Games Garner Greenbacks

Back in 1927, Al Jolson, star of "The Jazz Singer" uttered the first words to ever grace the silver screen, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet." Those fateful words mark the dawn of the "talkie," or sync-sound film. The advent of the "talkie" instigated the rapid demise of the silent era.

Fifty eight yers later, an overweight, mute Italian named Mario fireballed his way into America's living rooms. In 2008, 23 years after his inception, an older, more mature Mario, along with all his digital brethren are doing to the "talkie" what the "talkie" did to Charlie Chaplin.

"'Iron Man' the movie is going to get killed by 'Grand Theft Auto,' the game," said John Riccitiello, Electronics Arts CEO in an interview with the Financial Times. "I don't think I've ever heard of that before." Grand Theft Auto didn't kill Iron Man; it obliterated Iron Man. Tony Stark's impenetrable suit, with all its jet boots and shine, failed in its most important mission: box office revenue.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Iron Man" managed to squeeze an estimated $201 million out of domestic and international audiences during its opening weekend. "Grand Theft Auto IV" more than doubled that, pulling in $500 million throughout North America and Europe in a similar time span.

In September 2007, "Halo 3" raked in $300 million in its first week. That same week, "Halloween" slashed its way to $26 million at the box office; a far cry from its smaller-screened, clacky-controller counterpart.

Two months ago, Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" grossed $77 million during its first week of release, smashing that week's box-office mammoth, "10,000 B.C." by a $37 million margin.

Big cinema doesn't get it. Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount was quoted by EW.com saying, "It's crazy to think that young males can't carve out two hours for 'Iron Man,'" the problem with his logic is simple, it's not that young males can't carve out two hours, but that we don't want to.

The movie industry needs to take a few hints from the video game industry, most importantly, fan interaction. Filmmakers seem to take a perverse pleasure in forsaking loyal fans; from giving Optimus Prime lips and saying "my bad" in the Transformers movie, to giving Batman ridiculous foam rubber nipplesuits. They've got to change their ways and make use of their focus groups.

"Unfortunately, there are some things that are requested by several different fans that we aren't able to do just yet," said Atari producer Donny Clay, regarding future installments of the "Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi" game franchise. "I would love to do [them] as well, we just haven't had the chance to get this into a game yet. Don't worry though, I won't forget."

As long as they don't forget us, we won't forget them. Neither will our wallets.

revenue.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Iron Man" managed to squeeze an estimated $201 million out of domestic and international audiences during its opening weekend. "Grand Theft Auto IV" more than doubled that, pulling in $500 million throughout North America and Europe in a similar time span.

In September 2007, "Halo 3" raked in $300 million in its first week. That same week, "Halloween" slashed its way to $26 million at the box office; a far cry from its smaller-screened, clacky-controller counterpart.

Two months ago, Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" grossed $77 million during its first week of release, smashing that week's box-office mammoth, "10,000 B.C." by a $37 million margin.

Big cinema doesn't get it. Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount was quoted by EW.com saying, "It's crazy to think that young males can't carve out two hours for 'Iron Man,'" the problem with his logic is simple, it's not that young males can't carve out two hours, but that we don't want to.

The movie industry needs to take a few hints from the video game industry, most importantly, fan interaction. Filmmakers seem to take a perverse pleasure in forsaking loyal fans; from giving Optimus Prime lips and saying "my bad" in the Transformers movie, to giving Batman ridiculous foam rubber nipplesuits. They've got to change their ways and make use of their focus groups.

"Unfortunately, there are some things that are requested by several different fans that we aren't able to do just yet," said Atari producer Donny Clay, regarding future installments of the "Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi" game franchise. "I would love to do [them] as well, we just haven't had the chance to get this into a game yet. Don't worry though, I won't forget."

As long as they don't forget us, we won't forget them. Neither will our wallets.