Video Games Will Offer "Enduring Theatrical Properties"

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Well, in a desperate effort to be optimistic, we'll just say, "if at first you don't succeed...

Because apparently, that's Hollywood's philosophy concerning films based on video games, which historically have fallen well short of the mark. Even semi-decent ones like the recent "Prince of Persia" movie didn't quite blow up the box office as expected, and reviews were only fair. But Sucker Punch's Brian Fleming says this hasn't dissuaded filmmakers, and one can expect more and more movie IPs to be based on games. In fact, according to what Fleming told Play magazine, Hollywood may start to "mine" the vast gaming industry just as they did with comic books (and they're still doing it).

"I don’t know if comics were as generational as videogames are now, but what I can see is that comics were the place where exciting properties were created for 40 years. The movies are just mining that and capitalising on all those properties. I think that videogames are creating a lot of universes and properties now and as a creative place they are very similar."

But hey, maybe that's the reason why so few movies based on games have been any good; it took quite a long time before we saw a ton of successful comic-book-to-film adaptations in theaters; three decades for some classic superheroes, in fact. In other words, what game developers are producing now could become movie properties many years down the road. Added Fleming, it's a "source of many IPs:"

"I believe that a lot of the properties that we’re working on, meaning the industry more broadly, will create enduring theatrical properties in the next generation. This will be a source of many IPs that will be established and will do well. There haven’t been any great movies about videogames and that would parallel what happened with comics too. None of them were great until maybe the late 1980’s like the Batman movies. I think it will happen."

You know, I hate to say it, but inFamous could make for a pretty awesome movie. Of course, I got really bored with superhero movies a long time ago and considering Hollywood apparently doesn't have an original bone left in its ailing body, I don't expect to see anything new...like, ever. These days, it seems like every movie is based on pre-existing theme, or is just mind-numbingly stupid. Guess I'll have to stick to IFC or something.

Tags: video games, movies, film based on games

7/2/2010 10:36:29 AM Ben Dutka

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