Still, Hollywood studios appear undaunted in their attempts to mine the multi-billion dollar industry for their next lucrative franchise.

While there are numerous projects rumoured to be in production, here are four upcoming live-action adaptations heading into cinemas that have a shot at bucking the trend.  

Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)

 

Based on the stealth video game series by Square Enix, Hitman: Agent 47 revolves around an assassin genetically engineered and augmented from birth to become a "perfect killing machine".

Agent 47 is the game franchise's second foray into Hollywood. The original 2007 film was a critical failure, albeit a modest performer at the box office.

A planned sequel eventually gave way to a fresh reboot by Twentieth Century Fox, with Fast and Furious star Paul Walker set to star. His untimely death in 2013 led to Homeland's Rupert Friend taking on titular character, with Star Trek's Zachary Quinto also playing a leading role.

The film is helmed by first-time feature director Aleksander Bach, whose body of work consists of commercial work for Mercedes Benz and Nivea. Judging on the trailer, Hitman: Agent 47 looks to eschew the stealth nature of the original games for heavily choreographed fire fights and over-the-top action set pieces. The film opens on August 28, 2015 in the US.

Warcraft (2016)

An adaptation of the long-running strategy and online role-playing fantasy epic was originally announced back in 2006, with Blizzard Entertainment partnering up with Legendary Pictures to make it happen. Sam Raimi of Spider-man fame was originally slated to direct, but would eventually bow out of the project citing poor management on Blizzard's part.

Duncan Jones, known for low budget cerebral sci-fi movies Moon and Source Code, took over the directorial reins.

An avid gamer, Jones said in an interview that the film, set in the mystical realm of Azeroth, will cover the origins of the conflict between the Alliance (Humans) and Horde (Orcs). Rather than a standard good versus evil story, Jones aims for Warcraft to be a multi-faceted affair, with equal prominence given to both sides.

Starring Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Dominic Cooper (pictured above) and Paula Patton, principal photography wrapped in May of last year, with the film currently undergoing a 20-month post-production process at Industrial Light and Magic. Warcraft is scheduled for release in March 11, 2016.

Assassin's Creed (2016)

Another popular stealth game series, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed chronicles the secret war between the Assassins and the Knights Templar, two ancient clandestine societies whose battles span multiple generations through tumultuous historical periods.

Having learned their lesson from 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Ubisoft set up a motion pictures division dedicated to overseeing and managing future cinematic adaptations of their properties. The effort seem to have paid off, as Assassin's Creed managed to snag both X-Men's Michael Fassbender, who also serves as a producer, and Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard for the picture.

Rather than a straight-up adaptation, Assassin's Creed will feature an original story that will run parallel to the events depicted in the games.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and produced in conjunction with New Regency, production for the film has recently been given the green light with a December 2016 release targeted.

Resident Evil - The Final Chapter (2016)

Despite poor response from fans and critics alike for its style-over-substance approach and artistic liberties with the source material, Sony Picture's Resident Evil is the most financially successful film franchise based on a video game property, with five movies grossing over $900 million dollars worldwide since 2002.

As its title implies, The Final Chapter looks to end the franchise as a hexalogy. Writer-director Paul W. S. Anderson's interpretation of Capcom's acclaimed zombie series have always been less-than-faithful to its survival horror roots, opting for a B-grade action movie feel with cartoonish plots and exaggerated violence. The last film, Retribution (pictured above), ended with the prospect of a final resistance by the remnants of humanity against a planet overrun by zombified monstrosities.

Having been pushed back from its original September 2014 release date, filming was to begin in August last year, but was delayed again at the last minute due to lead actress Mila Johovich's second pregnancy. Production is set to resume this August, with an unspecified release in 2016.