5/13/2005
Hollywood Scores With Video Games
Elaine Dutka LOS ANGELES TIMES
Sean Connery is reprising his 1963 performance as James Bond in "From Russia With Love." Marlon Brando, in one of his last performances, re-created his Oscar-winning Don Corleone role in 1972's "The Godfather." Al Pacino is lending his likeness to a new take on 1983's "Scarface." And Clint Eastwood is again recording dialogue from 1971's "Dirty Harry."
These are not remakes of the originals but voice-overs for video games -- extensions of the movie franchises. For studios, they represent a lucrative opportunity to introduce "catalog" products to a new generation of players and broaden a gaming universe that is already red hot. According to the NPD Group, a New York-based sales and marketing research firm, video-game software accounted for $7.3 billion in revenues in 2004, and sales rose 23 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Games such as "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," released last week, are developed in conjunction with a film's release. Recently the DVD world began cashing in, too, offering simplified versions of video games as "extras" with films such as "Hulk" and "Van Helsing."
Ripe for plucking
Classics gathering dust in the studio library are ripe for re-invention, industry observers said. And while the "Jaws Unleashed" video game, based on the famous shark franchise, will be shipped shortly after the original film's June 14 DVD debut, it could be released year-round with no theatrical or home entertainment tie-in. "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas" -- an extension of the 1993 film, for instance, will come out at Halloween.
"The best can break out, attracting casual users in addition to the primary recipients -- gamers who are generally under 35, and 82 percent (of them are) male," said Anita Frazier, an entertainment industry analyst at NPD.
Hollywood's love affair with video games dates to the early 1980s, when products based on hit films such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "E.T." were licensed. But the honeymoon didn't last. Relying on the cachet of a movie to generate sales, developers and publishers often replicated the original rather than building new worlds for players to explore. Technologically primitive and creatively lackluster, they looked poor in comparison with more innovative independent titles such as "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda." Unlike today's more sophisticated fare, which takes a year-and-a-half to three years to generate, they were typically created in a matter of months on a spartan budget.
No one wants to relive the "E.T." experience, whose poor quality is believed to have helped trigger the 1983 video-game industry crash, industry executives said. After paying Steven Spielberg a reported $20 million for the rights, the manufacturer of the critically panned game was said to have buried all the unsold copies in a New Mexico landfill.
"Games on movies had a bad reputation," said Andy McNamara, editor in chief of Minneapolis-based Videogame Informer magazine. "Hollywood treated them like lunch boxes, another licensed product to support a film. Even five years ago, the studios didn't know how to deal with the video-game industry, but now there are (vice presidents) of video games, staffs developing various brands, far more quality control. Today's players, who might spend 20 or 40 hours with a game, are now hipper and more discerning. Games based on 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Riddick' -- superior to the big-screen version -- helped turn things around."
Studios often license titles to outside companies, which can complicate quality control. To bolster the caliber of its offerings, Warner Bros. instituted a quality standard in April 2004 -- the only one in the industry, studio executives say. An independent third party is brought in to assess the video game, and if a certain measure isn't achieved, the developer pays the studio higher royalties.
"Video-game developers have adopted an exploitive behavior with movie product over the years, but now there's economic incentive to make a great game," said Jason Hall, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Not all films are suitable, of course. Titles like 'Harry Potter,' 'Batman,' 'The Matrix' have complete universes within which you can continue adventures."
A larger-than-life character with whom players can identify also helps. Figures such as Pacino's Tony Montana and Connery's Bond are tailor-made, as is Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan. The Academy Award-winning director is overseeing the creative end of the "Dirty Harry" game, which the studio hopes to turn into a franchise.
Scarface lives
Vivendi Universal Games, for its part, hired Hollywood writer David McKenna ("Blow," "American History X") to write "Scarface: The World Is Yours," based on Brian De Palma's 1983 underworld classic. The game, due to come out next year, begins with the film's finale, in which Montana is at the top of the stairs. This time, however, he survives. Hip-hop songs have been added to the soundtrack, a nod to a community in which the movie -- and video games -- are huge.
