10 Biggest Video Game Movie Flops
1. DOA: Dead Or Alive
Budget: $21 million
US Box Office: $480,813
The mother of all video game flops, DOA embarrassed The Weinstein Company so much that they sneaked it out on 505 screens before consigning it to DVD.
The “plot” involves Holly Valance, Devon Aoki and Jamie Pressly attending “the World’s greatest fighting tournament”, but even though there’s $10m at stake they spend most of the time playing volleyball, lounging around by the pool or playing practical jokes. Also around is Natassia Malthe as Aoki’s purple-haired servant, who’s followed her former mistress to the island because she abandoned her ninja clan….or something.
For all the smash cut editing, CG heavy fight sequences and pounding rock songs, though, DOA is still pretty dull. It’s tough to care about three lead characters who have no motivation beyond looking good and even though director Corey Yuen is a top action choreographer (The Transporter, The Expendables), the action remains uninvolving.
Coincidentally, DOA was co-written by JF Lawton, screenwriter of the Julia Roberts vehicle Pretty Woman. Julia’s brother Eric turns up as the movie’s shamelessly hammy villain, so if you get bored, at least you can play Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon.
What The Critics Said: “A piece of garbage and the best argument for reading books since the first pop-up appeared.” (Austin Chronicle).