John-ShepardHollywood wrecking video games is nothing new. But it's about time that an annoyed game producer finally stood up and said something.
The "Tekken" movie didn't exactly enjoy widespread critical acclaim, and Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada was none too happy about it arriving on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan this week. According to GameStop citing Harada's reply to a fan on his Twitter page, the game producer is clearly upset about the whole fiasco.
"That Hollywood movie is terrible. We were not able to supervise that movie. (It was [a] cruel contract.)"
Then, after another fan called the movie a "disaster" and begged Harada not to let it happen again, the producer made it plain that he had little to no control over the proceedings: "Please don't ask me about that movie," he wrote. "We did not have the supervision right. I don't want [to] talk about that." The idea for a film had been around since 2002 but after nothing happened for a while, it reemerged in 2007 with director Dwight Little heading the project. Little's credits include "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" and "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home."
But obviously, the "Tekken" effort didn't work and this is an example of a game maker who watched helplessly as the film bombed. In the future, you can bet more designers are going to demand that they be very "hands-on" when Hollywood wants to mess with another game series.
