Presentation Script - Draft 1

VIDEOGAME MOVIES: FAILURE & FUTURE

INTRODUCTION

[Begin cycling slideshow of various different multicultural people playing games.]

There are more than 1.2 billion 'gamers' [1] in the world, and this figure continues to rise as technology advances. There's no surprise then that the film industry have been trying to 'crack the code' when it comes to videogame movie adaptations, however these adaptations have a high element of risk, this can be for a variety of reasons; previous adaptations thus far have been a failure, the average videogame movie adaptation has a "Rotten Tomato rating of an abysmal 18%".[2] With the history of videogame movies looking unhealthy, why will more of these movies come out in the next 10 years than ever before? [3].

[Play Youtube vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1ZJ6yZwdRg) showing Uwe Boll movie trailer)

Also, these aren't any old Uwe Boll movies, some of these franchises are worth millions. For example, the one-game-wonder 'Minecraft' will be seeing a cinematic adaptation, the franchise is worth $2'000'000'000 after it was recently bought buy the giant Microsoft [4]. Linda Hutchenson says "it is not simply a matter of risk-avoidance; there is money to be made" [5], and Thomas Tull agrees "though movies based on videogames don't have a great critical track record the same can't be said for the commercial opportunity of such films." [6].

CASE STUDY 1 - RES EVIL

[Begin slideshow of clips and scenes from the Resident Evil franchise, both videogame and cinematic expansion.]

The Resident Evil franchise remains as the most successful series of videogame movie adaptations, both critically and financially. There have been 5 cinematic releases out of this franchise, with total franchise revenue of $244.4 million and with more releases soon to come. [7] However, as you can see this figure is lackluster and not so impressive when compared to mainstream hollywood. this is even eclipsed by the Kung Fu Panda, which only has 2 films and is estimated to have made $380.7 million [8].


THEORY 1 - ADAPTATION

CASE STUDY 2 - DOOM

CASE STUDY 3 - UWE BOLL (pick one film) (farcry)

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/more-than-1-2-billion-people-are-playing-games/
[2] http://www.gamnesia.com/articles/can-video-game-movies-recover#.U7-9tWTrUVw
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games
[4] http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/microsoft-in-serious-discussions-to-buy-the-minecraft-empire
[5] Beginning to theorize adaptation, by Linda Hutcheon, 2006
[6] http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-are-video-game-movies-usually-so-bad/1100-6419635/ [7] http://www.filmsite.org/series-boxoffice.html
[8] http://www.filmsite.org/series-boxoffice.html

[N] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on8HYW9dPd0&list=PLZtG_sUP5jorX4Q4x1vCTtyrICSL7RBu- "They do one little thing like the video game, then they think they're home free!"
[N] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on8HYW9dPd0&list=PLZtG_sUP5jorX4Q4x1vCTtyrICSL7RBu- "There was always very little respect for the video games"
[N] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027271/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_qt_sm#quotes "If you work with a subject matter beloved by a hardcore fan base, then there's going to be a huge amount of discussion of what you've got wrong or right. In some ways you can never please overly obsessive fans, it's just impossible." this is the same for other media text adaptations.
[N] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIgGNYjRz4w&list=PLZtG_sUP5jorX4Q4x1vCTtyrICSL7RBu-  "stay faithful to the essence of the game"
[N] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIgGNYjRz4w&list=PLZtG_sUP5jorX4Q4x1vCTtyrICSL7RBu-  "Hire good writers and directors that have respect for the material."