Variety reports that the Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull has resigned from the board of the upstart publisher after spate of duds, including Alvin and the Chipmunks.
After making many Hollywood headlines with such hits as Batman Begins and 300, Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull entered the game fray last March. Then, in June 2007, he got plenty of ink in the game trades by raising $400 million for his all-new game publisher Brash Entertainment, which specializes in turning film and television properties into games.
Over the next year, Brash announced a series of movie and TV game adaptations, including 300, Saw, and Prison Break, as well as a deal with Lair developer Factor 5 for an unnamed tie-in. However, Brash's initial film-based games Jumper, Space Chimps, and Alvin and the Chipmunks were received even more poorly than their film inspirations. According to the NPD Group, the former has sold just over 47,000 units domestically on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2, with the latter game selling just 1,000 units more on the Wii, PC, DS, 360, and PS2.
Brash's poor sales performance was highlighted in May when president Nicholas Longano had suddenly "moved on" and handed over his responsibilities to CEO Mitch Davis. Now it looks like Davis will have another portfolio on his hands. Variety is now reporting that Tull himself has also abruptly resigned, again reportedly due to being "disappointed with the quality of Brash's games." He will still retain an interest in Brash as a result of his "significant" investment in the company.
It remains to be seen whether or not Brash can change course with Davis in an increasingly empty executive wheelhouse. According to Variety, the publisher has several projects still in the works, including Night at the Museum 2, Where the Wild Things Are, and the upcoming remake of Clash of the Titans. Meanwhile, Tull's Legendary Pictures is at work on such game-based films as Len Wiseman's Gears of War and the still-in-development big-screen edition of World of Warcraft.
They were surprised that Spca Chinps and Alvin didn't sell well? are they high? who in thier right mind would want to play such games? develope good games, with good story and gameplay, and ppl will buy them! Maybe try an original concept, I don't know...
these games are awful. i hate games based on movies. almost as much as I hate movies based on games. spiderman 2 was an exception.
And they talked the company up SO much in that Game Informer interview. Tie-in games are mostly garbage- it's just a fact. I understand why they tried to dedicate a company to better the overall process, but in the end, it crashed and burned.
Working at a GameStop, I cannot tell you how many times I was asked to return Brash Entertainment games (i.e. ALvin & the Chipmunks, Space Chimps, ect.) Good riddance. This means a whole lot less work for me and tons less returns. Keep movies where they belong.
Yeah it would be nice if these games were good but the problem is that these developers try to make these games in the same time it takes for a studio to brainstorm, shoot and market a movie. That just does not work. Games take several years to develop correctly, while a movie can be shot in a matter of weeks.
Resigning from your own company less than two years after you created it? How... brash. (Puts pinky to mouth with a slight grin) You would think that if someone put that much money into a business, you wouldn't leave it to die a slow and painful death (which it will) so early in the game. Okay, so you screwed up on some crappy movie-to-game adaptions. Join the crowd! You don't learn by winning. These types of games aren't going anywhere, you just have to want to make them good. It can - and has - been done.
What's the point of spending 400 million dollars to make a game studio if all your going to do is flood the market with more crappy licensed games? Aren't there enough of those already?
I thought the Space Chimps game was pretty fun, but Jumper sucked. I'd love to see a Saw or 300 game.
that's because gamers are majority older than they used to be and make wiser choices on what money they want to part with I have over 10 games that come out in the next 2 months that I want to buy so bad
I think the two need to go and propagate a kid ... typically two terrible people make the kid want to excell so much that the child is a prodigy !
Looks like Thomas Tull was the video game equivalent of Uwe Boll. Everything those two men touch becomes pure, unfiltered garbage.
Space Chimps came out the same day as The Dark Knight. That's really all that needs to be said.
I knew those movies sucked, especially "Space Chimps". Good thing I went to see "The Dark Knight" instead.
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chimps! In space! How can we lose?!"" />
