Game Ports/Where did WCM go wrong?

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Yes but he has a point, it didn't appeal to non fans, and since the games appealed to such a large proportion of the gaming community just imagine how big the movie could have been in the sci fi community.

As for the scripts, well WCIV in particular I felt was an example of what a script should be :)
 
Originally posted by Marcml30
Look at it this way, WC4 sold what, 1 million copies? Translate that into movie dollars - 7M. That's just not enough - they need the non-fans as viewers more than they need the fans.

THeres no way you can compare the two. A movie does cost 7 bucks, a video game costs 40-50. To see a movie everyone that goes has to pay the seven bucks, when you buy a game you only pay the one fee. A movie is done in two hours and you can go again and pay again. With a game you pay once, most people will likely only play once, if you play again you dont have to play again and everyone in your family and your friends can play it without paying all over again.
 
Hmm...there's really nothing here for me to add. I don't think it true that Wing Commander failed because of "the feel isn't there" because Paladin isn't Scottish in this one or such nonsense. These people are a minority and there's a minority like this in every fanbase. There are people bitching that the Final Fantasy movie lacked hobbits and super-deformed characters and though I've never seen the Tomb Raider fanbase up, close, and personal, I bet there are people denouncing that movie on the fact that Lara didn't sport her blue shirt and short brown pants attire a la the game series.

The fact is quite obvious that Wing Commander failed because the mainstream public isn't too familiar with videogames, even very popular franchises such as Wing Commander and there are not enough of us to get the movie noticed.

Which is unfortunate IMO, since I thought that Wing Commander was a rather entertaining movie and it retained the spirit of the game series. It was far from perfect but I could name a countless amount of movies that I liked less.

The pattern has happened again with the recently-released Final Fantasy movie. The Final Fantasy game franchise is extremely popular among the gaming mainstream but 5-7 million people buying a $40-50 game is different from the same amount buying a $4-7 ticket and in the end, it just doesn't cut it. It also doesn't help that it was released during the calm of the storm right before cinematic big names such as Jurassic Park III and the remake of Planet Of The Apes. It has "Flop" written all over it. Which, like the WC flick, I find sad because I really liked this one.

And again, like everyone else stated, Angelina's boobies obviously sold TR (though admittedly, I enjoyed this movie for its second half. Its nothing like the game series at all....the second half....isn't boring or at least not nearly AS boring as the games). Sex sells. Thats how (I think) Titanic became the highest grossing movie of all time.

Gross. There's no better word to explain this situation.
 
People (the vast majority, at least) have always bought Wing Commander games because they're revolutionary. They have always been the first to let you fly a 3D spaceship, or the first to let you hear people talk or the first to have real actors. A much smaller percentage plays the games because they follow the plots. That's why games like WC1, 2 and 3 are so incredibly succesfull -- whereas "fan favorites" like WC4 and Privateer are not real money-makers.

Yes, a goodly portion of 'devoted fans' recognized errors -- the movie *was not* made for them. No movie is. The casual fan -- the one who's played through the games for fun -- doesn't care that the movie added to Blair and Angel's backstory. My brother's reaction to the movie? "Oh, now I understand why genetics were so important in WCIV". Regular people don't have the same appreciation for the series.

Video games like WC (or comic books or anything 'cult') are made into movies because they have a background that appeals to a lot of cult fans -- and movie studios bank on the fact that that background can also be marketed towards the masses... sometims that works out.
 
And what about getting the original version before FOX execs had the film re-edited... you know the version with the plot intrigue with the traitor and with Kilrathis ?

(as asked in my previous posts)
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
That might require a petition. :)

Hummm... sounds like an ironic answer ;) Don't you like the idea ? Wouldn't you love to see the movie the way it was meant to be ?
 
Hey I hope it works out well.

I would like people to stop bringing up minor things like someones accent though this is NOT why we're complaining, the timeline, the ships, nothing resembled what anyone who has played a game knows.

And LOAF adding something revoloutionary gets the publics attention but they won't continue buying the games if they didn't like the last one, and once they go out of their way to buy a sequel, they are a fan.

The thing with the WC movie is had you called the film Fighter wars, the kilrathi Jaberwokies and renamed the characters and ships not one person would have said... hang on a minute I think they are using the Wing Commander liscence here. It really just wasn't Wing Commander in ANY respect except for the names.
 
LOAF honest question here, would you not have been happier if the WC movie was based around a seperate Wing Commander plot line rather than interfering, or atleast clouding an old, much in the same way the books did?

I am tired of looking in magazines under classics and seeing wing commander and then always at the end a comment about the "awful movie cash in"
 
I too wish to see a director's cut of the WC movie. Then again, Roberts via email told me that he was glad he left out the traitor subplot so he could go back and make a movie based along WC2's story. He wasn't exactly clear about it, but I'm thinking he wanted to make the WC2 game as a movie. But thats me...
 
Hmm...I always thought he did that to a certain extent with the existing Wing Commander movie. It sported a few WCII elements. There was lack of faith in Blair held by one of his commanding officers and a fellow pilot (I wonder if Hunter was slated to be the traitor before Chris Roberts reconsidered), though I'll admit the apprehension towards Blair in WCII was a little greater. Angel was the Squadron Commander as well as Blair's love interest. Paladin was a secret agent. The plot felt very WCII-ish in at least those respects.
 
The traitor in the WC Movie was Admiral Wilson at the very beginning of the movie, the one in charge of Pegasus station. He was a Pilgrim seperatist hoping the Kilrathi would destroy the Confederation. The traitor subplot was used in the WC movie novelization by Peter Telep.
 
If someone starts a petition drive to convince the execs at Fox to create a Directors special edition that will include behind the scenes look on how they made the WC movie and the traitor plot, I'll sign it.
 
Originally posted by LeHah
I too wish to see a director's cut of the WC movie. Then again, Roberts via email told me that he was glad he left out the traitor subplot so he could go back and make a movie based along WC2's story. He wasn't exactly clear about it, but I'm thinking he wanted to make the WC2 game as a movie. But thats me...

I have a feeling that if Roberts makes a WC2 movie (never gonna happen :(), there would be no way to fit it in with the main timeline. I dunno, I just have that feeling...

Eh, never mind.


[Edited by Dralthi5 on 07-25-2001 at 00:21]
 
Man... I am really tired of this movie thingy, especially when I _personally_ consider it to be under appreciated. But then, almost no one in Indonesia ever heard of Wing Commander, lest the movie.

But it sure could you used more promotion.

Last year when I came up with that WCMovie article in Cinescape, I thought 'hey, this one might bring some attention.'

And then... I guess it wasn't enough. :(
 
Originally posted by Pedro
LOAF honest question here, would you not have been happier if the WC movie was based around a seperate Wing Commander plot line rather than interfering, or atleast clouding an old, much in the same way the books did?

I am tired of looking in magazines under classics and seeing wing commander and then always at the end a comment about the "awful movie cash in"

Caring about what stupid people think is a sure way to drive yourself crazy -- reviews will *always* insult WC... heck, they'll always insult pretty much *any* Sci Fi thing.

Anyhow, the problem with the idea of making 'a seperate Wing Commander plot' is that there's no way they'd ever do that. FOX paid for the license to cash in on succesfull characters and themes... thus, the WC1 era story with Blair and company was what they used.
 
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