This is undoubtedly the age of the Hollywood blockbuster with a number of franchises battling it out for a bigger share of the box office than their rivals. But alongside this desire for cinematic dominance the merchandising that goes alongside a major movie release is a very valuable revenue stream too. Of all the different kinds or merch the video game is one of the most lucrative for the movie makers, predominantly because of the high cost per unit, as well as the appetite of fans to take part, however vicariously, in part of the action.
One only has to look at Star Wars, surely the biggest franchise of them all. To tie in with its latest Disney-owned manifestation, 2015 saw the release of Battlefront and the sheer attention to detail that it included showed how much effort and investment had gone into it. The sequel, due out later this year, promises to be even better.
Star Wars has also shown how Hollywood has used video games to tell the sort of backstory that die-hard fans want to know. For example the setting of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is millennia before the filmed saga begins and tells many of the origin stories of the characters who are to follow in the films.
Of course, there’s also considerable two-way traffic between movies and games with some of the most successful franchises being based on games, not the other way around. One of the first of these was Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in which Angelina Jolie played the intrepid video game heroine in human form and other more recent examples include the 2014 Need for Speed and last year’s Assassin’s Creed. However the latter proved that a first class cast including Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Rampling and Jeremy Irons wouldn’t be enough to save it from being something of a turkey.
Anyone who’s played online slots recently can’t help but to have noticed that they are becoming just like video games – and nor has Hollywood. So more and more slots are appearing with strong links to films. For example Marvel Comics films have proved to be a particularly rich seam so even a quick search online will find examples featuring Iron Man, the Hulk and even the Fantastic Four.
The thinking behind this is simple on the part of the online casinos – by featuring popular characters in their games they aim to gain the interest of film fans who may not have played online slots before and are hoping for some beginner’s luck.
The slots also cover a number of genres including horror – the Nightmare on Elm Street game is especially popular and manages to capture some of the terror found in the movies themselves. You’ll also find some more left-field choices, for example fans of the Coen Brothers’ cult classic The Big Lebowski is a big favourite with many players.
The links between gaming and Hollywood are only likely to get stronger in the near future and for many games developers virtual reality is the logical next step. So soon players may not just find them playing games that relate to their favourite films, they could even be taking a starring role themselves.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
Nerd Comments