• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

So Detective Pikachu will end its worldwide run as the 3rd highest grossing video game adaptation

Busaiku

Busaiku

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,372
Behind Warcraft and Rampage.
It is 1st domestically though.

I was one of those fools that initially thought it could do $1 billion upon its initial reveal, but my hype deflated closer to release.
Thought $500 million would still be a lock, but even that ended up being a pipe dream.

Biggest media franchise in the world and all that.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
Had a good run. Personally, I loved it enough to see it twice.
 
Faiyaz

Faiyaz

Member
Nov 30, 2017
5,251
Bangladesh
Being one of the most popular video game series won't necessarily translate to the same amount of success in a live-action movie. It's not like it's a complete bomb though.
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
I remember when some people were crowing about the fact the trailer was dwarfing Toy Story and how Disney apparently was so worried they pushed a 2nd teaser right away to combat it and all that jazz. Now some tracking has it's opening weekend beating DP's entire domestic run.
 
Kewlmyc

Kewlmyc

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
26,674
Not great to be honest considering how much hype it initially had. Especially since they were allegedly planning an entire Pokemon cinematic universe based on this first movie.
 
kurahador

kurahador

Member
Oct 28, 2017
17,503
Remember when everyone here predict it'll do a billion and cut Endgame box office domination short?
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
Just like Warcraft and Rampage, it wasn't the best movie in the world, but it sure was fun.


I desperately want another Warcraft movie, I loved the spell visuals in it.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,943
Kinda underwhelming given it's Pokemon, but on the other hand a fairly niche story in Pokemon, I'm sure a more traditional Pokemon movie would destroy the record.
 
Htown

Htown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,317
Maxina said:
Mario will hit a billion, if even Mario can't nothing ever will.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Alternatively, game sales have nothing to do with how many movie tickets you're going to sell.

This is a lesson we should take from the comic book movie boom. You don't need the most popular comic for your adaptation, and you don't need the most popular game series either. Nobody in the mainstream gave a fuck about Iron Man a dozen years ago. Guardians of the Galaxy is an even better example.

You just need to find a game series with characters and stories people can get invested in. This is, of course, a lot more difficult for game adaptations, because unlike comics, video games are not an inherently narrative medium.
 
Pop-O-Matic

Pop-O-Matic

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,852
Htown said:
Alternatively, game sales have nothing to do with how many movie tickets you're going to sell.

This is a lesson we should take from the comic book movie boom. You don't need the most popular comic for your adaptation, and you don't need the most popular game series either. Find a game series with characters and stories people can get invested in. This is, of course, a lot more difficult for game adaptations, because unlike comics, video games are not an inherently narrative medium.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'd also argue that the other big hurdle is that many of the games that do have strong characters and narratives are usually much longer form stories and wouldn't lend themselves well to 2 hour films. Really, it feels like TV would be the better medium for a lot of game adaptations.
 
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
IIFloodyII said:
Kinda underwhelming given it's Pokemon, but on the other hand a fairly niche story in Pokemon, I'm sure a more traditional Pokemon movie would destroy the record.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think the main issue is that no one in China gives a fuck about Pokemon, especially compared to something like Warcraft and the Chinese audience is a huge part of box office receipts nowadays.
 
Seesaw15

Seesaw15

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,809
Of course a Rock type would beat Pikachu.
6bac63f9ce4a56956ac0025e7459ac553708b9c9_hq.gif
 
Version 3.0

Version 3.0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,140
Htown said:
This is, of course, a lot more difficult for game adaptations, because unlike comics, video games are not an inherently narrative medium.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

And the games that do have a strong narrative tend to be quite movie-like, making a movie redundant even if it's done well (which it usually isn't, of course). Like the most recent Tomb Raider. I saw it, thought it was not bad, but the game it was based on told its story better.
 
Shadoken

Shadoken

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,204
Doesn't China make like the most money for Hollywood movies. Is Pokemon super popular there ? I know consoles in general aren't very big over there let alone Nintendo systems. Warcraft made nearly 3x Pokemon in China.

Htown said:
Alternatively, game sales have nothing to do with how many movie tickets you're going to sell.

This is a lesson we should take from the comic book movie boom. You don't need the most popular comic for your adaptation, and you don't need the most popular game series either. Nobody in the mainstream gave a fuck about Iron Man a dozen years ago. Guardians of the Galaxy is an even better example.

You just need to find a game series with characters and stories people can get invested in. This is, of course, a lot more difficult for game adaptations, because unlike comics, video games are not an inherently narrative medium.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I guess this makes sense , using a well known IP is like a leverage. But the movie itself still has to appeal to the audience on its own.

Maxina said:
Mario will hit a billion, if even Mario can't nothing ever will.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Is Mario big in other forms of Media? Like Comics,Animated shows..etc. A franchise can be very popular in video games because of its gameplay , but that doesn't necessarily translate to other media.
 