"Players are thrust into a 'what if Tony survived?' scenario, fighting their way out of the mansion and restructuring his life," said Ed Zobrist, senior vice president of global marketing for Vivendi Universal. "Though our alternate fantasy world can't re-create two hours in the theater, we try to capture the feeling. Pacino was instrumental in helping us perpetuate Montana's moral code -- refusing to hurt innocents."
In the fall, Electronic Arts, the leading independent interactive software company, will send out "James Bond 007: From Russia With Love." Written by Bruce Fierstein, who has three big-screen Bond credits, it serves up new gadgets, plot twists and characters.
Electronic Arts' "Godfather" game, coming out at holiday time, focuses on Brando's don, asking players to squeeze money or information out of those on the payroll.
"Consumers want video games to bring them the untold story -- how did the horse's head get in the bed in 'The Godfather,' for instance?" said Jillian Goldberg, vice president of product marketing for Electronic Arts, which is based in Redwood City. "Sort of like the scenes left on the cutting-room floor brought to life in the interactive phase."
Tom Cruise declined to participate in the game version of "Minority Report," and Pacino isn't involved with "The Godfather" game in which his Michael Corleone role has been scaled down. Still, big-name talent -- interested in exploring a new medium, preserving the integrity of the material and, of course, making a buck -- is climbing aboard. Vin Diesel's video-game company co-produced "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay," and director Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") was so hands-on in the game version of his upcoming movie that they're calling it "Peter Jackson's King Kong."
"The format has caught up to the opportunity," said Beth Goss, Universal's executive vice president of consumer products. "And extending the franchise through a video game is more logical than making another movie."
And cheaper, as well. The average video game costs between $8 million and $12 million to produce -- a fraction of its big-screen counterpart.
• Early takeoffs were low quality and unimaginative, but newer stock involves celebrities and plots that extend beyond the film
Sean Connery is reprising his 1963 performance as James Bond in "From Russia With Love." Marlon Brando, in one of his last performances, re-created his Oscar-winning Don Corleone role in 1972's "The Godfather." Al Pacino is lending his likeness to a new take on 1983's "Scarface." And Clint Eastwood is again recording dialogue from 1971's "Dirty Harry."
These are not remakes of the originals but voice-overs for video games -- extensions of the movie franchises. For studios, they represent a lucrative opportunity to introduce "catalog" products to a new generation of players and broaden a gaming universe that is already red hot. According to the NPD Group, a New York-based sales and marketing research firm, video-game software accounted for $7.3 billion in revenues in 2004, and sales rose 23 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Games such as "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," released last week, are developed in conjunction with a film's release. Recently the DVD world began cashing in, too, offering simplified versions of video games as "extras" with films such as "Hulk" and "Van Helsing."
Ripe for plucking
Classics gathering dust in the studio library are ripe for re-invention, industry observers said. And while the "Jaws Unleashed" video game, based on the famous shark franchise, will be shipped shortly after the original film's June 14 DVD debut, it could be released year-round with no theatrical or home entertainment tie-in. "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas" -- an extension of the 1993 film, for instance, will come out at Halloween.
"The best can break out, attracting casual users in addition to the primary recipients -- gamers who are generally under 35, and 82 percent (of them are) male," said Anita Frazier, an entertainment industry analyst at NPD.
Hollywood's love affair with video games dates to the early 1980s, when products based on hit films such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "E.T." were licensed. But the honeymoon didn't last. Relying on the cachet of a movie to generate sales, developers and publishers often replicated the original rather than building new worlds for players to explore. Technologically primitive and creatively lackluster, they looked poor in comparison with more innovative independent titles such as "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda." Unlike today's more sophisticated fare, which takes a year-and-a-half to three years to generate, they were typically created in a matter of months on a spartan budget.
