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Resident Evil top Japanese game-based film series

Capcom boasts four of top five spots on revenues chart, but Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li outgrossed by Uwe Boll's House of the Dead.

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Capcom has made no secret of its intention to bring its popular franchises to Hollywood, but its initial efforts in that direction have produced some mixed results. The publisher offered some perspective on those attempts in its 2010 annual report, released earlier today.

Capcom cited its own data in saying that its franchises accounted for four of the top five biggest hits based on Japanese games. The first three Resident Evil films were atop the worldwide box office list in reverse order, with Extinction ($147.7 million) leading Apocalypse ($129.4 million) and the original Resident Evil ($102.4 million). The box-office-topping Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D was not included as the revenue totals were only updated as of June.

Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas wears a mask to hide his identity in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.
Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas wears a mask to hide his identity in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

Just behind the survival horror series in fourth place was the original Jean-Claude Van Damme version of Street Fighter. Though critically savaged, the film managed to rake in $99.4 million theatrically, edging out the $97.6 million total of Konami's Silent Hill big-screen adaptation.

Capcom's more recent film based on its flagship fighting franchise was considerably less fortunate. Last year's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li grossed less than $12.8 million worldwide, nestling it in ninth place. Putting that into perspective, Chun Li lost out to Uwe Boll's oft-derided The House of the Dead, which was eighth on the list with $13.8 million earned in its theatrical run. Other games on the list included Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (sixth place, $85.1 million), Super Mario Bros. (seventh place, $20.9 million), and DOA: Dead or Alive (10th place, $7.5 million).

If Capcom hadn't limited its list to Japanese game series, the Resident Evil series would not have fared as well. According to figures from Box Office Mojo, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time would easily top the list with its $335.1 million haul. The original Lara Croft: Tomb Raider film took in $274.7 million theatrically worldwide, with the sequel, The Cradle of Life, still besting any Resident Evil film with a $156.5 million global take. Other notable game-based films would also have made the list, with Motal Kombat earning $122.2 million, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation garnering $51.4 million, and Hitman hitting just shy of $100 million.

Capcom said it will continue developing new projects based on its series, "including Hollywood movie adaptations and new theme park attractions." To that end, Capcom is progressing with films based on Onimusha, Lost Planet, and Clock Tower, as well as a new Sengoku Basara-themed stage show and Monster Hunter amusement park installation.

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