If you were a gamer in the 90s, there is no way you would have not played the Prince of Persia series. Now, with its on-screen avatar playing in multiplexes, avid gamers are flocking to see another of their virtual heroes come alive on screen.
In the last decade, many movies have been inspired by popular computer games. There was Tomb Raider, which was fairly successful at the box office, as was Alien vs. Predator. Then there was Max Payne, Hitman and the infamous Doom.
This “reverse trend” has now developed its own legion of fans. “I have played almost every popular game since I was a kid. If there is a movie coming out, based on a game I’ve played, I’d want to see it, right on the first day. Whether I’d like it or not is secondary,” says gamer Vijay Shravan.
But, of course, since every game-turned-movie hasn’t done well at the box office, some of them are wary. “Usually, movies that are adaptations of games fall flat at the box-office. There was Hitman, Max Payne… none of which did well. Prince of Persia is one of the biggest games ever. It was the first game to have good graphics and a decent story,” says Hariharan A., a gamer and visual graphics artist.
VJ Craig, another avid gamer, has this to say, “I am going to see Prince of Persia with no expectations as I see lots of times that the games adapted into movies don’t come out well. But, I think it will be good.”