Money Games: Hollywood discovers video games can be cash machines

Kirk Baird

Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 | 8:21 a.m.

Hollywood's got game.

After years of ignoring the booming video-game industry as a childish novelty, film studios have embraced video games, if for no other reason than financial.

The bottom line: The games make money. The video-game industry grossed $10 billion in 2001 or, $1.4 billion more than Hollywood earned that year, according to the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association.

Eager to cash in, many studios are eagerly teaming with software companies to help bring the big screen to the small screen.

Some recent popular game titles include "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter," with other movie-based games on the way, including "Tron 2.0," "Star Wars: Galaxies" and the highly anticipated "Enter the Matrix."

The buzz for the latter is so strong, in fact, "Enter the Matrix" was treated to a Hollywood-type premiere recently, complete with stars from the upcoming movie sequels, who also filmed an additional hour of footage for the game.

So far the union between the entertainment formats has proven profitable.

"The Two Towers" game, available for every major game platform along with PCs, has sold more than 3 million copies since it was released in November. At roughly $50 a game, that's a $150 million gross or, nearly half of the film's total U.S. box-office take.

Neil Young, executive producer of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," is neither surprised by the success of his game nor the attention given to other movie-based software.

"I think you have a generation of people who have grown up playing games," Young said. "It's as meaningful to them as books, movies and music."

While 20 years ago Hollywood thumbed its nose at games, today the film's directors and designers are often consulted by the game producers.

"We sort of built a relationship with the filmmakers in New Zealand before my arrival to some degree and a lot after my arrival on the project," Young said. "It's important to understand what the filmmakers are trying to do."

For Young, understanding the filmmaker's vision meant weekly video conferences with the "Rings" director, Peter Jackson, and producers, as well as several in-person visits to New Zealand where the trilogy was filmed.

The result is a game experience that rivals the movie in terms of epic grandeur and scope.

There are nearly seamless blends of film footage from both "Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" incorporated into the game, which follows closely the film's plot.

Adding to the cinematic feel, hundreds of lines of dialogue were recorded by five of the films' main characters: Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli).

"Those guys lent their voices to their digital counterparts in the game world," Young said. "That really stamps an air of authenticity on the game. When you look at those characters, clearly those pixels aren't are cool as the film might be, but when you see that film on screen that resembles them and hear their voice ... (it) takes that to the next level."

Game over

Just because a game is attached to a film, however, doesn't guarantee its success.

The video-game scrap heap is littered with failed movie-to-video game translations: The Sylvester Stallone arcade dud "Judge Dread" matched its movie cousin's financial impotence; and more recently, "Minority Report," which, while a box-office hit, failed to find crossover success as a game.

"I think in a lot of cases what makes a really great movie does not make a great game and vice versa," cautioned Bob Picumlco, marketing director for Disney Interactive, makers of "Tron 2.0." "There are certain instances when they have crossed over and those are best opportunities, working with a film division to find those instances where we can cross over for a win-win."

And then there are the over-eager gamemakers who rush a game's production and release to coincide with the film's opening.

"I think that's been the big knock on movie games for years," Picumlco said. "Typically, we get a film done more quickly than a game. We need 18 to 24 months" to produce a game. "And in a lot of cases, a live-action film can be done in nine (months) or less."

With "Tron 2.0," however, Picumlco hasn't had that problem.

The film "Tron" was released in 1982. While the movie did OK box-office numbers, $33 million, its subsequent arcade and home-game versions were equally successful.

Over the years discussions of a new "Tron" game have come up as frequently as talks of a sequel to the cult film. And now with technology light-years ahead of what the original gamemakers had in the early '80s, Picumlco said the time was right for a new "Tron" PC game, which is scheduled for a late-summer release.

"When they produced the film ... it was state-of-the-art. They searched around for a computer that had the capabilities to do the effects and bring it all together," he said. "The basic processing power in a standard PC is bigger than the massive power they had in a mainframe. That will really show in the (new) game."

King George

When it comes to movies based on games, it would be tough to argue against the success of LucasArts.

Since forming in the mid-'80s LucasArts, the software division of of George Lucas' entertainment empire, has released nearly 60 games based on its two popular film franchises: "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones."

And in March LucasArts adds to the movie-game list with "Star Wars: Galaxies," its initial foray into massive multiplayer online games (MMOG), first made popular by the PC role-playing classics "Ultima Online" and later "EverQuest."

More than three years in development, the "Star Wars" MMOG allows players to create a video alter-ego and interact with other "Galaxies" players and computer-controlled residents, including famous characters from the films, such as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

"We watched all the movies and identified for ourselves the core 'Star Wars' experience and what 'Star Wars' meant to us," said LucasArts producer Haden Blackman, who has overseen the game's development.

" 'Star Wars: Galaxies' is very much inspired by the movies, especially the classic trilogy."

But using "Stars Wars" in the title doesn't guarantee its success.

LucasArts has learned firsthand what happens when a movie-based game doesn't live up to its theatrical version.

"We've tried to stretch the property in the past, beyond its traditional associations, such as the creation of a 'Star Wars' fighting game, and it simply didn't fit well within the overall context of the property," said Mary Bihr, LucasArts vice president of worldwide sales and marketing.

"We must respect the boundaries of the property and not create something that fights against what 'Star Wars' represents to our customers. We've tried; it doesn't work."

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