When the box office receipts come in on a Monday morning there are some filmmakers who barely need to look up from their soya-soaked wheat flakes to know that they’ve added a few more zeroes to their bajillion dollar bank balances. But neither George Lucas, Peter Jackson or even Mr Spielberg himself have ever managed the kind of wallet-busting opening enjoyed this week by a mere video game.
Yes, you can bang on about which is the purer art form all you like but the fact remains that we live in an age where computer games are more profitable than movies and generate just as much excitement with the average Joe. When Spider-Man 3 hit cinemas earlier this year, raking in $151 million in its opening weekend, Sam Raimi and Sony must have been spinning webs out of their backsides in delight, but even such a hoard as that pales next to the $170 million that Halo 3 made in a single day. Not counting sales outside the US, the third game in the Halo trilogy managed to tot up more pennies than Episode III, Batman Begins or any of the Lord of the Rings films. In fact, it took more money than any other entertainment release, on any platform – and yes, that includes the last Harry Potter book.
Starring a green-armoured protagonist by the name of Master Chief, Halo 3 is an epic adventure featuring interstellar war, galactic genocide and the brutal slaying of stumpy little aliens who scream ‘run away’ when you gun down their waddlesome comrades. The strong lead character and staggering set pieces make the game an undeniably cinematic affair, which would be why there’s a movie version already in the works and destined to arrive on our screens sometime in 2009. of course, it’s unlikely that any film release, Halo or no, could hope to top the game’s till receipts but the producers must be rubbing their hands gleefully nonetheless.