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Grand Theft Box Office

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“The buzz in Hollywood, which I heard from some Hollywood folks…is people are worried whether Iron Man the movie is going to get killed by Grand Theft Auto the game.”

These were the words said by John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts during an interview with the Financial Times. Riccitiello, as some know, is heading EA’s attempted hostile takeover of 2K Games, the publishers of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Analysts predicts that GTA IV could sell 5.8 Million copies in it’s first week, giving it retail sales of around $360 million (R2.8 billion), with total predicted sales hitting the 13 million mark. It’s no wonder that Hollywood is worried. The gaming industry has boomed significantly over the last couple of years and I’m not surprised that something like this is happening. Ben Stillers’ Heartbreak Kid suffered from opening weekend sales that weren’t quite as high as they were hoping and the finger was pointed at Halo 3.

Gaming has definitely come a long way if the folks in Hollywood are genuinely worried that a new video game is going to destroy their movies opening weekend. Riccitiello also emphasizes this point saying that “The games industry 10 years ago was a toy business in the minds of most consumers. Toys ‘R’ Us at the time merchandised products alphabetically so Monsters toys were next to Madden [NFL football games], Barbies were next to boxing games.”

Gaming is truly starting to be recognized as a very lucrative industry and a widespread, popular form of entertainment. The eye of the world is on gaming now more than ever, for better or for worse.

source: The Financial Times

Last Updated: April 15, 2008

7 Comments

  1. Iron Man who? 😉

    I don’t see what the fuss is about. Iron Man has his own game coming out. What if that game knocks the box office down? 😉

    Reply

  2. J4NR1K

    April 15, 2008 at 08:03

    Fox, like that would ever happen 😉

    The movie is going to bomb, even if it came with no game release in sight.

    Reply

  3. Lupus

    April 15, 2008 at 08:15

    Perhaps it wasn’t Halo 3 that knocked Heart Break kid off,perhaps it was the fact that it was a terrible movie? Hollywood should stop pointing fingers and actually make something decent.

    Reply

  4. Fred

    April 15, 2008 at 08:53

    Movies lately are a bit lame i.m.o. Shrek3 , Spiderman3 , poc3, Bee-movie, Saw 2,3,4, all bad.
    No wonder we would rather play games.

    Reply

  5. koldFU5iON

    April 15, 2008 at 09:38

    but I want to see Ironman… and http://www.forbiddenkingdommovie.com/

    Reply

  6. Fox1

    April 15, 2008 at 10:20

    [re=11359]Fox1[/re]: Lol

    I don’t hear Bollywood complaining that movies are losing out to games. India even has Live! so that shows just how gaming is in that country.

    I think that the makers of the Iron Man movie are just using GTA4 to get publicity and also to use it as an excuse if the movie fails at the box office.

    Reply

  7. doobiwan

    April 15, 2008 at 10:44

    In other words they already know Iron man is going to suck and are looking for an excuse before it flops 😉

    Some recent survey found that gamers watch 6x more movies than everyone else, your thumbs need a break every now and then y’know!

    doobiwan’s last blog post..Breaking BS: Microsoft to buy EA?

    Reply

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