"How 'Iron Man' was trounced by a scruffy car thief" from AP reports that "Grand Theft Auto IV" beat "Iron Man" in their respective debuts last week by a mile - and makes one wonder about the release timing of the movie, considering it has tie-ins to promote.
GTA IV garnered around $500 million while 'Iron Man' got just over $200 million globally.
There are contrasts in the distribution and make-up of the media - but GTA-IV demonstrates the growing power of the gaming market - especially since this is more of a niche than movie audiences.
Such comparisons aren't entirely fair. Bellic and Stark, for example, play by different rules. Video games are sold online and in stores, a distribution model more like CDs and DVDs than newly released films. However, such similarities end there, because DVDs don't usually involve completely original fare. And CDs typically only contain, well, music.
The reach is vastly different, too: "Iron Man" was released on over 7,000 movie screens while "GTA IV" was available for about 24 million Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles at launch, according to Wedbush Morgan video game analyst Michael Pachter. But to achieve its $100 million weekend milestone, "Iron Man" had to sell more than twice the number of tickets as "GTA IV" units were moved - about six million - in the first week.
Iron Man Trailer
GMA VI Trailer
Comments