Capcom aims to be the "Marvel" of video-game movies
If you were one of those who saw Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li in theaters in the past week, you probably noticed a prominent logo at the start of the film. Screenshots of various historic Capcom games came together to form the CAPCOM logo - the first instance of Capcom's new approach to film branding.
Sure, the new Street Fighter didn't set the box office on fire, but Capcom doesn't seem to mind. With the successful Resident Evil film series already under their belt and Onimusha recently having finished shooting in Asia, they're ready to take Hollywood by storm. They see themselves at the video game world's answer to Marvel - and just like Marvel brought new readers to their comics via films like Spider-Man and Iron Man, Capcom believes they can turn more people onto their games by producing a wave of new film adaptions.
The company’s senior director of corporate communications, Chris Kramer, recently talked to GameDaily, saying that the gaming corporation was very pleased with how The Legend of Chun Li turned out in spite of the critical reception.
“Critics were unkind to the first Street Fighter movie as well, but that film has been ridiculously profitable for Capcom over the last decade," Kramer said. "The original SF movie still generates millions of dollars in royalties for Capcom every year, thanks to cable, foreign distribution, home video, DVD and Blu-Ray sales. And Capcom would be receiving even more money if that had been a co-production deal!”
Kramer went on to say that his company would adopt the Marvel-way of making movies based on existing IPs, as the comic book giant saw a lot of success with the films it has made with its famous characters. Also, the upcoming movie of Onimusha is another Capcom co-production in order to ensure maximum profitability.
"Capcom is going to be much more heavily involved in our movies – Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is the first film to hit theaters that follows this model, which is why the Capcom logo has such prominent placement at the beginning of the movie. We also have Onimusha (wrapped shooting in Asia a few months ago) on the way."
In addition, Kramer was quick to point out that a Clock Tower adaption is in pre-production, and a script is being written for a movie based on Lost Planet. Plus, he says, "a few other options are floating around Hollywood."
Hmmmm... Mega Man: The Movie, anyone?
