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[LakeEarth]

I just completed watching the second Resident Evil movie, and laughter was had by all. While I was watching though a thought occured to me. It seems like almost every videogame series that has a movie based on them begins to lose steam or completely die after the movie is shown.

Mario Bros. - Still strong, but it has lost steam over the years
Double Dragon - Competely and utterly dead
Street Fighter - still has a great following, but nothing close to as popular as it once was
Mortal Kombat - still sells well but not the phenom it once was, and when the sequel came out, dropped even faster
Tomb Raider - still kicking, but for the most part dead
Final Fantasy - still sells in the millions but not close to FFVII popularity anymore
Resident Evil - RE4 really gave back this series juice, but we won't know how strong the series still is till it comes out for the PS2.
Alone in the Dark - ... okay it was long dead before the movie came out

I know the decline of the series I mentioned are due to other factors. MK4 being not that great, Tomb Raider's complete lack of innovation in sequels, etc, but do you think it's possible that there is a direct correlation between a shitty film adaptation and a decline in the popularity of a game series? Does a shitty movie of a series make that series less popular?

 

[GaimeGuy]

no

 

[Ranger X]

It's more because the movie ARE sucky. No matter how you look at them.

 

[Mooreberg]

I think making a character or franchise become oversaturated in general is what weakens their selling power. That Mario movie came out three years before SM64, but SM64 still sold something like six million copies in the U.S.

Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were waning in popularity before the movies came out. I guess if FFXII doesn't sell as well as FFX it could be the start of a trend. Usually the movie is just part of an overall problem where too many of the games are being released (or I guess as far as Mario goes, too many spin-off games).

 

[GaimeGuy]

btw: NONE of the FFs have sold as well as FFVII. the closest is FFVIII, which sold like 500k less than FFVII worldwide, despite selling better in Japan and Europe.

 

[silenttwn]

The Silent Hill movie looks like it might be really good.

 

[Almighty_Chocobo]

Didn't FFVII have one of the largest ad campaigns for a game ever(Aside from MS's Xbox campaign, of course...)?
I remember not being able to go through a single show without seeing that commercial of Santa playing FFVII.

 

[Ghost]

I dont think the movies are killing the franchises i just think the movies are being made as the franchises die.

The problem is movie companies arent smart enough to predict huge games and make movies to coincide with the hype, they only react to successful games which means the hype for the game is gone when the movie comes out. This is turn damages the movies credibility so even half-decent crossovers like tomb-raider look outdated to a lot of people.


I wouldnt be supprised if the Halo movie suffers a similar fate.

 

[sprsk]

I just completed watching the second Resident Evil movie, and laughter was had by all. While I was watching though a thought occured to me. It seems like almost every videogame series that has a movie based on them begins to lose steam or completely die after the movie is shown.

Mario Bros. - Still strong, but it has lost steam over the years
Double Dragon - Competely and utterly dead
Street Fighter - still has a great following, but nothing close to as popular as it once was
Mortal Kombat - still sells well but not the phenom it once was, and when the sequel came out, dropped even faster
Tomb Raider - still kicking, but for the most part dead
Final Fantasy - still sells in the millions but not close to FFVII popularity anymore
Resident Evil - RE4 really gave back this series juice, but we won't know how strong the series still is till it comes out for the PS2.
Alone in the Dark - ... okay it was long dead before the movie came out

I know the decline of the series I mentioned are due to other factors. MK4 being not that great, Tomb Raider's complete lack of innovation in sequels, etc, but do you think it's possible that there is a direct correlation between a shitty film adaptation and a decline in the popularity of a game series? Does a shitty movie of a series make that series less popular?

Mario: well duh
Double dragon: the shitty sequels killed this franchise
MK: Same as DD
Tomb raider: again, same
FF: This might actually hold some water, but i think ffx-2 sold quite a bit didnt it?
RE: People seem to like the RE movies, i think this is more a problem of so many games people just got tired of it
Alone in the dark: you said it!

 

[C- Warrior]

Can you smell the Synergy baby!

I think game publishers who license out their games to movie production companies obviously hope the movie is good, but don't care too much. They are probably just over joyed that a movie is being made in the first place.

I guess it's under the assumption that most people can recognize a good/bad movie on a particular franchise has no bearing on the game version of that franchise.

That is to say, just cus' you thought the RE movies sucked--doesn't mean you should/or even do assume RE4 will suck.

But at the same time, it brings attention to the title. And in many instances, you can make a nice flashy popcorn based movie from a typical video game, which is all that is needed to bring positive (even if slightly) attention to the gaming portion of that franchise.

Do more people know about "Resident Evil" the games after all the commercial/advertising/listings for the RE movies...hell yes would be the answer.

 

[Ark-AMN]

FFVII must have had one of the biggest TV ad campaigns of its time, because I remember seeing those pretty FMV commercials so many times back then.

 

[theREBELins]

When I was a wee little one I remember seeing all those FF7 commercials, selling my N64 with all it's games and buying a PS1 with FF7. I didn't even know what fucking genre the game was! I was damn lucky though, because I had played Chrono Trigger and then enjoyed FF7 as it was sort of similar to it in regards to turn based fighting. The only time I regretting doing this was after the release of Ocarina of Time, but time and my Gamecube have both healed that wound

Anyways - I think if there's any drop in popularity in a video game property it is because of it's over exposure, which includes hollywood movies I guess. I say the same goes for sequels that come out way too frequently.

 

[Ash Housewares]

Mario Bros. - Still strong, but it has lost steam over the years
Double Dragon - Competely and utterly dead
Street Fighter - still has a great following, but nothing close to as popular as it once was
Mortal Kombat - still sells well but not the phenom it once was, and when the sequel came out, dropped even faster
Tomb Raider - still kicking, but for the most part dead
Final Fantasy - still sells in the millions but not close to FFVII popularity anymore
Resident Evil - RE4 really gave back this series juice, but we won't know how strong the series still is till it comes out for the PS2.
Alone in the Dark - ... okay it was long dead before the movie came out

if you were trying to say that when the movie comes out it has virtually no impact on the game series then you have a pretty convincing argument there

 

[Synth_floyd]

It's because of the timing of the movies. They're only going to make movies based off of games that are popular, and popularity (like most things in the world) works on a good 'ol bell curve. So by the time the movie gets released the game series has usually already hit its peak of popularity and after that it's nothing but down. The fact that all the movies suck certainly doesn't help either.

 

[etiolate]

If the Double Dragon franchise had to die in order for us to see Alyssa Molina's ass in those tight shorts...

...THEN BY GOD SACRIFICES WILL BE MADE

 

[Neex]

you basically put an exception by every item on your list.