Analyst: Iron Man film to be derailed by GTAIV

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 12th 2008 at 6:00PM }

Janco Parters analyst Mike Hickey, as reported by Next Gen, is predicting that the April 29 release of Grand Theft Auto IV may hamper ticket sales of the upcoming (and awesome looking) Iron Man film -- releasing the same week on May 2 -- citing that both are aimed at the same demographic. Gamers will remember that similar comments were made regarding the release of Halo 3 and its effect on ticket sales of the same period. While we generally believe that the quality of the film is what's important, there's no denying that games are taking up a more significant share of the entertainment market these days. And if one game could derail a theatrical release, it's Grand Theft Auto IV.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: gtaiv, iron-man

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SadisticHam @ Mar 12th 2008 6:11PM

Good, i love hearing about this stuff. The music industry and film industry needs a kick up the ass, they've been crappy for years.

Maybe this new found competition will get things moving.

Cyrus @ Mar 12th 2008 6:19PM

Why can't we be friends Why can't we be friends Why can't we be friends

Why can't we be frieeennnddsss?????

dylan @ Mar 12th 2008 6:21PM

I think that sounds like the best weekend ever...

EmptyEnergy @ Mar 12th 2008 6:23PM

That could be a possibility, but enough of blaming games for lack of movie sales. Do these analysts actually look and see what kind of cowkaka hollywood releases? Man! Surprised the movie biz hasn't went out of business since the mid 90's.

Etchasketchist @ Mar 12th 2008 6:24PM

You can't stop Iron Man. He's friggin' Iron Man.

animefan316 @ Mar 12th 2008 6:31PM

I'm actually not that excited for GTAIV, although I'm definitely going to see Iron Man. Go figure.

webster1990 @ Mar 12th 2008 6:59PM

Iron Man and GTA in one week? i need to have some money set aside. Or get a job in the first place, being a lazy student and all i need some way to fund my media addiction.

Chris Miller @ Mar 12th 2008 7:08PM

Naah, this is a "ahh crap, we can't blame it on the college kids downloading them anymore...so let's blame VIDEO GAMES!"

Mr Khan @ Mar 12th 2008 7:25PM

I fail to see the correlation, personally

Although Mario Kart Wii releasing in the same week also isn't going to help. Both are games that bridge the casual and the hardcore, but really, the cost of a movie ticket is insignificant slated against a game. The only major impact is if everyone's either too busy playing freelance Russian Mafia or pitching turtle shells at each other

SoxFan13 @ Mar 12th 2008 8:13PM

How about the release of Mario Kart on the 27th? I know it's not exactly the same crowd, but anyone with a Wii and 360 might have to make a choice if they can't afford both!!

Cal @ Mar 12th 2008 8:14PM

I like GTA. I don't like superhero films.

Zac LaCombe @ Mar 12th 2008 8:38PM

After the shenanigans of Spiderman 3, I suppose I'm a bit skeptical on the topic of Iron Man and comic book films overall. GTAIV and Mario Kart Wii are going to dominate while Iron Man'll just sell 100,000 more singles of Ozzy singing Iron Man.

L4MB @ Mar 12th 2008 10:29PM

yeah, some comic book/movie crossovers have been sub-par. take daredevil, electra, fantastic four. but then theres the good ones, like sin city, from hell, v for vendetta, batman begins. it's kind of a crapshoot, but the good ones seem to be more 'graphic novels'. more adult, thats for sure.

dukrous @ Mar 12th 2008 11:21PM

I call BS on this...Iron Man looks like a hell of a ride, and I'll easily take a couple hours away from the Xbox to see it. I'll put $10 that Iron Man has a huge opening weekend and we can put to bed the idea that games rob from movies. Good products make money...it's that simple. Shovelware and shitty movies don't.

Jon @ Mar 13th 2008 8:24AM

I agree with SadisticHam the more competition in the entertainment industry the better. Simple economics would indicate...blah blah blah all of that equals better product for the consumers

On that note, I'll take my scheduled video game break and go see Ironman as any good nerd should. The problem during teh Halos last year was there was crap for movies then. I haven't watched a movie since Transformers. Come one Movie Industry make me want to go to the Movies.

sldtrap @ Mar 13th 2008 11:19AM

SCrew GTAIV, I'm going to see Iron Man!

Ciaran Gallagher @ Mar 13th 2008 12:13PM

Good! The Iron Man is probably some really crap, far-fetched comic book but now a film rubbish. Plus it's a film - for eight times the price of a cinema ticket I can get an interactive film that lasts at least 15 times longer!

ZeroCorpse @ Mar 13th 2008 4:35PM

I disagree with this.

Games are so expensive now, that most gamers are pre-planning to buy them. Dropping $60 for a form of light entertainment is something most people won't do on a whim. It's not easy to justify the cost when you consider what else $60 can buy, but we work it out because we're gamers and fans of the series.

So most GTA-IV buyers probably have the cash set aside, or have budgeted it in, or have pre-ordered it.

A movie ticket costs anywhere from $5 to $12 in most places. That's lunch money. It's easy to justify seeing Iron Man because even if we're on a tight budget, we can scrape up matinee ticket money.

So that week I guess I'm spending $70 instead of $60, but that's OK. I've already got GTA IV half paid-for, and I'll probably drop some more into it later this month. It won't come out of my budget at all. I *planned* for it.