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Are All Video Game Movies Unmitigated Disasters?
So it appears that BloodRayne was an unmitigated disaster of this weekend. Not only did it only take in just $1.2 million this past weekend (and that's a generous estimate) but Romar, the company that is distributing the film, was supposed to distribute it to 1915 theaters. Instead is ended up showing in less than 1000 screens this weekend and that hundreds of theaters reported receiving prints of the film that they didn't order; needless to say, they refused to screen them. Not good, not good at all.
So I began to wonder, do "video game movies" ever actually make money? Or are they all nothing more than one disaster after another? So I went to one of my favorite sites Box Office Mojo and put together some numbers. I believe they are all there and they paint an interesting picture, take a look:
| "Video Game Movie" | Domestic Gross | Production Budget | Est. Marketing Costs | Release Date | Total Worldwide Gross |
| Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | $131,168,070 | $115 million | N/A | 6/15/01 | $274,703,340 |
| Pokemon: The First Movie | $85,744,662 | $30 million | N/A | 11/10/99 | $163,644,662 |
| Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life | $65,660,196 | $95 million | $35 million | 7/25/03 | $156,505,388 |
| Pokemon: The Movie 2000 | $43,758,684 | $30 million | N/A | 7/21/00 | $133,949,270 |
| Resident Evil: Apocalypse | $51,201,453 | $45 million | $25 million | 9/10/04 | $129,394,835 |
| Mortal Kombat | $70,454,098 | N/A | N/A | 8/18/95 | $122,195,920 |
| Resident Evil | $40,119,709 | $33 million | $20 million | 3/15/02 | $102,441,078 |
| Street Fighter | $33,423,521 | $35 million | N/A | 12/23/94 | $99,423,521 |
| Final Fantasy: The Spirts Within | $32,131,830 | $137 million | $30 million | 7/11/01 | $85,131,830 |
| Pokemon 3: The Movie | $17,052,128 | $16 million | N/A | 4/6/01 | $68,411,275 |
| Doom | $28,048,600 | $60 million | N/A | 10/21/05 | $52,719,567 |
| Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation | $35,927,406 | N/A | N/A | 11/21/97 | $51,376,861 |
| Pokemon 4Ever | $1,727,447 | N/A | N/A | 10/11/02 | $28,023,563 |
| Super Mario Bros. | $20,915,465 | $48 million | N/A | 5/28/93 | $20,915,465 |
| House of the Dead | $10,249,719 | $12 million | $10 million | 10/10/03 | $13,818,181 |
| Wing Commander | $11,578,059 | $30 million | N/A | 3/12/99 | $11,578,059 |
| Alone in the Dark | $5,178,569 | $20 million | N/A | 1/28/05 | $6,459,986 |
| Double Dragon | $2,341,309 | N/A | N/A | 11/4/94 | $2,341,309 |
| BloodRayne | $1,200,000 | $25 million | $22 million | 1/6/06 | $1,200,000 |
| Pokemon Heroes | $746,381 | N/A | N/A | 5/16/03 | $746,381 |
Wow, those Pokemon movies sure made a pretty penny. Perhaps Uwe Boll should try to do some animated movies instead. On second thought ... perhaps that wouldn't be a good idea. Maybe it's time that Uwe Boll try out his skill as an air condition repairman or auto mechanic as this film director career doesn't seem to be working out so well.
Whether or not you think Uwe is being successful rather depends upon what it is he is trying to achieve.
If he wants to make criticaly acclaimed movies that are a box office success, then he does seem to be in the wrong job.
But what if this is not what all these movies are about?
I'm going to have to phrase this very carefully, but it could just be that some people see movies as a convenient way to dryclean their finances, if you know what I mean?
Even leaving aside the notion of "Organised" skullduggery, some European countries provide pretty lucrative taxbreak incentives for people who invest in the "arts".
A nice loss making film is just what some people are looking for.
I didn't even know Blood Rayne came out...
Posted by PatMan33 at January 9, 2006 03:25 PMDouble Dragon was a good movie. One of the best spoofs of video game movies in general that there was.
:p Everyone always puts it down :(
Posted by Zelocka at January 9, 2006 03:31 PMJust noticed that Uwe is doing more video game movies. The next is Dungeon Siege and looks to have a pretty good cast.
Posted by VaTechFan at January 9, 2006 04:07 PMWhy oh Why do they let this guy make movies?
I can sum him up in two words HE SUCKS!
I spent last summer on the set of "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale". I'm on the fence on how it will do, hopefully it will do well I'm a fan of Chris Taylor's work.
Posted by Interitus at January 9, 2006 05:06 PMI'm pretty sure Germany closed the tax loophole that allowed Uwe Boll to make money from the failure of his movies to turn a profit.
Isn't he fighting for the rights to make a "Half-Life" movie?
Posted by LaputanMachine at January 9, 2006 06:25 PMthe pokiman moveis are not video game moveis
Posted by pat at January 9, 2006 06:52 PMWell, the Pokemon movies are based on the animated series which in turn is based on a video-game, so I guess it could very well be considered a video-game movie by association.
