Nestled in your video game chairs, fighting a hero's battle against defying odds: you are one with the system. Hollywood has attempted to share in the gaming wealth by making movies supported by popular video games.
Video game plots expanded into theater productions with Super Mario Brothers, starring Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo in 1993. In 2001, Angelina Jolie became Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (box office gross $131,168,070). Resident Evil (2002), a futuristic zombie thriller starring Milla Jovovich, grossed $40,119,709. Declining ticket sales would occur when the movie plot completely disengages from the game plot, or the game plot is not broad enough to capture an audience's attention. A strong acting cast is a box-office draw.
Movie House Gamers
It's when the movie becomes a video game that the theater seat becomes the video game chair and the movie viewer becomes the gamer anticipating every logical move. Movies like the 1982 release of WarGames brought audiences to the brink of WWI. Launching a computer game called Global Thermonuclear War, a young man hacks into a military computer and confuses reality and game playing.
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Adolescents compete at games for the Nintendo Entertainment System in The Wizard, starring Fred Savage. Stay Alive was the horror film that plotted into the future, suggesting the possibility that a video game could kill its players.
Interactive Action
Interactive movies resulted from the expansion of computers and game consoles in the '90s. Gameplay consists of a movie with several story lines from which the player chooses. These video games have vast catalogs of video footage. Commanding from his video chair, the gamer is the supreme ruler. Bad decisions can bring his empire to destruction in a short time; wise decisions lead to extended play and perhaps a victorious end.
