For all the endless op-eds about the superiority of film vs. TV, there’s one front on which cinema has already conceded the war to another medium; financially, to video games. The interactive entertainment industry has, for several years now, consistently outgrossed the movies, with big games regularly outperforming their cinematic equivalents in money terms. As such, it’s no surprise that games-makers have the funds to attract Hollywood talent to them more and more, even if it’s just to lend their names or faces to a commercial for a bit of prestige.
And hot on the trail of the makers of “Halo 4” enlisting David Fincher to executive produce a commercial for their game, the people behind “Call Of Duty: Black Ops II” have taken a similar tack. Given that last year’s installment of the first-person-shooter franchise, “Modern Warfare III,” was the biggest entertainment launch in history (taking around $400 million in its first 24 hours), it’s not surprising that Activision have some cash to chuck at Hollywood types, and on top of featuring “Avatar” lead Sam Worthingon as the voice of the main character, being scored by Trent Reznor, and written by “Batman Begins” scribe David Goyer, they’ve just debuted a new commercial featuring some big names.
Directed by “Sherlock Holmes” helmer Guy Ritchie, the spot features his star of that franchise, Robert Downey Jr (likely earning an obscene amount of money for 15 minutes of work), alongside “The Intouchables” breakout Omar Sy, and a bunch of other people we don’t recognize because we’re too damn old, one of whom we’re reliably informed is a ‘YouTube superstar’ named FPSRussia. What’s a YouTube? Is it some kind of delightful wooden toy, for the kids? Damned kids. Making their racket with their rap music.
Anyway, the whole thing gives us a headache, and feels pretty irredeemably awful, but the existence of “Swept Away” means it’s not the worst thing on Guy Ritchie’s resume, so there’s that. “Call Of Duty: Black Ops II” hits stores on November 13th, according to a cursory Google search. [Collider]