Game Movies

Following Tyler Bielman’s guest talks, I feel compelled to address why game movies are so horrible. Take a look at Dungeons & Dragons, Dead or Alive, and Super Mario. Part of the reason must be due to the “marketing halo”. If millions are spent marketing the game and toys, producers don’t feel a need to spend as much money into advertising. Therefore, there is less money spent on the movie as a whole. Also, directors and producers probably rely on the franchises’ reputations to draw a large audience. If a Halo movie ever gets made, all of my guy friends would go see it, regardless of whether it actually looks decent. After all, Halo has tens of millions of followers around the globe. Even if a small fraction of this population pays to see the movie, say 10 million, the studio will still make at least 100 million dollars in ticket revenues. Of course, I realize that I am not counting the budget that went into making movie.

Of course, a movie is not all about profits. There are many instances of movies that have gained popularity despite a lackluster advertising campaign and a slow start in theatres. Instances include Serenity, Shawshank Redemption, Equilibrium and Slumdog Millionaire. These movies went on to become cult classics and are still loved by many due to their original content and story depth. This is the fundamental dilemma of video game movies. The fan base already loves the game. The content is not original, and the story has a predetermined depth that has been developed by expanded universe fiction, fan-based media and at times, academic works devoted to the analyses of said phenomena. People know what is going on from beginning to end, so that the movie is heavily dependent on a brilliant director who can yank the plot in an unexpected direction, without being disloyal to the fans’ preconceived notions.

So then the question is: if one were to find a brilliant director to take on a project like Halo or WoW, why would they be troubled to tackle a pre-made project in the first place? The most likely reason is a very large salary and need to exploit previously-created ideas due to a lack of original ones.