Posted by Makai at January 9, 2006 07:33 PMPokemon IS a video game...
*rolls eyes*
Who's idea was it to make a Bloodrayne movie anyways?
That was destined to fail.
Everything Uwe touches turns to, well, partially digested human fecal matter.
Posted by Jecrell at January 9, 2006 10:31 PMThe answer to your rhetorical question, with the lone exception of the first Mortal Kombat, is yes.
Posted by w0rf at January 9, 2006 11:24 PMThat bastard better not lay his hands on Half-Life. It would be a tragedy to see such a great game be ruined by a equally horrible movie.
Posted by Nacht at January 10, 2006 12:34 AMI don't want to sound picky, but you spelled "Raider" of "Tomb Raider wrong on the first movie.
Posted by Vivec at January 10, 2006 02:30 AMwe just have to wait for a real Cleopatra experience with video game movies.
that ought to put this **** to an end for a couple decades.
It is very common for people to think that Pokemon began as a TV and then became a video game. It is actually the other way around -- it all started with the Game Boy game called "Pocket Monsters" in Japan in 1995. It was an instant hit and it eventually got it's own TV series of the same name in April of 1997. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Posted by Gaming Steve at January 10, 2006 11:49 AMMovie Review Quote of the Decade:
"How fitting that director Uwe Boll ("House of the Dead") would choose a vampire flick as his latest project - the man has a career that, despite the horror he continually inflicts on innocent moviegoers, simply will not die."
- ELIZABETH WEITZMAN, New York Daily News
Posted by w0rf at January 10, 2006 01:59 PMThis movie looks promising even for a really short teaser
http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=8890&type=wmv
Posted by Omar at January 11, 2006 12:34 AMAre these only box office totals, or does each worldwide gross include home video/dvd sales?
Posted by Robb at January 11, 2006 01:41 PMJust box office totals, they don't include video/dvd sales ... couldn't find that information for each movie.
Posted by Gaming Steve at January 11, 2006 01:47 PMWas there anyone out there who SERIOUSLY thought this blood rayne movie would make money? I sure as hell didn't, and I don't know anyone else who did either. Its not even loosely based on the video games. Why did Hollywood even bother making it? They should have known they were just throwing away money making a movie no one would watch. I feel like I ought to send the director a letter charging HIM money for making me watch the trailers at the GOOD films.
Posted by Behumat at January 11, 2006 03:03 PMYes, Pokemon is a video game, but before it was that it was a cartoon/anime or a magna (I'm not sure). So Pokemon movies aren't video game movies because they were not video games at first. Also, no Pokemon video game allows you to run around as Ash with whatever freeloaders hop along and play as the character Ash. Sure, you can name your character Ash, but that doesn't make a difference.
Posted by Shadowcreep at January 15, 2006 04:25 AMRegardless of the precise history, calling out the Pokemon movies in this list, while interesting, seems a bit out of place largely because the TV show is what made the brand a success. Pocket Monsters had nothing to do with that. The thread here further proves that fact as the game is largely dismissed and forgotten, and rightly so.
That said, I think it is clear that Tomb Raider did well and wasn't a disaster. Same with Resident Evil and the first Mortal Combat. No one is going to claim they're academy material, but just the same, these three brands seem to hold their own at the box office with their first-cousins, the comic book movies...X-Men, Batman, Spiderman, Fantastic 4, Punisher, Daredevil, Electra... again, they're not film classics, but most of you happily own every one of these on DVD and there is nothing wrong with that. (Ok, if you own Super Mario Bros on DVD there might be something wong with that...)
-The Prognosticator
Posted by The Prognosticator at January 16, 2006 02:29 AMOh, and regarding Uwe Boll, he really needs to be punished. His only chance is to somehow manage to do a good job on Dungeon Siege. From the looks of it, he should just stay home during the filming and let the strong cast take care of themselves. Uh oh, here comes Uwe now...
Uwe Boll: "Too late, Prognosticator! It's already in the can...and oh by the way, I'm releasing the film in two parts separated by a month! Which means I'll be screwing you all twice! Muahahhahahahahahaha!"
Prognosticator: "*choke* *gasp* Say it... isn't ... so... *sputter sputter*"
Actually Prognositicastor Pokemon games are still quite relevant. The SECOND best selling game in the US in 2005? Pokemon Emerald on the GBA (Madden NFL 06 on PS2 was number one).
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7794
In fact, a Pokemon game has been in the top ten best selling games of the year every single year since it's been released. Pokemon might not be in all the gaming magazines, and you might not hear about it, but it continues to sell at an impressive rate and is still a dominant force. Hence the reason I included it on the list.
Posted by Gaming Steve at January 16, 2006 09:47 AMI didn't know bloodRayne came out either so i guess there was some bad advertising on top of it all
Posted by Alex at January 16, 2006 09:18 PMSteve, fair enough. I'll buy that logic. (And those movies sure did make alot of money.) Thanks for the info.
Posted by Prognosticator at January 16, 2006 10:42 PM