No one wants to relive the "E.T." experience, whose poor quality is believed to have helped trigger the 1983 video-game industry crash, industry executives said. After paying Steven Spielberg a reported $20 million for the rights, the manufacturer of the critically panned game was said to have buried all the unsold copies in a New Mexico landfill.
"Games on movies had a bad reputation," said Andy McNamara, editor in chief of Minneapolis-based Videogame Informer magazine. "Hollywood treated them like lunch boxes, another licensed product to support a film. Even five years ago, the studios didn't know how to deal with the video-game industry, but now there are (vice presidents) of video games, staffs developing various brands, far more quality control. Today's players, who might spend 20 or 40 hours with a game, are now hipper and more discerning. Games based on 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Riddick' -- superior to the big-screen version -- helped turn things around."
Studios often license titles to outside companies, which can complicate quality control. To bolster the caliber of its offerings, Warner Bros. instituted a quality standard in April 2004 -- the only one in the industry, studio executives say. An independent third party is brought in to assess the video game, and if a certain measure isn't achieved, the developer pays the studio higher royalties.
"Video-game developers have adopted an exploitive behavior with movie product over the years, but now there's economic incentive to make a great game," said Jason Hall, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Not all films are suitable, of course. Titles like 'Harry Potter,' 'Batman,' 'The Matrix' have complete universes within which you can continue adventures."
A larger-than-life character with whom players can identify also helps. Figures such as Pacino's Tony Montana and Connery's Bond are tailor-made, as is Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan. The Academy Award-winning director is overseeing the creative end of the "Dirty Harry" game, which the studio hopes to turn into a franchise.
Scarface lives
Vivendi Universal Games, for its part, hired Hollywood writer David McKenna ("Blow," "American History X") to write "Scarface: The World Is Yours," based on Brian De Palma's 1983 underworld classic. The game, due to come out next year, begins with the film's finale, in which Montana is at the top of the stairs. This time, however, he survives. Hip-hop songs have been added to the soundtrack, a nod to a community in which the movie -- and video games -- are huge.
"Players are thrust into a 'what if Tony survived?' scenario, fighting their way out of the mansion and restructuring his life," said Ed Zobrist, senior vice president of global marketing for Vivendi Universal. "Though our alternate fantasy world can't re-create two hours in the theater, we try to capture the feeling. Pacino was instrumental in helping us perpetuate Montana's moral code -- refusing to hurt innocents."
In the fall, Electronic Arts, the leading independent interactive software company, will send out "James Bond 007: From Russia With Love." Written by Bruce Fierstein, who has three big-screen Bond credits, it serves up new gadgets, plot twists and characters.
Electronic Arts' "Godfather" game, coming out at holiday time, focuses on Brando's don, asking players to squeeze money or information out of those on the payroll.
"Consumers want video games to bring them the untold story -- how did the horse's head get in the bed in 'The Godfather,' for instance?" said Jillian Goldberg, vice president of product marketing for Electronic Arts, which is based in Redwood City. "Sort of like the scenes left on the cutting-room floor brought to life in the interactive phase."
Tom Cruise declined to participate in the game version of "Minority Report," and Pacino isn't involved with "The Godfather" game in which his Michael Corleone role has been scaled down. Still, big-name talent -- interested in exploring a new medium, preserving the integrity of the material and, of course, making a buck -- is climbing aboard. Vin Diesel's video-game company co-produced "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay," and director Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") was so hands-on in the game version of his upcoming movie that they're calling it "Peter Jackson's King Kong."
"The format has caught up to the opportunity," said Beth Goss, Universal's executive vice president of consumer products. "And extending the franchise through a video game is more logical than making another movie."
And cheaper, as well. The average video game costs between $8 million and $12 million to produce -- a fraction of its big-screen counterpart.
• Early takeoffs were low quality and unimaginative, but newer stock involves celebrities and plots that extend beyond the film
