DOA Movie Delay a Good Thing?

The Weinstein Company has pushed back its Dimension Films videogame release "Dead or Alive" from August 25 to later this fall. While such a move is normally the kiss of death for a movie, "DOA" producer Mark Altman told me the delay was made for the opposite reason. The film, which was just recently completed, has been testing through the roof and the film studio, which just released the German version of the movie's trailer, wants to promote the movie properly. Unlike the recent "Silent Hill" videogame adaptation, which was the best videogame movie I have ever seen, the Weinstein Company will preview "DOA" to audiences in advance screenings. Bad movies are rarely screened in advance for press, so this is a good thing for the movie.

Impact Pictures, which along with Altman's Mindfire Entertainment produced the movie, has had a string of videogame successes with the "Resident Evil" franchise. Director Corey Yuen ("Transporter 2") knows how to stage action and the film's writer, J.F. Lawton ("Under Siege," "Pretty Woman") knows how to write action and comedy. One of the film's producers, Paul W. Anderson, is the man behind another successful videogame fighting adaptation, "Mortal Kombat."

While I haven't seen the film, I've interviewed Anderson and several of the actors, including the film's biggest star, Jaime Pressly. By all accounts, the four months filming throughout China were rough on the production, but the end results are all on screen. The film makes use of plenty of wirework and the tone of the movie is very tongue-in-cheek, to go along with the fun factor of Tecmo's game franchise. The PG-13 rating also allows plenty of scantily dressed female combatants.

With New Line Cinema's "Snakes on a Plane" opening August 18, the new release date gives "DOA" a breather. It's likely that the same audience will see both films. In the past, "Resident Evil" releases have been impacted by films like "Blade II" and "Underworld" opening too close, severing the same target audience. With the fall traditionally filled with Oscar contenders, "DOA" has a better chance of finding an audience.

From a bigger picture perspective, if "DOA" can open big or gather a decent domestic gross, it will mark the first time that back-to-back videogame movie releases succeeded at the box office. This would be a huge boon to the already rampant videogame-to-movie business. Again, I haven't seen the "DOA" movie, but it has a huge following of gamers worldwide--at least as big as Konami's "Silent Hill" franchise. So the table's been set for success, it's just a matter of the film delivering.