Pop-O-Matic

Pop-O-Matic

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,852
Shadoken said:
Doesn't China make like the most money for Hollywood movies.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
In terms of gross, yeah, but the Chinese government cuts into a lot of that money. Basically if Movie A and Movie B gross the exact same amount of money, but Movie A makes the majority of it's gross in China while Movie B made more in the US and other territories, then Movie B is probably going to be more profitable.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
3rd place seems pretty disappointing, considering how much social media went crazy over the trailer when it debuted.

I think they should have found a better release date.
 
Nacho

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,108
NYC
Border said:
3rd place seems pretty disappointing, considering how much social media went crazy over the trailer when it debuted.

I think they should have found a better release date.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, being so soon after Avengers really fucked it, even with Avengers falling off weeks and weeks later, pikachu still never went a single day making more than avengers, it's pretty clearly holding it down.

Still tho, did a pretty decent run and had good enough legs to probably make it profitable.
 
jokkir

jokkir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,167
The theatres around my area weren't even playing it that much. Releasing it around Avengers really messed the distribution to the theatres cause they still wanted to show Avengers
 
Pop-O-Matic

Pop-O-Matic

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,852
Border said:
3rd place seems pretty disappointing, considering how much social media went crazy over the trailer when it debuted.

I think they should have found a better release date.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't think was just the release date that screwed it over. The marketing just couldn't keep the momentum from that initial reveal, and the reception outside of hardcore fans was more lukewarm than anything else. Don't think you could really squeeze more than another $50M or so out of this movie even if it entered a completely empty field.
 
Brutalitops

Brutalitops

Member
Dec 6, 2017
1,251
It fell in that spot for me that while I recognise the movie was flawed in a lot of ways (especially the human actors being terrible, particularly the lead) I still came out of it having enjoyed it. Not many movies can make me feel those two things at once
 

Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
Brutalitops said:
It fell in that spot for me that while I recognise the movie was flawed in a lot of ways (especially the human actors being terrible, particularly the lead) I still came out of it having enjoyed it. Not many movies can make me feel those two things at once
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
i liked him a lot. the female lead was pretty bad though. it felt really unnatural how she delivered her lines.
 

DeltaRed

Member
Apr 27, 2018
5,746
No one cares about some weird spin off. If they released a Detective Chewbacca or Groot film no one would go to see it. Just make a film about the pokemon journey, gym battles and leagues.
 
WhiteRabbitEXE

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,569
Arizona
Shadoken said:
Doesn't China make like the most money for Hollywood movies. Is Pokemon super popular there ? I know consoles in general aren't very big over there let alone Nintendo systems. Warcraft made nearly 3x Pokemon in China.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The domestic market is still bigger, but as far as international markets go, yes, China is the biggest (though studios take home a much smaller cut of the ticket sales).

I don't think the popularity of the brand is that important though, but rather the kind of movie. Obviously Rampage isn't a stronger IP in China than Pokémon, but it's a kind of movie more likely to resonate in China than Detective Pikachu was. That said, as I've said before with Star Wars, I'm not really sure I want to see the kind of Pokémon movie that *would* resonate in China.
 
Mashy

Mashy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,184
Once was enough for me. It was really just OK. Watching Avengers before I watched Detective Pikachu and Aladdin a few days after really emphasized how average of a movie it was.

I still think it did ok though but if the make another live action, I dont think I will watch it.
 
ZiZ

ZiZ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,716
Why would Rampage make more money than Pokémon?
Is it The Rock's star power?
 
WhiteRabbitEXE

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,569
Arizona
ZiZ said:
Why would Rampage make more money than Pokémon?
Is it The Rock's star power?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
China is pretty much single-handedly the reason. The margin of Rampage over Pikachu in China is pretty much the same exact margin the prior has over the latter internationally. Pokémon doesn't have particularly strong brand appeal there, so it comes down to: generic, inoffensive summer blockbuster starring the Rock vs. plot-heavy kids movie.

DP did actually do a good bit better than Rampage in the US/CA, Western Europe, Australia, and (of course) Japan though.
 
WhiteRabbitEXE

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,569
Arizona
Galkinator said:
What is its budget? Not even getting to 500M seems barely profitable, tbh
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
$150m. Pre-merchandise and home video/digital/streaming/cable it will likely have made a small profit. That's not including advertising, but there's a reason that generally isn't counted anyway (the advertising budget effectively also applies to all of those other sources of income, and can also be partly covered by partners/cross-promotions, thus it's sort of nebulous).
 
Segafreak

Segafreak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,756
Maxina said:
Mario will hit a billion, if even Mario can't nothing ever will.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Lol no. If fucking Rampage can outsell Pokemon then even a Sonic movie can outsell Mario, Mario isn't guaranteed anything and is a smaller IP than Pokemon. A time will come when a game movie will hit billion but it won't be a Nintendo property.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.