Directors make video games to pad salaries
BY LAURA M. HOLSON
New York Times
HOLLYWOOD - Peter Jackson, who made "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is entering the rarefied club of Hollywood movie directors who are expected to earn as much money -- or even more -- from helping create video games as from making movies.
When Jackson, who spends more time in his native New Zealand than here, was in town early this year courting Oscar votes for "Return of the King," video game makers were doing some wooing of their own. The computer game based on his movie was No. 10 on last year's best-seller list, and game makers wanted to get in early on "King Kong," Jackson's next movie.
But this time Jackson was determined not to miss out the way he had on the games derived from his "Lord of the Rings" series.
He worked out a deal with game maker Ubisoft and Universal Pictures, the studio that plans to release "King Kong" next year, that will give Jackson substantial creative control over the future game, those involved in the negotiations say. And he will share equally in the revenue Universal expects to earn from the game when it is released.
The deal points to the growing interest among film directors in creating computer games themselves, both those derived from their movies as well as original projects that may have no connection to Hollywood at all.
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A Kong video game sounds pretty sweet, hopefully it'll be at least as good as the LOTR games. I will be suprised if it turns out to be a hentai dating simulatior, however.
BY LAURA M. HOLSON
New York Times
HOLLYWOOD - Peter Jackson, who made "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is entering the rarefied club of Hollywood movie directors who are expected to earn as much money -- or even more -- from helping create video games as from making movies.
When Jackson, who spends more time in his native New Zealand than here, was in town early this year courting Oscar votes for "Return of the King," video game makers were doing some wooing of their own. The computer game based on his movie was No. 10 on last year's best-seller list, and game makers wanted to get in early on "King Kong," Jackson's next movie.
But this time Jackson was determined not to miss out the way he had on the games derived from his "Lord of the Rings" series.
He worked out a deal with game maker Ubisoft and Universal Pictures, the studio that plans to release "King Kong" next year, that will give Jackson substantial creative control over the future game, those involved in the negotiations say. And he will share equally in the revenue Universal expects to earn from the game when it is released.
The deal points to the growing interest among film directors in creating computer games themselves, both those derived from their movies as well as original projects that may have no connection to Hollywood at all.
*******************************
A Kong video game sounds pretty sweet, hopefully it'll be at least as good as the LOTR games. I will be suprised if it turns out to be a hentai dating simulatior, however.
