Archive for Video Masters TV- Discussion Forum From Television, to Video Games, and Movies
 

Donate to our new server appeal.

       Video Masters TV- Discussion Forum Forum Index -> Video Games- Modern
launchpad25

Hollywood Blames 'Halo 3' For Poor Box Office

While i'm no fan of the 'Halo' series, i thought i'd bring this up just in light of the third game's release. From Actiontrip.Com...

http://www.actiontrip.com/link.ph...ask=view&id=7549&Itemid=2
Quote:
Film executives are reportedly blaming the popularity of Halo 3 for the worst October weekend box office takings in years.
Halo 3, released on September 25, grossed a whopping $170 million in first day sales, a figure that had swelled to over $300 million by early October. In contrast, North American movie box office takings have been dwindling, reports Advertising Age, and Master Chief is being blamed by a number of film executives.

Total industry film ticket sales were only $80 million for the Oct. 5 weekend, down a massive 27 percent year-over-year. According to research firm Media by Numbers that’s the industry's worst performance for an October weekend since 1999. Fall domestic receipts are also down 6 percent compared to last year.

The highly anticipated movie The Heartbreak Kid, which reunited Ben Stiller and
the Farrelly brothers nine years after the wildly successful release of There’s Something About Mary, was expected to gross up to $25 million in its opening weekend but fell flat, taking just $14 million in the US and Canada.

Paramount, the parent company of Dreamworks, the studio that released the movie, declined to discuss whether the Halo effect had been responsible for The Heartbreak Kid’s poor box office takings, although many film executives are reportedly convinced audiences stayed at home to play the Bungie-developed shooter.

Microsoft was happy to comment on the subject however. Josh Goldberg, a Halo 3 product manager at Microsoft, said he wasn’t surprised that the game was successfully competing with blockbuster films. "We marketed it like a film and now we're just as big or bigger than film."

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey also noted, "The audience on this game is the 18-to-34 demographic, similar to what you'd see in cinemas," adding, "this could last for several weeks."

Now here's my take. 'Halo 3' costs $59.99. A movie ticket costs under $10.00 depending on how much your movie theater prices their movie tickets, or how many friends, and family members you bring. Not to mention to costly food at the consession stand. Judging by that theory, I'd say that while 'Halo 3' is making money that rivals that of your typical Holywood blockbuster, the price of the game itself leads me to think that only the fans are picking it up. I say this because games are still not as mainstream as movies despite the success they've had over the years. And what's ironic is that games, and comics are some of the trends that are currently driving the movie industry. I don't know if i made a good point on this, but what do you think about this?
Talonluck

Halo 3 is setting records but it wouldn't keep me away from the movies. It's the movies that are keeping me away from the movies.

My house is 50x better than the theater. 50" 1080p hdtv, hddvd player, and transformers on hddvd will keep me away from the movies for at least a few weeks just as 300 and TMNT did.
launchpad25

I agree. Just because a game dose better than what's currently playing in theaters has nothing to do with the game itself. It's just that the movies currently out there don't interest me right now. (Another Ben Stiller movie, and The Rock doing a 'family film'? No thanks.) At least there were some good appealing movies this past summer. (Which isn't saying much, but it was better than last year) Still, the fall is usually a slow period until the holiday season kicks in, and this year's offerings don't look that great, either. If Hollywood had better films to offer, maybe more people will see them, and still buy the hot new game.
John Gibson

Yeah, everything is pretty much said already. I'm no fan of the Halo series either, but let's face it. Hollywood is not exactly dishing out stellar films these days, no matter how much money they make at the Box Office, you gotta take into account that nowadays, some people don't really know a good movie from a bad movie.

If there's no CGI, stunts, constant use of the F word, or outtakes during the end credits of Jackie Chan still trying to speak perfect english, no one is interested.

Speaking of ending credits, I'll never understand why Pixar has to include outtakes and bloopers at the end of their CGI movies. Doesn't that cost more money to animate that stuff? Wouldn't it be easier to film the actors screwing up their lines in the recording studio, and make that a DVD extra??
BJ Wanlund

launchpad25 wrote:
I agree. Just because a game dose better than what's currently playing in theaters has nothing to do with the game itself. It's just that the movies currently out there don't interest me right now. (Another Ben Stiller movie, and The Rock doing a 'family film'? No thanks.) At least there were some good appealing movies this past summer. (Which isn't saying much, but it was better than last year) Still, the fall is usually a slow period until the holiday season kicks in, and this year's offerings don't look that great, either. If Hollywood had better films to offer, maybe more people will see them, and still buy the hot new game.

Agreed, although I'm VERY excited for Enchanted (the return of the GOOF!!!)

BJ
launchpad25

BJ Wanlund wrote:
(the return of the GOOF!!!)

Would that be in reference to that new Goofy short called 'How To Hook Up Your Home Theater System'?
John Gibson

I will say Halo 3 will make it in some form to Episode 15. Tee hee hee

       Video Masters TV- Discussion Forum Forum Index -> Video Games- Modern
Page 1 of 1
Create your own free forum | Buy a domain to use with your forum