Will MGS4 Affect the Box Office Sales for The Incredible Hulk?
Probably not, despite both being released very near each other (6/12 for MGS4, 6/13 for Hulk) . Although I have yet to hear about any of the “mainstream” entertainment news sources make such outrageous claims I have no doubt that they will at least try. Let’s face it, these types of stories make headlines and, as such, make money. However, that said, just like GTAIV didn’t adversely affect the sales of Iron Man, I can pretty much guarantee that MGS4 won’t affect the sales for Universal’s probably-gonna-be-a-hit movie, The Incredible Hulk.
Perhaps I just don’t get “it” from a mainstream perspective, i.e. a non-hardcore gamer, but who seriously thinks that these types of mediums actually interfere with each other. Even in today’s day and age of competing markets and recession talks, the entertainment industry (movies and games alike) won’t be competing for a long while, at least not on these grounds. Assuming, of course, that the Incredible Hulk is any good (and from the buzz I have been hearing it actually is) both of these mediums should maintain high profits for both companies involved (Konami, Universal). But let’s get to the real issue of this post: why is there always this “them versus us” mentality when it comes to video games and movies?
In recent months the movie industry (i.e. the media) has been having a field day with video games. It has become the latest blame craze. Kid shoots up a school (my thoughts to the families affected)? He must have been a hardcore Halo/Counter-Strike fan. How about if a video game pursues even the slightest sexual content? Well, it must be because they are trying to corrupt our children. And now, apparently, they are attempting to subvert out movies… When will it end?
Like we saw with Iron Man, the targeted audience for these two mediums (young, 20-30 y/o males) have enough money and time that both should do fairly well. Any fault on the movie “The Incredible Hulk” will be the fault of it’s own acting, CGI, and history (the original was horrible). So please, when you do see these headlines start popping up, ignore them. They want money and they get money by getting you to read their bullshit. What will be really interesting to see is if the casual-friendly Wii starts to affect movie sales of popular movies that aren’t geared towards the young male. An audience that is definitely more hesitant about where their next dollar goes… Keep an eye out for those headlines.
WiiSports 2 vs The Notebook 2… FIGHT!
