The upcoming Elden Ring movie could turn around a major, disappointing career trend for fantasy author George R. R. Martin. Martin is best known for being the write of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, which ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019.

Although the flagship series has concluded, the show has spawned the ongoing prequel series House of the Dragon and the upcoming spinoff A 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 game Elden Ring, which the author wrote alongside director Hidetaka Miyazaki.

The Elden Ring movie, 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’s 28 Years Later, the second sequel to 28 Years Later (which he also wrote). Martin will be a producer on 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 on George R. R. Martin books have historically underperformed at the box office. So far, only two such adaptations have been mounted.

The first was the 1987 movie Nightflyers, which was an adaptation of Martin’s novella of the same name. The movie, which follows 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, but it 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.

The next film adaptation of George R. R. Martin did not come until after Game of Thrones had made him a household name. That came in the form of 2025’s In 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 (ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Leaves).

In the Lost Lands, which followed a witch on a journey to discover the secrets of lycantrophy, 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% on Rotten 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 upcoming Elden Ring movie could finally give him a big screen hit at the level of Game of Thrones after nearly four decades. There are multiple reasons for this.

First, Alex Garland is a filmmaker with a much better reputation than 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 five Alex Garland movies that the filmmaker directed have Fresh scores on Rotten Tomatoes, and four of those are officially Certified Fresh. Additionally, his 2024 movie Civil War is the second highest-grossing A24 movie of all time, behind only the Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The Elden Ring movie also boasts something that Nightflyers and In the Lost Lands did not, which is a connection to a strong IP. While George R. R. Martin is a strong brand name in and of himself, he is so far primarily ᴀssociated with television projects.

In addition to the Game of Thrones franchise, Martin’s television work includes the AMC thriller Dark Winds, which was recently renewed for season 4. His strong ᴀssociation with small screen successes may have been another factor that prevented In the Lost Lands from attracting a wide theatrical audience.

However, Elden Ring could 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 it tied as the 39th best-selling game of all time.

If Elden Ring can 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 Thrones hit, this could build audience confidence and kick off a run of more successful big screen adaptations of his work.

Source(s): Rotten Tomatoes