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Collaboration crossing industry borders

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Gaming,
Movies

Daniel Terdiman CNET News

Published: 16 Dec 2005 16:05 GMT

When Peter Jackson's new film "King Kong" opened, fans of the original 1933 movie weren't be the only ones with an advance sense of the story line.

Thousands of people have been playing the "King Kong" video game since late last month. And while the game and the film by the hit-making "Lord of the Rings" director didn't come out on the same date, the releases were close enough to be seen in the two industries as a tandem launch.

Kong is the latest example of an evolving trend in Hollywood that many see as the future of filmed fiction. With some Hollywood films like "King Kong" costing as much as $200m or more to make, the film business is desperate for ways to recoup some of those expenses. And it is turning increasingly to its video game licensees as a way to do so.

That makes sense, given that the video game business itself now earns more in sales each year than does Hollywood. And while there are no guarantees that a licensed game will make a difference, movie studios see cooperating with the Ubisofts and Electronic Arts of the world as an attractive bet. Beyond the potential financial advantages, the tandem releases are eroding boundaries between where stories begin and end.

"When you have a total viewpoint of a franchise and of a narrative and a universe, having a movie and a game is a really unique opportunity for people to explore a particular piece of fiction in a multitude of directions," said Jason Hall, senior vice-president at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

To date, there have been several prominent coordinated film and movie releases, including multiple "Harry Potter" and "The Matrix" titles. And there's no doubt that putting out a movie like "King Kong" and an associated video game around the same time offers irresistible cross-marketing possibilities. After all, having the film on everyone's lips gives unparalleled name recognition to the game. And vice versa.

"When doing a movie-based game, you want to get the maximum buzz when the movie is released," said Xavier Poix, producer of Ubisoft's "King Kong" game. "So the decision was made very early that we needed to be there at the moment when the movie (came) out."

Yet there is no guarantee tandem releases will help the bottom lines of the films and games.

"It's still viewed [in Hollywood] as supplemental revenue," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group, "because it's dependent to a large part on the box office appeal of the film. So if you have a disappointing film, it's going to impact the sales of the game. If the studio doesn't do its job in promoting the movie, or if it isn't received well... then it's not an independent variable where they can count on this much revenue from the license."

But to the production teams, which often work closely together, the appeal of simultaneously creating a movie and related game goes far beyond pure marketing. Whereas film-based games used to be little more than marketing vehicles for movies, that dynamic is changing. Now, games like "King Kong" and the latest entries in "The Matrix" series can actually provide extensions to the films' narratives. Jackson, of course, has a history of creating films that are developed closely alongside associated video games. In the case of both "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King", the games hit shelves less than two months prior to the movies.

When it came to his film about the world's best-known gorilla, "Peter Jackson said he wanted the game to be a sister or brother to the movie," Poix said. "He wanted it to be an extension of the movie he had created."

Further, while Jackson was consumed with making "King Kong" the film, he made...

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