreamWorks Animation (signed May 2024).

Quick take:

• Story Kitchen co-founders Dmitri Johnson and Mike Goldberg argue the stigma around game-to-screen projects has faded since the early 2020s.
• Their track record includes Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog films and Netflix's Tomb Raider animation, plus Prime Video deals for Life is Strange and Tomb Raider TV.
• The first Sonic movie grossed about $320 million worldwide against a reported $90 million budget after its early 2020 release.
• About 30 projects are currently in development at the company.
• First-look deals are in place with Amazon (February 2022) and DreamWorks Animation (May 2024).

How we got here

The 1990s and early 2000s earned a rough reputation for game adaptations. Films such as the 1993 Super Mario Bros. Movie, 2003's House of the Dead, and 2005's Doom landed poorly with critics, and the phrase "video game adaptation curse" stuck around for years. According to techradar.com, Goldberg argued that Hollywood largely ignored the people who actually made and played games, which is part of why closing deals took so long.

Dj2 Entertainment entered that climate in 2011. Johnson spent years courting SEGA before eventually bringing Paramount on board for the first Sonic the Hedgehog film. That 2020 release recouped its costs during a pandemic-shortened theatrical window, and the sequel cycle kept the franchise commercially relevant. From there, the firm's slate broadened into Tomb Raider, Life is Strange, and a roster of other household game names.

The wider market caught up. The Super Mario Bros. Movie crossed $1 billion in 2023, Minecraft earned its own theatrical release, and HBO's The Last of Us, Prime Video's Fallout, and Netflix's Arcane pulled in awards attention. TechRadar reports that Goldberg framed the original Sonic release as a tipping point for how Hollywood treats game IP.

What changed now

Story Kitchen is now the banner under which Johnson, Goldberg, and newer team members Elena Sandoval and Timothy I. Stevenson package game IP for film and TV partners. The pitch process, in Johnson's words, is "easier, but it's not easy." Studios are open in principle, but each title still needs its own champion.

That nuance matters. A flood of hit adaptations has not translated into an open door for every game. Story Kitchen says it actively curates which properties make sense for screen treatment and which do not, and around 30 projects are at varying stages of development, some attached to networks, others still being shopped.

Who should care

• Streaming platform buyers: the pipeline of game IP keeps competition for limited prestige slots intense.
• Game publishers weighing media rights: Story Kitchen's example shows how patient packaging can turn long-shot pitches into multi-film franchises.
• Independent producers and agents: first-look deals with Amazon and DreamWorks show how smaller shops can secure studio access.
• Marketing teams at game studios: a successful adaptation cycle can lift an older franchise back into the mainstream, the way Sonic returned to relevance in 2020.
• Writers and showrunners with game fluency: this category is in higher demand as studios want leads who understand the source.

Our analysis

The headline risk here is reading the recent run of hits as proof that any game can be adapted. Johnson and Goldberg are explicit that the bar is still high. A useful mental model: treat each game property like a hosting client asking for a white-label plan — the underlying technology may be solid, but the packaging, support story, and go-to-market plan determine whether it sells.

There is also a clear winner-and-loser pattern. Studios with established media arms (Amazon, Universal, Paramount, Sony) keep sweeping the high-profile game IP, while mid-tier publishers without strong Hollywood relationships are likely still on the outside looking in. The "curse" label has faded, but access has consolidated.

For anyone tracking this space, the data points worth watching are: how many of Story Kitchen's roughly 30 in-development projects actually get greenlit, whether the Amazon and DreamWorks first-look deals convert into released titles, and whether a high-profile miss arrives to test the new confidence.

Practical example: Say you run a small agency

Imagine you package a WordPress maintenance plan for clients the way Story Kitchen packages a Tomb Raider pitch. You might lock in a first-look arrangement with one preferred partner (your "Amazon") while keeping room to pitch elsewhere. You'd also resist taking on every property that walks in the door. Curate, package, and protect the brand promise, the same way Johnson says his team treats each game IP as a story that has to earn its screen time.

Bottom line

The video game adaptation market is healthier and more competitive than it was a decade ago, and Story Kitchen's trajectory proves a focused packaging strategy can outlast the early-2000s slump. Easier, yes. Easy, no. The next test is execution: which of those 30 projects actually ship, and whether the studios now circling the space can keep their hit rate close to what Sonic, Mario, and The Last of Us delivered.

Key takeaways

• Treat each game IP as a packaged product — the source material alone does not sell the deal.
• Watch the conversion rate on Story Kitchen's roughly 30 in-development projects as a leading indicator for the wider market.
• Consolidation around major studios is real; smaller publishers without media deals will need patient packaging partners.