This coming weekend could end up becoming a major battle between the movie industry and the video game industry. It is a fight to see who ends up getting the almighty dollar. “Iron Man” which is the latest highly anticipated superhero movie is set to hit movie theaters this weekend. There has been much talk about what the movie is going to be like. At the same time, Iron Man will be the first of superhero movies that will feature heroes that are humanly flawed instead of being a boy scout like Superman.
However, the highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto IV” was released on Tuesday, April 29. It is expected that game sales will surpass $400 in its first week. At the same time, Iron Man looks to take in between $50 million to $70 million in the same week. There is a sizeable different between the amounts that Iron Man and Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to gross out.
This may hamper the success of Iron Man. For those familiar with the Grand Theft Auto franchise should already know what GTA IV is all about. It would look as if GTA IV will get the almighty dollar and keep people at home in front of their game consoles and TV sets.
But Rob Moore, the vice-chairman for Paramount Pictures said that he is not fazed. He dismissed the fears by saying that it was insane to think that core audience which is young males would not be able to take a few hours out of a day to see the movie.
However, I have talked with several friends that have waited to get their hands on a copy of GTA IV. Humorously, he said that there will be too many people busy being criminals and killers in GTA IV to go out and watch Iron Man. He explained that the game was EPIC. Also, he explained that GTA IV is like an interactive movie; a movie that looks to be far interactive than Iron Man.
But, analysts say that something like that is not new. The release of “Halo 3” was blamed for poor grossing ticket sales of Ben Stiller’s “The Heartbreak Kid.” It is not new to see the movie industry and the gaming industry at odds with each other.
This could be another statistic in the trend of video games becoming more popular than movies. So far, the rate of video game sales had surpassed and eclipsed sales at the box office.
While Iron Man will have its work cut out competing against GTA IV, the other anticipated blockbusters will be going through the same thing. This year there are the anticipated releases of such games like “Resident Evil 5,” “Alone In the Dark,” and “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.” The releases of those games should give the movie industry a run for its money.
This looks as if the movie industry will be facing steep competition this summer.
Are you going to spend your money on movies or games? In this case: Will it be Iron Man or a copy of GTA IV?